In the span of 12 seasons, from 2010 to 2022, the boys basketball team only finished in the top half of the Central Piedmont Conference (CPC) three times. The high school of future NBA Hall of Famer Chris Paul had been mired in mediocrity for over a decade, with the only recent success coming in a three year span in the mid 2010s thanks to elite dual sport athletes Darion Slade and KJ Henry. Seeking a turnaround, in May of 2022, West hired Marlon Brim as the new head coach of the boys basketball team. Brim, who described the opportunity as a “dream job,” immediately raised the team’s bar of expectations.
“The goal every year is to win the conference championship. That’s something we talked about as a team and as a program, along with each year working to get better and better,” Coach Brim said.
Brim’s commitment to righting the ship has seen immediate results, as he led his team to a tie for second place, the program’s highest mark in six seasons, in the CPC in his first season a year ago. This year the Titans finished the regular season with an 18-6 overall record and 10-4 in conference play, good for third in the CPC.
“I feel like we as a team took another big step this year. Everyone has really bought in this season and we are all very competitive which shows when we step out on the court,” junior guard Jacari Brim said.
Throughout this season the team has battled through poor performances on the road, free-throw line struggles, inconsistent effort from night to night and, perhaps most importantly, issues on the defensive end.
“Our defense getting better throughout the year has probably been the biggest thing. That’s the reason we’ve been having a strong close to the season, is our defense and our commitment to play hard for four quarters,” Coach Brim said.
With four wins and four losses this season by single digits, there have been consistent factors that have determined the results in those close games.
“When our guys off the bench play well that gives us our best chance to win, and when we are attentive to detail in our scouting report we play a lot better, when those things don’t happen we tend to lose focus and lose games,” Coach Brim said.
As the No. 3 seed, the Titans will play host to No. 6 seeded Parkland Mustangs in the first round of the conference tournament on Monday at 7:30 p.m. A victory would advance them to the semifinals for a matchup against the first round winner of Davie and RJ Reynolds on Tuesday night, where another win would place them in the conference championship game on Friday, with both the semifinal games and the championship to be played at Davie High School.
“Heading into the CPC tournament, we have to stay focused on one game at a time and make sure that we’re doing the little things and keeping our composure. We also gotta remind ourselves to never be afraid of the moment,” senior guard Cam White said.
With 24 regular season games played in less than three full months, the Titans still have their most meaningful games ahead of them, and they will need to stay focused if they want to achieve their desired postseason goal.
“Two things I say to them are ‘Winning takes focus,’ and ‘Are you satisfied with just being okay?’ It’s a long season, but the guys have been really bought in thus far and I’m proud of them,” Coach Brim said.
While the years of middling results have come to an end and conference championship level teams have returned to West, whether or not this team will be able to enjoy the ultimate glory of hoisting a CPC championship trophy Friday night is yet to be determined.
“Our mindset heading into the conference tournament is to win it all. We know what we need to do to win. We’re going to have to fight and be ready for whatever happens,” Jacari Brim said.
At this point all of the games and results from the regular season no longer matter. It comes down to whichever team can win three straight games over the span of the next five days, and from the day he got the job Coach Brim has been clear about about what he is here to do:
“The game is basketball; winning is the business. Winning is the most important part.”
