MaxPreps Indiana Team of the Week: Richmond boys basketball

It's one thing to be good and have a spiffy record like 19-3.

It's another when everyone is contributing.

According to its assistant coach J.J. Williams, the Richmond (Ind.) boys basketball team is the epitome of team basketball and why he and head coach Joe Luce are so thrilled with the Red Devils.

"Each player brings a set of skills and strengths that complements everyone on the floor," Williams said. "There is a willingness to put the team before self and that has been really refreshing."

Williams isn't just spouting off. He has empirical proof. This Red Devils team has more assists than any since Luce took over in 2011-12. In that time, Richmond is 77-19.

For its team play and excellence, Richmond is the MaxPreps Indiana Team of the Week, presented by the Indiana National Guard.

The Red Devils average 69 points per game, shoot 49 percent from the field and average almost 20 assists per game. The team opened 1-2 before rattling off 17 straight wins.

"Our style of play is high-intensity, high-paced, both offensively and defensively," Williams said. "The 1-2 start was a combination of not yet being completely comfortable playing at the speed we were pushing for and playing some very good teams who took advantage of that.

"Once we got a couple of quality wins under our belt the confidence and the trust in one another just continued to grow with each subsequent victory."

It helps to have one of the state's top backcourts that includes point guard Joel Okafor (14.7 points, 6.2 assists, 6.1 rebounds per game) and shooting guard Davious Webster (15.1 ppg, 4.2 apg). Okafor has committed to Wisconsin-Green Bay.

What makes Okafor and Webster so special?

"First of all, they are both top-level high school basketball players year-round," Williams said. "What you see is a culmination of a lot of hard work and dedication to their craft. They are also very competitive personalities, which drives them to make each other better in practice, yet when the lights go on their only goal is to win the game. They are totally willing to sacrifice personal stats on any given night for the benefit of a team victory."

The team's third leading scorer is Auntonio Brown, a 6-foot-2 forward who averages 12.1 points per game.

Williams believes that sky is the limit for the Red Devils, but it won't be easy down the stretch.

"There are only four teams that go home happy at the end of the year," Williams said. "We feel if the ball bounces the right way for us we are very capable of being the last team standing in the 4A class.

"We've become much more than the Joel and Davious show. Guard Isaiah Rader is an explosive penetrator averaging nearly four assists per game. Junior guard Tommy Luce is leading the North Central Conference in 3-point shooting percentage. Adrion Burns, at 6-4, has become one of the most dynamic juniors in the state.

"This team believes it can be done."

That's because the Red Devils are a complete team, from top to bottom, Williams said. It wasn't always that way, he said.

"Depth was a concern early in the year, but as our team has grown and matured so has our bench," he said. "Obviously an injury or foul trouble for players of the level of an Okafor, Webster or Burns would be tough to weather, but we've been able to do so on several occasions late in the year.

"Juniors Dominique Walker, Brenden Vanlandingham and Luce have provided quality minutes when called upon."