COMMENTARY: Groves, Anderson Ready To Make Mark

By Paul Nielsen

Posted: November 16, 2009 at 4:58 a.m.

• Print item
• E-mail
• Share
• Tweet

There is no disputing that Aaron Hawley and Morgan Hook are among the best, if not the best, male and female basketball players to come out of Rogers High.

Both Hook and Hawley excelled from the minute they put on a Rogers uniform. Hawley, who led the Mounties to the Class 7A title game last season, is now a freshman at Drake University.

Hook was named the Arkansas Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior last season and recently signed with nationally prominent Oklahoma during the early signing period last Wednesday. Hook alone makes the Lady Mounties a title contender this season.

For Mounties coach Marty Barnes and Lady Mounties coach Preston Early, the good times of having a marquee player may not be over.

Barnes can look to sophomore Josh Anderson as perhaps the next big thing, while Early has sophomore Sarah Grace Groves ready in the wings after Hook leaves.

Barnes has coached a host of talented players in his six years at Rogers, including Hawley and brothers Kane and Kyle Moix. Barnes believes that Anderson has the tools to join those three.

Anderson’s father, Keven, played basketball for the Mounties in the mid 1980s and is a member of the school’s Hall of Fame.

“Anderson has a little bit of both Moix and Hawley,” Barnes said. “He can shoot the 3-pointer and he has a quicker release than Hawley at this stage of the game. He has Kane’s fast first step to the basket.”

Anderson stands in at 6-foot-5 and may not be done growing. Barnes relishes the thought of having another 6-6, 6-7 swing man in the Mounties’ lineup.

“We are hoping to get him to enjoy posting people in mismatches like we did with Hawley,” Barnes said. “I think Josh has an excellent opportunity to play at the next level. He is high academic. He has played AAU basketball on a local team, but I am working on getting him on a statewide, higher level AAU team for the next two summers.”

Groves, like Anderson, will be in the starting lineup when Rogers opens the season Saturday at Pea Ridge, and Early said she ranks among the best prospects he has had in 11 years at the school.

“I think she ranks up there with all the kids that have played for us a sophomores,” Early said. “To be able to play at the 7A varsity level on a good team, you obviously have to have some game. She has that.”

Although it’s early yet, Groves hasn’t had the big peaks and valleys in practice that Early said many sophomores experience.

“(Groves) has very few bad days,” Early said. “She bounces back quickly when something hasn’t gone well. That’s an inner strength that some kids have that separates them from other players.”

Early even sees some similarities between Hook and Groves, and that is not good news for the rest of the 7A-West Conference.

“She does remind me of Morgan from the standpoint of her mental makeup,” Early said. “Something she does that maybe fewer fans see, but her coaches sure see, is she impacts every possession. Her versatility makes her a tough matchup. We really like her game.

“(Groves) has a chance to be a real good one.”

PAUL NIELSEN IS A NORTHWEST ARKANSAS NEWSPAPERS SPORTS WRITER. HIS COLUMN APPEARS EACH MONDAY.

Comments

To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers. Please read our comment policy.

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.