Cajuns Recipe: Does Country Day have right ingredients under coach Mike McGuire for another state championship?
by: William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
The text messages began pinging Mike McGuire’s cell phone earlier in the week. Some of the responses originated from McGuire’s first team at Metairie Park Country Day where he’s been for 27 years, leading the Cajuns to their 15th state tournament appearance this week and will have the opportunity to win his sixth state championship.
“Coach, ‘Can’t believe you’ve done this for 27 years,’” McGuire said in repeating one of the texts. “It’s really fun because I’m coaching their kids. It’s fun because they still come to the game with their kids, and they can’t wait to put them in a Country Day uniform.”
McGuire, a 38-year coaching veteran, has pieced together a team with a great deal of youth, mixed with a veteran edge, to put third-seeded Country Day (25-6) in a position to win its first state championship since 2019 against top-seeded Calvary Baptist (28-3) at 4 p.m. Friday in the LHSAA boys state tournament at Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles.
“We thought we were talented enough, but we didn’t know if we were mature enough because we had a bunch of really young guys who are super talented,” McGuire said. “We didn’t know if it would come together. We were really playing well in February and our best player, Hermon Dyson, went down with a shoulder injury (Feb 14th).
“They had to regroup without him and everybody’s role had to change a little bit,” McGuire said. “We lost three of five games, but the kids said enough was enough, we have to get better. At the end of the (regular) season, Hermon came back and gave us a boost of adrenaline. To have that big body and presence, and he’s a great scorer and leader.”
Country Day didn’t lose without Dyson in its lineup until a stretch of consecutive games against Madison Prep (65-45) and McDonogh #35 (68-67), and again in a non-district game with Sarah Reed (58-56).
Since Feb. 7, the Cajuns haven’t lost and are riding an eight-game winning streak into Friday’s finale.
“When Hermon went down it derailed us for a little bit,” McGuire said. “We fell the three spots (in power ratings). God had other plans for us. It helped us. It gave us the adversity we needed early and then we got back our best player, and it gave us a jolt of juice. They set goals and are now one game away from realizing it. It would be a lot of fun if we could pull it off.”
McGuire believes the loss to Reed, a team the Cajuns turned around and defeated 61-46 en route to a District 10-2A tournament championship, was a turning point. His team knocked off Newman 62-40 in the tournament championship game.
“We had team meetings and said we can’t lose this type of game,” McGuire said. “We had to refocus. The team came together and said the goal is to win a district championship and we would have to beat Reed and Newman and then make it to the Final Four.”
In Dyson’s absence, McGuire witnessed the evolution of his team.
With leading scorer Kellen Brewer, a sophomore, drawing plenty of attention with Dyson sidelined, the Cajuns were getting contributions from other players. The shooting of guards Brennan White, a junior, and Zachary Barrego, a sophomore, were key components in the team’s development, along with freshman guard Curtis McAllister and eighth-grade guard Rhys Diley.
Country Day became whole again when Dyson returned to provide scoring balance on the floor and a presence in the paint with his rebounding and defensive presence.
“I could see it coming together,” McGuire said.
Memorable state tournament games
Country Day had two state championships when McGuire took over the program and began charting a course for additional success.
He recalled pain-staking encounters with since defunct Christian Life Academy of Baton Rouge that involved two straight losses in the state finals, until a breakthrough in 2009. The Cajuns defeated the Crusaders (58-49) in the semifinals and defeated Arcadia (67-47) in the championship for McGuire’s first title at the school.
“When you get there it’s nerves, it’s toughness, playing together,” McGuire said of the state tournament. “I tell our guys that the best team wins, not the most talented team. We’ve played against All-Americans, guys who major Division I players and they can have bad games, and they can have good games, too.”
McGuire guided his teams to consecutive state titles in 2013-14, increasing the school’s total to four. The Cajuns defeated Arcadia (60-54) in ’13, a team with Texas A&M-bound Courtney Roberson, and Madison Prep (50-47) in ’14.
The road to the Class 2A/Division III prominence was filled with memorable encounters with The Dunham School of Baton Rouge, a matchup they reprised on Tuesday.
Country Day added state titles Nos. 4 and 5 under McGuire with wins over Dunham (70-41) in ’17 and ’19 (58-48), and a semifinal setback (47-46) to the Tigers in ’18.
“We know what kind of program they have,” McGuire said of Dunham. “In 2019 when we beat them, they had four college kids on that team. They were amazing and we played lights out that night. Everything was perfect for us.
“It was going to be a dogfight, and it was,” McGuire said of Tuesday’s semifinal. “I told the kids before the game that we were playing for a one-point win and that’s what it came down to. We know these guys, they know us.
Country Day took a 15-point lead in the third quarter when No. 2 Dunham stormed back for a 51-50 lead with 3:21 remaining and extended that margin to 53-50 with 2:21 to go.
Brewer’s steal and layup reduced the deficit to a point when McAllister knocked down the game-winning shot with 3.1 seconds showing for a 54-53 victory. Brewer led the Cajuns with 23 points and Dyson added 14 points and 8 rebounds.
“Each of our teams, their goals are to go to the Final Four,” McGuire said. “It’s really hard to win them. The culture is for us to set goals to be tough, to play a really tough schedule, and for us to get to the Final Four. I’ve been very blessed to be there 15 times. It’s just been awesome.
“We lost to Calvary (58-50) in the 2022 semifinals,” McGuire said. “They were really talented and this team’s more talented than that one. I think our team’s more talented than the ’22 team. Each year these kids have lofty goals. They want to win. I give it to this young group. They really want to win and here we are. We have a shot if we can pull it off.”
Cajuns make role-play key to success
McGuire said the response to the name recognition surrounding this year’s team is hardly unexpected.
Brewer, the son of former NBA player and New Orleans Pelicans assistant coach Corey Brewer has been the team’s leading scorer at 18 points and showed his ability to raise the level of his game with a 23-point effort in the semifinal.
He played on the junior varsity team as a freshman before a growth spurt of three inches over the summer put him at 6-foot-4 this season.
“He could take 25 shots a game,” McGuire said of Brewer. “But he doesn’t care. Same with Hermon. He can score eight or 28, he doesn’t care.”
McAllister is the son of former New Orleans Saints career rushing leader Deuce McAllister who has cracked the team’s starting lineup as a freshman and averaged 8.0 points. His game-winning shot in the semifinals exemplified his family’s clutch gene.
“Both of them are so humble,” McGuire said. “They don’t even talk about their dads. They don’t mention the NBA or the NFL. They are great, great kids that are really smart in the classroom. They fit in like a glove. It’s not about them. They’ve really bought into the team concept. Every kid on the team loves them. Hermon could be the guy anywhere else, but with us, he’s one of the team.”
Deuce McAllister’s impact on the team stretches to senior McAllister Callejo whose parents were big fans of the Saints and the former NFL running back and named their son in his honor.
“Callejo comes off the bench and has been terrific in the playoffs,” McGuire said. “He’s only scored a few points, but he rebounds, he’s tough, passes the ball and takes open 3s. All of that stuff matters, and it opens up the floor for the other guys. It’s been fun to see these guys gel and come together.”
McGuire challenged his team during the regular as usual, a group that responded with a 78-57 win over Division I select semifinalist John Curtis in November. They put together a nine-game winning streak in December, reeling off wins over a group of playoff teams such as Division II select finalist Archbishop Hannan (60-57), Division II select quarterfinalist Sophie B. Wright (56-49), Division I select semifinalist St. Thomas More (64-57) and Division IV select semifinalist Crescent City (55-44).
“I have former players come in and talk to kids,” McGuire said. “Guys that were on that ’19 team come back and talk about the traditions. We have guys that played on the ’09 team. We believe in tradition and being part of something special and the kids really feel it. They talk about it. They look at the banners and we talk about is this team good enough? Each team is uniquely different.”
Following an opening-round bye Country Day dispatched of Independence (73-40) in the regional round, setting up an uber-competitive home quarterfinal with No. 6 Catholic-New Iberia. The Cajuns, who led 20-17 at halftime and 41-32 after three quarters, were able to fend off the Panthers, 57-50, behind 22 points from Brewer and 12 from Dyson.
“That was a great game, and they were a great team,” McGuire said. “They should not have been a six seed. They’re really good. That catapulted us into the Dunham game, which we knew Dunham was either going to be 1 or 2. We knew before the season Dunham and Calvary would be two of the more talented teams.
“We got a great result against Dunham and that leads us to Calvary,” McGuire said. “Calvary’s super talented, they’re deep. They have everything. Their two guards (Tyrone Jamison and Jaiden Hall) are really special. It will take everything we’ve got, but we’ve gotten to this point, so why not keep playing.”
McGuire said his team withstood early-season growing pains to arrive at Friday’s state championship game.
With only two seniors in McAllister Callejo and Andrew Nelson, whose only points in the semifinal was a 3-point buzzer-beater before halftime, the Cajuns have been a work in progress with Brewer and White dividing the team’s ball-handling duties (60-40) and Dyson commanding plenty of attention inside.
The Cajuns are essentially a collection of five guards, McGuire said, that have developed roles within the system. Nelson, Curtis McAllister, and Dily play guard positions, and Borrego divides time at point guard with White, and the result has been another state title-contending team.
“Having a chance to win five of them (state titles) is amazing,” McGuire said. “But if we could get this sixth one, it would be really fun for the school and the kids.”