Up for the Task: Senior point guard AJ Olivier is motor for Dunham hoops
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
The somber looks on his teammates’ faces remain etched in A.J. Olivier’s mind.
Three consecutive Division III select state semifinal exits for The Dunham School were enough to fuel any additional incentive Olivier needed for his final season.
“I’ve gotten to see the seniors and their reaction to it,” Olivier said. “Now I’m the senior on the team. I really don’t want to go out like that. As a captain now, we owe it to those guys that didn’t get to the state championship. I want that for them, not just myself, but for them that graduated in the last several years.”
Olivier has been a highlight of the night for Dunham (12-1), which returns to action at 7 p.m. Tuesday, hosting St. Charles Catholic (7-7). The 5-foot-9 point guard has elevated his game in all facets for a team with state championship aspirations.
A career-best 25.3 points gives fans only a quick peek into Olivier’s performance through 13 games. Earlier this season, he reached 1,000 career points (he’s now up to 1,196 points), and he’s been impressive from 3-point range (55.8%) and the free throw line (78.6%), to go along with 3.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists.
“I would say he’s a true point guard, but for us he’s got to score more, and he knows that,” Dunham’s fifth-year basketball coach Chad Myers said. “He can make everybody better and distribute the ball. If he had to do that, he could do that. He knows we kind of need him to score.”
With Dunham’s football team in the midst of another deep postseason run, Myers deliberately backed the start of the season to the conclusion of the school’s football team.
That meant waiting on returning starters Elijah Haven and Jarvis Washington, along with key reserves Charlie Myers and Kris Thomas, until after the Tigers’ 34-17 win over Calvary Baptist for the Division III select state title in the Caeser’s Superdome.
The following day, Dunham, with Charlie Myers and Thomas on the bench, opened its basketball season with a 64-44 victory over Central Private.
Olivier poured in 31 points in his team’s opener and averaged 31.6 points during a five-game stretch of the season. In a 35-point blowout of Broadmoor, Oliver exploded for 40 points and hasn’t slowed down since, scoring at least 20 points in all but two of his team’s games.
“My role then was to score the ball,” Olivier said. “When football came back coach talked about that we had roles on this team. Whether that’s me scoring 30 points or 15, I was ready to do whatever it takes to get the win for the team. We have a lot of options that can score the ball. I’m not too focused on scoring the ball. I’m just trying to go out and win with my guys.”
A.J. said the miniature basketball goal and classic orange foam basketball he had a youngster was courtesy of his father, Athan Olivier, a standout basketball player at St. Martinville High School.
“I guess he found joy in me playing and put the ball in my hand as a young kid,” he said.
A.J.’s athletic prowess wasn’t limited to scoring on a basketball court. His first love, soccer, superseded that of basketball, and his parents went as far as to think that his ability on the pitch could have resulted in a European destination.
“I was pretty good,” Olivier said. “As I got older, I started to take basketball seriously in the first, second, and third grade.”
Olivier’s proving ground in the New Iberia biddy basketball leagues was the foundation for the logical step for someone who excelled in the sport to play AAU.
That led him to Louisiana Elite’s program, coached by Madison Prep coach Jeff Jones, in the third and fourth grades. By the time he reached high school, Olivier switched to playing for coach Randy Livingston’s LivON team in the EYBL, better rounding out his game on the defensive end.
He subsequently returned to La. Elite, where he played last summer.
“I was more of an offensive-minded guy,” he said. “I think I’ve done a better job this year of flipping that switch of thinking defense first, and the offense will come. That was a good lesson that they both taught me.”
Olivier continued to develop his career once his family moved to Lafayette and then to Baton Rouge, where he enrolled at Dunham.
He already had a built-in relationship with Haven, who he had played with since the third grade and with current seniors, Gavin Blanton and Washington, whom he competed against in AAU-level games.
Olivier’s arrival was on the heels of one of Dunham’s top players – Carlos Stewart, a point guard who helped the Tigers to a second straight Division III state championship under coach Jonathan Pixley. He was also named Mr. Basketball before signing with Santa Clara, transferring to LSU for a year, and then returning to Santa Clara, where he graduated and is currently playing professionally overseas.
“Since my freshman year coach gave me the keys and said, ‘The ball’s in your hands,” Olivier said. “I had to try and do whatever I could, getting the ball to Elijah, or if that’s me taking the shot. I want to win and get my team to the next level. On the defensive end, coach Myers talked to me about getting it done, and the offense would come. Not only for me but the team.”
The start of Olivier’s high school proved bittersweet. His first career start was shortened by a broken tibia, limiting his action to a reserve role when he became the team’s first player off the bench in the first week of February.
Having been sidelined for an extended period of time only strengthened Olivier’s resolve.
“That just built character and built the determination in me,” he said. “Now, when I get to play basketball, I don’t know when the game will be taken away from me. I just try to give it my all, do whatever coach Chad needs me to do. Be coachable, be a good kid. I pride myself on that and try to do whatever my team, my coaches need me to do.”
Dunham won nine of its last 12 games in Olivier’s first season, was seeded fourth in the playoffs, registered a pair of double-digit victories until running into the eventual state champion Newman in the semifinals.
In his first full season, Oliver averaged 11.3 points and shot 36.3% from 3-point range and shared the District 8-2A MVP honors with Haven. The Tigers closed the regular season with nine wins in their last 10 games – falling only to Class 5A Ruston by 12 points – before advancing back to the semifinals.
A home quarterfinal win over St. Charles (42-36) turned into a personal challenge for Olivier, who heard plenty about the visiting Comets also having a standout sophomore guard.
“The biggest knock is that he could guard when he wanted to guard,” Myers said of Olivier. “St. Charles had this guard that some were saying was the best sophomore in the game. A.J. didn’t let him get a shot off.”
Dunham, which had defeated University High twice in the regular season, atoned for those shortcomings and eliminated Dunham, 44-41, in the semifinals.
Olivier, who averaged 15.5 points and shot 37.7 from behind the arc, was selected to the all-district team again and to the LSWA’s Class 2A All-State second team with Haven.
That contributed to an offseason where it became commonplace to find Olivier and several teammates, such as Blanton, to find Myers for the keys to the gym. He also played another summer of AAU ball with the La. Elite, worked out twice a week with Pixley, who trains elite athletes, and continued to gain strength in the weight room.
“That’s what it comes down to, the amount of work you put in,” Olivier said. “I’ve been working out a lot, working on 3, my pull-up. Whatever it is, and also, it’s my guys finding me in the right spots. If they don’t find me in the right spots, I don’t get the shots. It comes down to getting work in and having a team around you that can get you in those situations.
“After my injury, is when everything flipped,” Olivier said. “The game was taken away from me for three or four months. Once I got back in the gym, I just lived there. Since then, the product has showed. Just staying in the gym constantly, it definitely has a positive outlook on the court.”
Olivier explains that a great deal of Dunham’s success is rooted in a core group of talented players who have started together for 103 games.
“We have that unspoken chemistry,” he said. “We don’t have to necessarily get on each other. That’s valuable to have that chemistry and the amount of years we have together playing.”
Myers describes Olivier’s leadership method as more of a, ‘Just get on my back’ type of approach. His team-first mentality leads to an on-floor intensity that’s not hard to detect through his play.
“He’s not as vocal as I would like him to be, but he’s gotten a little more verbal this year,” Myers said. “That’s been the best part of this year and our start. They’ve been through it, and our schedule’s not easy.”
Dunham’s unofficial No. 2 power rating is the result of an ambitious schedule that already includes a 67-55 road win over St. Augustine, the reigning Division I select state champion, in which Olivier scored 31 points.
Behind Olivier’s 21 points, the Tigers won 74-62 at Catholic-Baton Rouge, before dropping a 73-68 decision at Archbishop Rummel and recording a 55-49 win over Central, the Division I non-select state-runner-up, in Sunday’s MLK Classic at Madison Prep.
There will be additional tests from Liberty Magnet (Jan. 21), Parkview Baptist (Jan. 26), St. Thomas More (Jan. 28), U-High (Jan. 30), Zachary (Feb. 2), and Madison Prep (Feb. 13).
Those are the kinds of encounters that will undoubtedly sharpen the Tigers, but also push Olivier, who remains driven by a physical slight he’s taken personally.
“Most college point guards are 6-2 or 6-3,” he said. “I carry that chip on my shoulder because I’m under 6-foot. It’s almost like I have to prove something. Once I get into a game, I’m not trying to do too much. I’m trying to play within myself and do whatever I can to make the team win. I know college coaches like winners. That’s the ultimate. I’m just trying to win.”
Dunham’s won 75% (81-27) of its games during Olivier’s career.
Myers is a big proponent of his point guard, who believes college coaches are hung up more on a couple of inches in height instead of Olivier’s makeup and skill level.
“If this kid was 6-2, I’d have so many coaches in here,” he said. “People say it’s his size, but I’ve seen enough. At some point, some of these coaches have to give him a look.”
Loyola-New Orleans, the University of New Orleans, and Lipscomb University (Nashville) have all expressed interest, Myer said.
“I keep telling him to focus on his senior year,” Myers said. “It’s going to work itself out.”
Three consecutive losses in the state semifinals remain the overriding focal point for Olivier. The last two semifinals were painfully decided by a total of four points, including last year’s 54-53 setback to Country Day, which went on to win the Division III state crown.
“I’m focused on the now, not trying to get too far ahead of myself,” Olivier said. “God put me in this place, and he will guide me in the future. I just want to share that time with my team to get to the ultimate goal.
“You only get this time once in high school,” Olivier said. “Since I got here, it was to win a state championship. All the personal accolades will follow, but I’m not focusing on that. We’re trying to get to that point, get over the hump, and get a state championship. I want to share that moment with my guys. That’s what I came here to do.”