Boys Basketball: White wants to teach kids how to find answers

Updated: November 29, 2011 5:51PM

Jim White knows all about the coaching carrousel that the Antioch basketball program has been spinning around on for the last decade.

The latest coaching casualty was Mike Skinner, who couldn’t make it happen in four tries — including 3-24 last year — as a replacement for Tom Duffy, who also came up short in a four-year stint.

Enter White, who coached the Antioch sophomores for the past four years. His challenge looks monumental, but it appears the school has picked the right man for the job.

That’s because White is a psychologist at the school, which means he might be looking at the hoops program from a different angle than the others.

“I want to bring as much structure as I can,” said White. “I know we have a lot of work to do to build the program back up, and I know it’s going to take a little time. But I think I can do that, and I know the guys on the team are ready for things to change.”

White came to summer camp all fired up — perhaps even a bit too fired up.

“This summer, I gave them too much too fast, so we cut it down to the things this group can do,” said White. “We all have to bring a positive attitude to practice and believe we are going to turn this thing around.”

White’s first team will feature five players who either started or at least saw a lot of playing time last season.

They are Karl Nettgen (6-foot-4), Emery Paramski (6-1), Joe Gregory (5-11), William Waschow (6-0) and Anthony Formella (5-11).

Nettgen, will miss about two weeks with a badly sprained ankle, but once he returns, White is hopeful the big man will be a presence in the paint.

“We need Karl to be a force underneath for us,” said White. “He has a nice jumper and likes to play more outside, but we’re going to need him inside.”

The Sequoits do have some quality shooters in Paramski, Gregory and Waschow, but getting them the ball in the right position is the key to success.

“We have some pretty good jump-shooters if we can get them ball,” said White. “We just have to do a better job of getting high-quality shots and not force things.

“All of them are streak shooters. We just have to get the ball to the hot guy at the right time.”

Other players who could contribute include Libertyville transfer, junior Robert Winter, and 6-2 junior Ryan Weber.

In the end, confidence is going to be the big key.

“We can’t get defeated if we get out to a slow start,” said White. “We have to have mental toughness and believe in ourselves and the system.

“We have to take baby steps,” White added. “We have to get the double-digit losses (losses by 10 points or more) down to single digits and then progress from there until we’re in position to win.”

And, as the coach pointed out, “We have to have fun on the court first and wins will come later. We have to play with emotion but we can’t play overly emotional. We need something to hang our heads on and hopefully that comes at the Christmas tournament in Marengo.”

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