Coming off a horrid 120-51 loss to Newton, it may seem the tunnel for Alcovy basketball is only getting darker, however if you take a closer look you’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel. The Covington News had a chance to speak with Alcovy head coach Mack Hardwick after the game, and we talked to him about his young sophomore guard, what he likes from his team this season and what’s next for them in this exclusive Q&A.
The Covington News: William “AJ” Pascal, it seems like I’ve seen him progress over the season and stuff like that. He seems like a guy that’s kind of getting better, coach. So what are your thoughts on how he’s been playing?
Mack Hardwick: He’s excellent. He’s a sophomore so he’s got a lot of stuff that he’s working on, of course he’s getting better. He’s really supposed to be playing JV this year so I’m very proud of him. To come in the starting point guard when we had some people that took off and went to other schools last year I’m really glad that he’s stepped up. He’s been progressing every game, he’s been getting better every game so next year, hopefully next year we’ll see that growth take over to a whole other level. He was our leading scorer for a while. I’ll have to go back to the stat sheet and see, but he was our leading scorer for a while so I’m very proud of him. We just gotta make sure we work on a couple things to get his game to that next level, but he’s gonna be something big for Alcovy in the near future.
CN: Obviously the season’s not over with, but you’ve got three more wins than you had last year. Like we talked about before the season it’s a rebuilding year and you’re getting better. What are some of the things that you’ve seen as a coach that you’re proud of that you’re building.
Hardwick: They execute plays. Alcovy has struggled when it comes to discipline and running plays. They’re really starting to learn how to execute plays, so hopefully next year we’re elevated to where we’re executing at least 70 to 80 percent of our plays. Once they remain disciplined, still work on some defensive issues, we’ll be at a better place.
CN: For you what’s the next step in that hierarchy of getting better as a team?
Hardwick: I guess when it comes down to it that next step is making sure we can develop year-round. A lot of programs locally they’ve been developing year-round and you can see the difference in their game when you’ve got the players playing together. Some of our players we kind of moved up from JV so some of the fluency is still not there, however, they did a good job adjusting. Being that even tonight was some of the first times some of them played from JV so I’ve [played] a lot of JV players. To be honest with you, that young crowd is going to be something to see because a lot of the ones that’s actually producing and being prominent scorers were sophomores. That’s going to be the hierarchy is developing those sophomores. That’s what’s really gonna help us out. So hopefully next year when we’ve got some juniors and we’ve got some talented freshman, I think they only lost two games. So other than those two games they have done really well themselves this season so we’ve got a bunch of young talent.
