Cooper Cougar Basketball Preview 2023-24

The football playoffs at both Abilene High and Cooper might be just around the corner, but November also means the start of basketball season is upon us. All four local varsity teams are getting their seasons started over the course of the upcoming week.

The two girls’ teams will open their seasons Friday, Nov. 3, with Cooper hosting Odessa High at 6 p.m. at Cougar Gym, and Abilene High on the road at L.D. Bell at 6 p.m. The boys’ teams won’t get started until next weekend with Cooper and first-year head coach Michael Bacon hosting Odessa High at 6 p.m. at Cougar Gym and Abilene High playing Del Rio at San Angelo Lake View High School on Saturday at noon.

Here’s a brief look at each team going into the 2023-24 season:

COOPER BOYS

The Cougars are looking for their sixth straight berth in the Class 5A playoffs as they enter the season with Bacon in charge of the program. A highly successful coach at Abilene Christian Schools (where he won a private school state championship) and Ballinger (taking the Bearcats to the playoffs in 2016), Bacon served as an assistant to former head coach Bryan Conover the last three seasons before being named the head coach last April after Conover announced his resignation.

The Cougars return three starters from last year’s team that finished 18-13 overall and 8-4 in District 4-5A, good enough for second place in the league. The Cougars will rely heavily on those returning starters – senior guards Kameron Gray and Jordan Willis and junior guard Zay Alexander – while working in newcomers like senior forwards Cayson Lockridge, Eliel Buntu, and Christian Appel.

Gray and Willis were both first team All-District 4-5A selections last year, providing the Cougars with two playmakers until the rest of the team figures out their roles.

The Cougars haven’t been able to get over the hump in the playoffs, having been knocked out in the bi-district round in each of the last five seasons by Amarillo Palo Duro (2019, 2020, 2021, and 2023) and Canyon Randall (2022), two of the top programs in the Panhandle. Bacon, however, believes the Coogs are close to turning the corner and breaking through that barrier.

“We have been close in those last three games,” Bacon said. “Our formula for success is proven. We have adjusted every year to our personnel, and this year is no different. We have shot the ball more in the off-season and fall practice than ever before. We went to the TABC (Texas Association of Basketball Coaches) Showcase in Duncanville this summer for the first time and played two fall events to prepare for the season.

“We’ve done a lot of self-scouting during the offseason, looking for any way possible to improve our team,” he said. “I spent some time since the end of the last two seasons with head coaches like Cliff McGuire (WF Rider), Tony Wagner (Lubbock Estacado), and (Cooper graduate) Jason Pillion (Amarillo High) to pick their brains on what has made their programs so successful. Those guys have been incredible resources for me. No one around here is happy about our recent results in the postseason, and we are working every day to take that next step.”

With a talented team at defending district champion Lubbock Monterey returning and solid programs up and down the district, Bacon knows that getting through the gauntlet of the District 4-5A schedule and earning another playoff berth will not be an easy task.

“Monterey ran away with the district race last year, returns two good players inside, and will have some newcomers in the backcourt,” he said. “Wylie and Lubbock-Cooper return a ton of experience and scoring. Coronado is always athletic and physical, and has an extremely difficult style to play against. Coach (Justin) Reese does a great job at Abilene High, and they shoot the 3-pointer ball really well, which is always an equalizer. Lubbock High’s record was deceiving a year ago. They were in a lot of games late, including against us. I think they will improve as well. There are no easy nights in our district.”

COOPER GIRLS

Brandon Hudson’s first season as the Cooper girls’ head coach in 2022-23 might not have ended with a Class 5A playoff berth, but there was definite improvement. Cooper had gone a combined 23-35 overall and 2-18 in district play in the two previous seasons before Hudson led the Cougars to a 20-14 overall mark and a 4-8 district record.

The Lady Cougars finished fifth, one game behind fourth-place Lubbock High for the final playoff spot, a dramatic improvement. Cooper returns just one starter from that team, but Hudson believes his team is still on track to get the program back into the playoffs.

“We will be more athletic and deeper than last year,” Hudson said. “We’ve gotten a couple of players back who missed last year, so I hope that we can replicate last year’s success. That is our goal for this year. We are working toward breaking our playoff drought.”

The players to watch on this year’s squad include junior point guard Alliyah Ralston, senior forward J’Lee Sloan, and senior guard Jazlyn Hatcher, the players Hudson will lean on heavily to help get his team into the postseason. Ralston was an honorable mention All-District 4-5A performer last season.

What will be the key to getting Cooper back into the postseason? 

“Just getting the girls comfortable playing together and within the offense and defense is so important,” he said. “We have to work on that early so that they will execute in intense games when the time comes.”