Everyone wants a day in paradise in the middle of winter and while the recent outing to Main Event wasn’t exactly paradise, it felt just as good to the East Mustangs boys basketball team.
The nationally-ranked team took a day off from their brutal schedule to have a day of relaxation and fun in the middle of the season.
Fresh off an easy win over the White Station Spartans, head coach Penny Hardaway thought it was time for his players to have some fun and get away from the practice court to play laser tag, shoot pool, bowl a few gutter balls, but most of all just have a good time with their teammates.
Hardaway knows his players have the potential of greatness on the court but he is just as adamant about their potential in the classroom too. Alex Lomax, James Wiseman, Malcolm Dandridge, Chandler Lawson and Ryan Boyce are all examples of stars both on and off the court.
Lomax is the reigning two-time AAA Player of the Year for the state of Tennessee and could let those awards go to his head – but he hasn’t. He is one of the academic leaders on the team and once played an instrument when he was younger – he was teased so much that he now refuses to name it.
Lomax would love to one day become a comic actor. He says he looks to Will Smith, Denzel Washington and other actors. He would also love for Washington to be his acting mentor one day.
He also has dreams to of designing buildings as an engineer. He loves to balance the load of leading a nationally-ranked team, but also being a member of the honor society because he understands that life is more than just basketball.
Newcomer Wiseman, a transfer from Nashville’s Ensworth, loves the challenge of being a great player on the court and in the classroom.
Wiseman, who was asked what he’d do if he could never play basketball again, said he would love to be a major player on Wall Street or own a venture capital fund to develop businesses. Wiseman loves to study history, especially the 19th century.
Every team has one player they can rely on to be their spokesman and Dandridge is that player on East. According to Hardaway, he is one of the smoothest talkers on the team and thinks he can talk his way into or out of any situation.
Dandridge, a 6-foot-8 200-pound junior, not only has good footwork but also the charm and charisma of a seasoned politician. He is very popular on the court and in the hallways of the school.
Junior all-around player Lawson, the younger brother of Dedric and KJ Lawson – formerly of the University of Memphis basketball team – has been a three-year starter and has played every position on the court. He’s also been self-appointed as the best dancer on the team.
When Lawson is not dishing out dimes to his teammates or dancing up a storm, he would like to study engineering in college. While at Airways Middle School, Lawson played goalie on the soccer team.
Almost all of his teammates have conceded the best dancer title to him, except for Wiseman. Hardaway joked that he would love to see the Lawson-Wiseman showdown. Lawson started his sports career playing soccer, which would explain how he has such great vision on the court and moves well on the court with his feet.
Boyce, the 6-foot-5 180-pound small forward senior transfer from Germantown, has fit in with his new team as if he had been playing with them for years. Boyce signed with the University of Alabama at Birmingham during the early signing period in December, choosing UAB over University of Florida, University of Memphis and Southern Methodist University.
At this time, Boyce has interests in biology, particularly how the human body works, and business administration, which is his planned major at UAB. He would still love to be close to sports and has thought about sports medicine as an area of study.
Why the midseason break for the team?
“We have been pushing them pretty hard (and) we wanted to give them a fellowship day,” said Hardaway. “To come out here and have some fun and let the air out of the balloon. It has been tense and intense after the two losses in January and the one in December. We have been pushing hard and we will get back there later.”
Hardaway said academics has been the one thing that has stood out for this team than his previous teams.
“This is a really smart group. With the new STEM program, the freshmen get out of school an hour and a half later than the rest of the school. It has been a strain on them athletically, but academically it has been awesome. The other guys have gone to tutoring, while the freshmen are still in school.
“This has been the most talented group I have had, but it has also been the smartest,” he added.
When asked if Wiseman is one of his best students academically, Hardaway said, “Of course he and A-Lo (Lomax) for sure. When my son came here last year from Palmetto, he came from a school like Ensworth. It is not a private school, but it is great in academics. The guys are flourishing.”
Hardaway said the team manages basketball and academics by having study hall – which is mandatory for all of the players – every day after school. Then the rest of the afternoon is spent on basketball.
“It is bigger than basketball here for me,” Hardaway said. “With James and Ryan coming over, I am just looking at two kids that are trying to go to college. All of these other kids are trying to go to college whether it is for academics or athletics. That’s how I look at it – kids trying to get better.”
The East team has a mix of players – some who are from the neighborhood and some who are not. Hardaway tries to keep a balance and not let the kids from the neighborhood feel that all of the odds are against them and they can’t do anything, because they can.
Hardaway also reminds his players who are not from the neighborhood and who may not be struggling financially, that nothing is going to just be handed to them.
