Future is now for West boys

The future is now for the Wauwatosa West boys basketball team.

That doesn't mean the Trojans can expect to win the Woodland Conference championship this season. Not at all. But when you start three freshmen and a sophomore, your future is out on the basketball court right now.

When I see the young Trojans play I think of something the late, great Al McGuire once said. McGuire, the legendary Marquette University basketball coach, said the best thing about freshmen is they are going to be sophomores.

First-year coach Chad Stelse has his hands full this year. He has plenty of talent to work with, but the varsity experience they possess consists of nine games.

The freshmen are Andre Carroll, Steffan Brown and Will Watkins - who all played on the same AAU team - and the sophomore is Blake Harvey.

The crown jewel of this bunch is a familiar name with familiar initials - Andre (AC) Carroll, the brother of former Tosa West star Anthony (AC) Carroll (a junior who is in his second season with crosstown rival Tosa East).

Andre is a solid 6-foot-1 inch first-year guard, who plays both ends of the court well.

"Andre is just an incredible talent, there is no doubt about it," Stelse said after a recent practice. "He never takes a play off defensively. That was the first thing I noticed when I saw him play - was how tenacious he was defensively.

"Offensively his outside shot is coming around. His outside shot is a bit inconsistent, but once he continues to work on it and he is more consistent with it, man, he is going to be hard to guard."

Brown, a 5-11 guard, can shoot, but is the Trojans' main playmaker. He enjoys getting the ball to the open shooter, but he has parts of his game he needs to work on according to his coach.

"Steffan hit a roadblock with some injuries here and there," Stelse said. "We expect big things from him. He sees the court just unbelievably (well) for a freshman. We need to get fewer turnovers from him, however, and he needs to be stronger defensively on the ball."

Watkins, the most talkative of the three during the interview, is a 6-0 guard. A defender first, his offense is starting to come around.

"Will continues to work and continues to get better," Stelse said. "His offense is really improving. In practice and against some of the alumni who come back and practice, he has really been gaining some confidence in his offensive game - especially his outside shot."

Then there is the sophomore - Harvey, a 5-11 forward, the team's second-leading scorer behind Carroll, who has been counted on during the earlygoing.

"I just keep telling him he's a scorer, which he is," Stelse said. "He can score in a variety of ways. He has a great 3-point shot, but he can also score in the black.

"With our lack of size, we need more scoring from him down there. He can provide us more with that the second half of the season."

The freshmen are confident in Harvey's scoring.

"He can shoot, so it's up to us to drive and kick it out to him to knock down the shot," Brown said.

"He's a knockdown shooter and a rebounder," Watkins added. "A 3-point shooter right there."

Using the three freshmen as a guide - with Harvey as the tiebreaker - they said Carroll was the best shooter of the group. Watkins was considered the best defender and Brown the best passer. They couldn't agree on Carroll or Brown as the best rebounder, so Harvey broke the tie by picking Brown.

All four players are looking forward to Saturday's game at Tosa East, but none more than Andre.

"It should be a fun game," he said. "I get to play my brother. We never played in a real game before. We don't even talk about it. Yeah, we want to shut each other down."

Like Andre, Watkins is ready for the excitement the crosstown battle will bring.

"Yes, I think it's very exciting; the crowd going crazy and everything. It should be fun," Watkins said.

However, the first time Harvey and Brown see an East-West game will be Saturday when they play in it.

Harvey, who played JV last year, was in an automobile accident and missed last year's game.

"It's been fun," he said. "We have Andre - 'the attacker.' He does what he does.' Steffan - 'the playmaker.' Will who like Steffan, is a playmaker, a scorer. I'll just be myself."