Liberty Hill Runnin’ Panthers: The Program

Sunday’s commitment of 2013 F 6’7″ Blake Danielak of Liberty Hill has caught the Red Raider faithful buzzing and basketball fans in general to be saying, “Who? Where?  After breaking the news Sunday evening D1 Nation promised some additional tidbits about Blake and Liberty Hill.

The Coach: Barry Boren

Successful wherever he’s been the discipline and structure oriented Barry Boren is in line to win 30 games, three consecutive years at the 3A power. I dropped by his practice yesterday and was shocked to see coach sweeping the floor and then proceeding to run a college style clockwork practice solo.  Yes, he has no assistant in his athletic period!   Wow. Now that’s getting it done. Kids were diving all over the floor in an organized mayhem, role players and star players alike.  It’s easy to see how his kids are more than ready to play his “40 minutes of hell” brand of basketball.

Max Ivany with Liberty Hill Head Coach Barry Boren

The Players:

There are three key guys who will take them where they need to go.  And make no mistake about it, the goal is The Drum in Austin, TX.  Coach Boren confides that “I’ve never had a team that can SCORE like this one”.  I was also impressed by all parties sense of calm.  Obviously it’s a big deal for Liberty Hill to have their first D1 commit since the early ’90′s but Boren, Danielak and the TEAM all were focused on their goals as a group. However, don’t be shocked if either Lacaille or Graves don’t impress and play in college as well.

2012 G 6’4″ Stephen Graves is one of the Area’s purest shooters with mad range out to 3o feet. He rebounds the ball extremely well, more like a forward than a guard would do.

2013 PG 6’0″ Shane Lacaille is cat quick and can get to the rim when needed.  I love his ability to pass the ball on time to the right guy in the right place.  He makes the other players better but make no mistake about it, he can fill it up too.

2013 F 6’7″ Blake Danielak shows great maturity for a 16 year old.  He can shoot it, he passes well out of the post and rebounds well.  He’s bouncy and runs the floor extremely well.  Look for BCG to pack some pounds on him and make him a stretch four man for the Red Raiders when the time comes.  Expect him to be 6’9″-6’10″ when he arrives on campus in the summer of 2013.

Not to pressure him too much but I feel I’m qualified to say the following. I’ve had the pleasure of coaching some pretty good players at the same point in their careers. John Henson (North Carolina), Cameron Moore (Alabama-Birmingham), Andre Roberson (Colorado), Daniel Alexander (Texas A&M), Cory Jefferson (Baylor), J.J. Avila (Navy) and Connor Lammert (Texas signee) to name a few. I believe Danielak belongs in that company.  He’s not as long as Henson, not as tough defensively as Jefferson, or as tenacious as Roberson.  BUT, the tools are there.  He’s a better shooter from all areas on the floor at this point as a 16 year old than any of them. Of course he’s got close to two years of hard work ahead of him to meet those lofty standards of where the aforementioned kids elevated their games.

Blake Danielak: Shown At Max Ivany's All American Prodigy Camp

I’ve seen the Red Raider message board comments.  One moderator wasn’t sure he could print the offer because there was such “thin evidence” that it was accurate…duh.  Another comment was that the kid is only a 3A player.  Throw that one out the window too folks.

I was digging through the record books and Papa Ray Danielak seems to have passed on his genes to Blake.  The 6’9″ F played at then powerhouse San Antonio Jay.  He went on to be a very good player at Southwest Texas State in their early days of D1 basketball at that school.  He was coached there by current Austin Bowie Coach Celester Collier and was the Bobcats Co-Player of the Year with my good friend and current D1 Ambassadors Coach Gerald Wright.

The elder Danielak lettered at SWTS from ’83-’85 and 1987.  He shot 52% from the field in 1985 and 54% in 1987.  In ’86 he shot 85% from the free throw line and the following year he upped that to 88%.