MaxPreps Indiana Team of the Week: New Albany boys basketball

The New Albany boys basketball team is off to a 25-2 start and just captured the Section 15 title in dominating fashion. For it, the Bulldogs are the MaxPreps Indiana Team of the Week, presented by the Indiana National Guard.

Courtesy photo

It's not easy to adjust when a new phenom enters the picture. Especially when he's three years your junior.

But the members of the New Albany boys basketball team have not only accepted 6-foot-3 freshman guard Romeo Langford, they've embraced him, showed him the ropes, got him the ball.

The combination of four seasoned senior starters and Langford has led the Bulldogs to a 25-2 record and last week's state 4A Section 15 championship.

New Albany didn't just win the title, it breezed through three section games winning by 20, 20 and — get this — 46 points in the finals. The Bulldogs' 79-33 championship win over Bedford North Lawrence caught everyone off guard, even longtime coach Jim Shannon, who won his ninth sectional title in 17 years.

For the team's ability to adapt, its unselfishness and remarkable section-winning triumph, New Albany is the MaxPreps Indiana Team of the Week, presented by the Indiana National Guard.

"It's difficult to describe our win over BNL," Shannon said. "Defensively we were able to turn them over and control their top scorers. We were also very efficient offensively, and (Langford) continues to improve tremendously each week."

Langford, who is on the radar of almost all major Division I college programs, had 22 points and 11 rebounds in the finals. Davon Winburn had 13 points, while DeAnthony Warren and Michael Maxwell added 11 points apiece.

Winburn is a 6-1 senior shooting guard, Warren is a 6-3 senior small forward and Maxwell is a 6-4 junior power forward.

Asked what he's most pleased with this season, Shannon said: "How our four seniors have accepted Romeo and that the entire team has bonded. They always make the extra pass and have become very unselfish."

Unselfishness is a trait of Shannon teams have shown over the years. Over the last 10 seasons, the Bulldogs have gone 16-6, 21-4, 26-1, 23-1, 20-3, 16-8, 14-8 and 18-7 before this year's sterling start.

They are ranked 10th in the state, according to the MaxPreps Computer Rankings.

"We thought we would be pretty good this year, but we were pleasantly surprised to emerge as a state contender," Shannon said.

Those who have emerged:

* Winborn leads the way among the seniors, with a 14-point scoring average. "He's an excellent offensive creator, scores off the dribble and is very athletic," Shannon said.

* Warren is very strong, an excellent defender "and almost always holds top scorers well below their average," Shannon said. Warren also averages about 9.5 points per game.

* Senior Nick White is a 6-5 forward who is an excellent rebounder and defender. He averages six points per game and "is very active," according to Shannon.

* Isaac Hibbard is a 5-10 shooting guard who is a deadly 3-point shooter. "He's very steady and heady," Shannon said.

Then there's Langford, who is simply athletic, gifted and skilled. He averages 19.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 2.0 blocks per game. A big-time recruit like him at such a ripe age may be assumed to be offense-oriented.

Not so, says Shannon. Langford leads the team in deflections and charges taken. He's also poised beyond his years against attacking, aggressive defenses and curious journalists.

"My dad always told me ‘Don't show emotion, just play through it,'" he told reporters after the BNL game. "That's what I've been doing my whole life."

It helps that Langford also deflects all the personal acclaim.

"Coach prepared us for this game," he said afterward. "We did whatever he told us to do. We just play as a team."

They'll need to do that at this weekend's Seymour Regional, which also features state powers Evansville Reitz, Franklin Central and Bloomington South.

"Whoever comes out of the regional will have earned it," Shannon said. "We hope it is us and we are confident, but we also know we will face a tall task in defeating Evansville Reitz."

Evansville Reitz defeated New Albany 81-51 on Jan. 2.

"To win we must handle Reitz's pressure, and we must also defend their prolific scorers," Shannon said.

Winburn said the Bulldogs definitely have bigger fish to fry than a sectional title.

"We're going to work even harder than we did last week to get the regional title," he told reporters. "That's what we're thinking about."