Lakewood Ranch boys basketball maximizes laughs on and off court

When the high school basketball season ends and summer peaks around the corner, it’s time for Car Wars.

That's a game the Lakewood Ranch boys basketball team made up. Essentially, when members of the team are together in at least two cars, they will roll down their windows and start hurling things at each other, food and drinks being the most popular items. Once, a 60 ounce Icee was involved, according to the team. There is no points system, so no one technically wins or loses, but everyone claims to be the champ. 

Hopefully, it's a game that never makes its way out of the parking lot, but it is how some of the best basketball players in Florida spend their vacation time. The majority of the team has played together for years, going beyond high school and into travel ball. Their relationship and camaraderie is special, they said. Every team says that, of course, but Mustangs head coach Jeremy Schiller said that his bunch really means it.

“It is like coaching a bunch of 6- and 7-year olds,” Schiller said. “Not in maturity level. They know when it is time to get serious, and they understand winning is important. In goofiness, they are just kids having a good time.”

Schiller himself is not immune to his team’s tomfoolery. He recently gave his team a lecture on foul language to try to prevent anyone from picking up a six-week suspension, the Florida High School Athletics Association punishment for directing a curse at someone. They decided the punishment for using a banned word in practice would be sprints. About a week later, Schiller let slip a word he should not have in practice — and his players let him have it. Since this was the precedent-setting punishment for a cursing violation, the players decided their coach’s punishment would be 10 down-and-back dashes, henceforth known as the “Schiller Sprints.”

One of the team’s favorite activities was taking trips to Strikezone in Bradenton and playing basketball on the trampoline floor before it closed down last year. It was on one of those trips when junior Damien Gordon dunked on senior Devin Twenty, hard. Someone was smart enough to have his phone out recording the moment, and eventually it was picked up by the Internet-famous CrazyCrossovers Instagram account. The video of Gordon’s dunk on Twenty has been viewed over 145,000 times. The team claims this means Twenty’s embarrassing moment has “gone viral,” but Twenty argues otherwise.

“If it’s not a million, it’s not viral,” Twenty insisted as his teammates laughed.

The team trips are fodder for great Mustang stories. It was senior Sam Jackson’s birthday when the team took a trip to Chuck E Cheese’s while in Ocala. The team paid for Jackson, but in exchange he had to wear a crown, a cape and other embarrassing items to the family entertainment center.

Schiller said the team brings up the memories all the time. It’s how they stay loose while dealing with the pressure of reaching the state tournament. Last season, the Mustangs lost to St. Petersburg in the Class 7A Region 3 final. Now, with the core of the team being seniors, they have a legitimate chance to take home the trophy. The Mustangs are ranked second in Class 8A and 13th in all Florida classes by MaxPreps as of Feb. 5. The more the team wins, they more fun they have with each other.

Everyone gets a bit of the team’s bite. The guys tease senior Blauvelt Georges, whom Schiller called the most athletic person on the team, for often stumbling over the painted lines of the court.  They recalled a game over the summer in Seminole when senior Brock Sisson slipped on a wet spot during a breakaway layup and screamed — loudly, apparently — causing his teammates to burst into a fit of laughter.

“They stopped the game for like five minutes,” Twenty said.

They also know each other well enough to know where not to go. Making fun of girlfriends (or of someone for having one) is over the line. If a sensitive subject is brought up, and someone gets genuinely upset, the subject is dropped immediately. That does not happen often. Their bond allows them to talk about things with each other that they might not with more distant friends.

“We understand where we all come from,” junior Evan Spiller said. “We know our boundaries, we know when to stop. We love each other. Every one of us fits in somewhere.”

There was one other thing the team wanted people to know.

“We are some bad dudes!” about half the roster said, one after another, a play on the corny compliments Schiller gives them when they dominate.

Even while pumping themselves up, they cannot resist throwing a final zinger.