Manhattan Center graduated six seniors, has a host of inexperienced players on its roster and its captain, Yen Pham, is out for the year with a torn ACL.
But don’t you dare use the ‘R’ word in East Harlem.
“I’m not trying to take a step back to anybody,” Lady Rams girls basketball coach Jaywana Bradley said. “We’re always coming out on the court to play. Yes, it will be different, but I would never call it a rebuilding year.”
After all, Manhattan Center is still a veteran team with seven juniors and seniors. Janicha Diaz Carrion, who will be team’s star this season, has shown flashes of brilliance since she was a freshman. This is the athletic, 5-foot-10 junior’s chance to break out as one of the best players in New York City and she’s always had that potential.
“Last year she was solid, but she had a lot of people around her,” Bradley said. “Now she doesn’t have the same people around her. She needs to be a lot more consistent.”
Sophomore guard Cashmir Fulcher played a ton of minutes last season and showed an excellent ability to break down players off the dribble. She missed the postseason, though, due to academic ineligibility. Bradley said that’s still her primary concern and Fulcher is expected to make an impact in 2011-12. The same can be said of 5-foot-11 forward Dahsia Williams, who was also playing a lot toward the end of last year.
Junior guard Vienly Cabrera will see major time in the backcourt and Bradley expects super-quick freshman guard Amber Jones to make an impact right away. Manhattan Center will have some solid size in addition to Diaz Carrion and Williams with 5-foot-10 Tatiana Branch and 5-foot-9 Idaysha Quinones, the school’s softball pitcher, seeing the floor a lot.
“It really depends on how hard they work and how they work together,” Bradley said. “I’m not looking to put any pressure on any one.”
The coach got awful news over the summer when Pham, a four-year varsity player and heartbeat of the team, tore her ACL. Pham still hopes to play late in the season or in the playoffs and she’s still omni-present in the gym alongside Bradley and assistants Eppy Vilella, Jessica Vilella and Yolanda Rayside.
“She’s still our No. 1 leader,” Bradley said of Pham. “She’s gonna be at every practice. She’s gonna be everywhere. She’s still the captain. She’s the only captain.”
Bradley still isn’t sure how things are going to go this year – the Lady Rams haven’t yet played in a scrimmage – but she fully expects Manhattan Center to be the same as it always has been – a problem for every team on its roster with the potential to make a deep playoff run. Center opens in the revamped PSAL Class AA league Monday against Grand Street Campus.
“It seems like they’re really amped to play,” Bradley said.