By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Producing talented basketball players is a Franklin High School legacy and the 2021-22 Franklin boys’ basketball team is working hard to live up to that legacy. Coming into the season full of potential, the Quakers are currently tied for second place with Ingraham in the Metro League’s Valley Division and have positioned themselves to compete for a spot in the state championships at the Tacoma dome.
“I just want to play in the dome,” says Franklin guard Jamari Jackson. “That is my goal. Being one of the leaders on the team I just want to get my team to the dome. I think it would be a great experience for all of us.”
Head Coach Craig Jackson, who has his own basketball legacy as part of Roosevelt’s 1982 state championship team, brings a winning mentality to the program. With a young and relatively small team, Jackson capitalizes on the strengths his players bring to the table. Although due to COVID and other variables, Franklin’s journey has not been easy.
‘’[We’re] a very young team,” says Jackson. “Our biggest deficiency is we do not have a lot of height. So, what we lack for in height we try to accommodate for by being very aggressive in penetrations because we are guard heavy, and we are young, guard heavy [team] which can be blessing and curse at the same time.”
Although Jackson’s philosophy is to take it one game at time, he can’t help but look towards the future because his team is stacked with freshmen and sophomores. Because of this characteristic, Jackson likes his future chances as his young guys become battle tested.
“We have a bunch of sophomores which is probably our strongest class, about four juniors, two freshmen and the rest being seniors,” says Jackson.
“I think because we are so young, we are looking at next year and the year after,” added Jackson. “We will have a majority of our guys who’ve been at war. They will be tested coming into their junior and senior years. So yes, we are freshmen and sophomore heavy but that gives us optimism for the future.”
Underdogs seems to be the phrase that is the common denominator when Franklin matches up against their rivals. Emmanuel Brannon, a 6’4” senior post player, Jaeden Thorn, a 6’3” senior wingman, and Jackson all describe their team as “underdogs” but they have also embraced the challenges of overcoming that stereotype.
“Slowly but surely, we are coming up and we are reaching our goals,” says Brannon about his team’s potential. “Last year, we weren’t the team we wanted to be. But again, we are slowly building that foundation up and getting to be where we want to be because at the end of the day, we are, right now, the underdogs in the Metro League.”
Thorn agrees and says that the team is focused on doing all the little things that can help them be successful.
“I would describe our team as hardworking,” says Thorn. “Trying to do our best to try and figure out each other’s energy and strive for the same goals, which is to win.”
Franklin’s tireless work ethic give them the confidence they need to compete, but it is their speed and tough defensive pressure that makes them a tough matchup for many of their opponents.
“We have a lot of things to work on but definitely we play hard defensively,” says Jamari Jackson “Offensively, we like to move very fast, so definitely we move fast. I think the strength of our team is speed because we have a lot of guards, so speed is definitely a strength.”
As the season moves forward for teams it is about progression and adaptations and this is no different for the Quakers. With the playoffs looming in the distance, Jackson possesses an optimism that his players can rise to the occasion, if they stick with plan.
“We have work to do no doubt, but I think it can be done,” says Jackson about his team’s chances of making the playoffs. “We are going to have to consolidate. COVID really affects how and who we play and has affected the whole program. We are going to bring some JV [players] up, I have some talented young players and we’re going to focus on 16 players going into the playoffs.”
Falling short of calling it a rebuilding stage, Jackson appreciates the leadership his upperclassmen are providing. With strong leadership and focus, the Quakers have played above expectations and are looking forward to playoffs. Because he has a young team, Jackson would really like to put them into fire come playoff time so they gain valuable experience that they can carry into next year.
“These young guys are talented, and I think we should get them going now,” says Jackson. “Get into the playoffs, win against Ingraham, work to go deeper into the playoffs and get these guys to take some lumps and understand the playoff experience.”
“We’ll have these guys for three years, [and we want to] let these guys understand how it feels, and experience it,” adds Jackson. “[We also want to] let our seniors, who have worked hard, get the experience for the next level but [this season is really] about our youth movement.”
