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Matt Wolfe feels like he’s wasted some time-outs this season.
The Lenape High School boys’ basketball coach had good reasons to stop playing, but before he could talk to his kids, junior Ty Dorsett did it for him.
“Tye has already put his arm around one of the players, telling the kid what needs to happen and what went wrong,” Wolfe said. , I’ve already got him.I’m great,why did I waste my timeout?I didn’t have to call timeout again.Tell me next time.
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Wolfe calls Dorsett the best leader in his 17 years of coaching experience. This remark is all the more remarkable considering Dorset had just turned 16 in his late September.
“I am speechless,” says Dorsett after listening to Wolfe. “Great rave reviews. He’s had some pretty good guys here.”
Dorset became one of them.
Dorsett, a sophomore starter for last year’s South Jersey Group 4 Championship team, led the team in points (19.3 average), rebounds (5.1), assists and steals as Lenappe moved up to first place, and is expected to finish this winter. , took the game to new heights. He opened with 9 wins and 2 losses despite losing his three star seniors, including Rutgers freshman Derek Simpson, sixth in the South Jersey average rankings.
“We had a team meeting early on and one of the things I said was that people wrote us off and hated not seeing us this year,” said Dorsett. “We’re a little mad. People don’t really care about us anymore because of what we don’t have.”
Dorset takes the frustration out of your opponents. His teammates understand different sides of him.
Lenape had been running drills during pre-season, but they weren’t going well.
“Most players might stop screwing that kid up, but (Dorset) gave him a compliment,” recalls Wolf. “You’re doing very well and you’ll be there very soon. Just go to clean up this little mistake and you’ll get it. He just tried to prop him up instead of jumping.” He always tries to support his teammates, which is quite mature for a 16-year-old who has to defend for 10 straight minutes because one of his teammates made a mistake.”
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Junior Matt Liebling remembers the scrimmage against Notre Dame and his own struggles defending Notre Dame forward and Army recruit Stecher Masseria.
“He’s really good,” said Liebling. “He was beating me on the court a lot faster than I thought he was. I said, he can’t be faster than you, he shouldn’t have beaten you on the court.
“You don’t get down on yourself,” Liebling explained of Dorsett’s story. “He has a way of motivating you to do better instead of upset you.” ”
Wolf does not name Lenape’s captain. He lets players sort it out.
He was curious what would happen if the officials called the captain during the team’s first scrimmage.
“All the kids saw him,” Wolfe said of Dorset. “He knew immediately that I was the speaking captain. That’s who I chose. I didn’t say, they’re just attracted to him.” All eyes are on him. Lenape has three and the family has six. It’s him.”
So does this year’s version as an alpha for the team.
Dorsett has long been one of, if not the top players on his AAU team. It was unusual for him to sit in the back seat last season.
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He earned the respect of his teammates for how he handled secondary roles, but at the end of the campaign, he knew that much more was to be expected this winter.
“I remember[my coach]telling me to be more consistent. He wanted my handling to be a little bit better. I have to,” said Dorsett. “I remembered what he said to me when I was working out and feeling a little tired. When I was a little tired from exercising, I remembered that he thought I was not good at it and wanted to be good at it.
Wolf immediately interrupted him.
“I’m not bad at it,” Wolfe laughed. “Everyone can improve”
Wolf knew Dorset could do it.
“At the Cherry Hill East game here last year, their game plan was all about picking him,” Wolff said. “They tried to get Drew[Green]to get a switch to put him on, and then they tried to go to the basket. No. The game plan was 100 percent the same and we didn’t have the same success, and it was credit to him for getting better and working on it.”
Seeing Dorsett’s ability, development and leadership makes Woolf smile. He loves to point out that he could spend another year at Dorset before the still-growing guard jumps to the next level, and Wolfe has no doubts he will. .
“He’s a Division I basketball player,” said Wolf. “He’s only 16. He should be in second grade. He should have been in first grade like he did last year. He should be in second grade. He’s growing. He’s getting bigger….I reach out a lot (to school at the end of the season) Thankfully thanks to Derek, I have a lot of contacts and they all have my number I know.”
Josh Friedman has produced award-winning South Jersey sports coverage for over a decade for The Courier Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times. If you have or know of an interesting story, reach out to me on Twitter (@JFriedman57) or email ([email protected]). You can also contact him at 856-486-2431. Support local journalism with a subscription.
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