Archbishop Shaw Finds its stride at LHSBCA Basketball Team Camp at Loyola University

by: Mike Strom // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

Archbishop Shaw coach Wesley Laurendine arrived at the Louisiana High School Basketball Coaches Association JSE Top 100 Showcase Team Camp looking for a slice of humble pie for his highly-regarded basketball squad.

A Division II Select state semifinalist this past season, the Eagles more than got their fill on opening day of the three-day camp featuring over 100 teams and 1,000 athletes competing at Loyola University in New Orleans in the NCAA-certified recruiting event.

The Eagles sustained narrow losses to St. Charles Catholic and The Dunham School in the first two games of the four they played during their Friday and Saturday appearances after breezing through previous summer team camps at Southern Mississippi, Tulane, and Country Day in addition to the McDonogh 35 summer league. Those Friday morning defeats set the table for a pair of double-digit victories against powerhouses Starkville, Miss., and West Monroe on Saturday.

“(Losing) actually was really good for us,’’ said Laurendine, whose Eagles graduated three starters from a 29-6 team that won a second consecutive District 10-4A championship in 2023-24 while advancing to the state semifinals for a third straight season. “My team wasn’t playing particularly well and we got a wakeup call against St. Charles Catholic who’s really good. We wound up losing to them by two and it was great for us because we really needed a wakeup call.

“Then we played Dunham and lost at like the buzzer. I told the guys after how happy I was that we had lost. We hadn’t really lost all summer and (losing) kind of shook us back to where we needed to be. We came back the next day and played a really good Starkville, Mississippi, team and beat them by 20 and then played a really good West Monroe team and beat them by 15.’’

The Eagles rode the play of stellar forwards Kobe Butler and Triston Naquin and point guard Allen “Red’’ Shaw III in their Saturday comeback.

“I told (Shaw players) those two teams might have been more talented than the two teams we played (Friday),’’ Laurendine said. “Dunham has one of the best players in the state in Elijah Havens. But, overall, both of those teams (Starkville and West Monroe) that we played on the second day might have been more talented than the teams (St. Charles Catholic and Dunham) we played on the first day.

“On the first day it was just about how we played and how we played with (not enough) energy and effort. My guys are really young. So sometimes we run into things and it’s just because we’re young. We have young kids that didn’t quite understand the focus that needs to happen at 9 o’clock in the morning for you to go out and win a game. So it was really good from that standpoint.

“Triston and Kobe both had great second days. Triston was unreal in the last game versus West Monroe. He’s a special talent. Kobe played with a high motor. My guys shot the ball much better. So it was good.

“I thought we had great competition in (the camp). My guys got a lot out of it just because we needed a wakeup call. I’m glad we participated in it. I’m also glad (the camp) was at Loyola. It’s a great facility for (the camp). They’ve done a great job with that facility for those types of events.’’

Shaw did experience one glitch on Friday that Laurendine would like to see addressed in future years. Playing at 9 a.m. and then at 11 prevented Division I coaches from seeing the games, Laurendine said, because the Division I coaches viewing window did not open until noon.

“Unfortunately, we played two games on Friday before the actual live (recruiting) session opened, which was a little bit of a bummer,’’ Laurendine said. “There were some coaches there, but it was not the (Division I) guys. So on Friday I wish we would have played after the noon timeframe. That’s my only problem with (the camp format) and I’m sure it was nobody’s intention. It’s just probably the way it mapped out for the scouts.

“We played in the morning. Our first game (versus St. Charles Catholic) was at 9 a.m. and our second game (versus Dunham) was at 11 a.m. The (Division) I coaches weren’t allowed to be there until noon and we played both of our games before noon on Friday. So we didn’t get to be seen by a lot of coaches on that particular day.

“Then on Saturday we played again at 9 a.m. (versus Starkville, Miss.) and we played at 12 (versus West Monroe) so a lot of coaches did see us at the 12 o’clock game, but I felt there could have been a better way for us to be seen a little more. And, again, I don’t think anybody has any intention of (wrong doing).

“I just feel like that maybe next time if we know certain teams have certain players that should be seen, then those people get (better game times). Maybe there could be a questionnaire about (which players) have interest.’’

In supplying context, Laurendine offered, “How many kids these days actually have offers out of high school? The answer to that is probably seven to 10 in the entire state. What I’m saying is that out of the entire state most kids aren’t going to Division I schools out of high school. If you get a Division I scholarship out of high school, you’re a top talent. And I have two of them that could possibly be playing Division I basketball.’’

The LHSBCA Camp attracted more than 50 college coaches representing 26 schools, LHSBCA president and Carencro coach Christopher Kovatch said. Kovatch confirmed that Division I coaches could not begin live participation in the camp until noon Friday.

“Somebody was going to get screwed (in that format) unfortunately,’’ Kovatch said. “We learned some things with this first run with a team camp format. (Camp officials) pow-wowed on Sunday about the things we need to look at and improve in order to make the camp better in the future.’’  

Shaw’s potential college players are the 6-foot-7 senior Butler and 6-6 sophomore Naquin, who man the forward positions. A superb shot blocker, Butler is entering his third year as a starter as is Shaw while Naquin joins the starting lineup after serving as sixth man and an occasional starter as a freshman.

“I have two really talented Bigs,’’ Laurendine said. “Kobe is . One is Kobe Butler who’s a senior. He’s 6-7, a really good shot blocker. He’s talented offensively. He can score inside. He’s really good (shooting) around 15 feet. He can step out and hit a three. He’s got offers from Xavier, Dillard, LSU-A (Alexandria). He’s got interest from Southern and Southern Miss.

“My other Big is a 6-foot-6 sophomore. Triston is a jack of all trades. He can do it all. He can shoot it. He can post. He can handle the ball. He’s a really, really talented player. He’s extremely athletic, a great passer. He’s got offers already from UNO, Southern Miss and interest from the University of Houston. He is a big-time player. He was our sixth man last year just because he was getting used to more varsity minutes and trying to figure (the game) all out.’’

Joining Butler, Naquin and Shaw in the projected starting lineup are guards Jackson Williams (6-foot-2), Dennis Seal (6-foot-3) and/or Khalil Awogboro (6-0). Williams is a Newman transfer while Seal and Awogboro are shooting guards.

Freshman point guard Christian Clair (5-foot-9) is another talented newcomer expected to play key minutes among the top seven. Eighth-grade forward Baylon Jackson (6-foot-3) is a promising defender who also could earn playing time.

“My guys are really young,’’ Laurendine said. “I have only one kid on my team that can legally drive. Kobe is only like 16. He’s going to be a senior. He should be a sophomore. Triston is a sophomore; he should be a freshman. These guys are young. Red (Shaw) is only a sophomore. Christian Clair is only 14-years-old. My starting lineup is 16 and under.’’

Versatility among a talented first seven should supply Laurendine with some flexibility as was the case during the LHSBCA team camp.

“The starting five on Friday was a different starting five on Saturday,’’ Laurendine said. “I have seven guys that are all (close together) and two of the guys play football, so they won’t be there in the beginning (of the basketball season). But they also are two of our best players as well.

“In the beginning it’s going to be two Bigs, two shooting guards and a point guard. In the beginning I’m going to start three seniors, a sophomore and a freshman. When (Shaw and Williams) come back, I’ll probably only start two seniors with two sophomores and a junior. One of the shooters would come off of the bench and Christian Clair might come off the bench. It depends on who’s healthy. That’s another thing.

“So I have seven guys who are going to play pretty much equal amounts. The Bigs are not going to come out if they’re not tired. They’re going to stay in.’’

Shaw and Williams, the Eagles projected starting backcourt, have decided to play varsity football for the first time in a move expected to further bolster the talented squad Coach Hank Tierney expects to field. Shaw is slated to play cornerback and possibly return kicks while Williams plays safety.

“They are excellent athletes,’’ Laurendine said. “Red is a point guard and Jackson is kind of like a combo guard. They’re both very talented players. If we didn’t have that happening right now, I can tell you that we wouldn’t lose many (basketball) games.’’

Despite their hiccups versus St. Charles Catholic and Dunham, the Eagles still do not expect to experience defeat often as evidenced by Saturday’s lopsided victories against Starkville and West Monroe.

“Personally,’’ Butler said, “I think that we did pretty well overall (in the LHSBCA Camp). We obviously started off slow by losing those first two games (to St. Charles Catholic and Dunham), but those two games both were like super close. What those losses showed us especially for the next two games (versus Starkville and West Monroe) was that we need to continually play hard and play to our potential if we’re going to win big games like those.

“We all collectively realized that the way we played Friday wasn’t going to work Saturday. So, as a team we all had it in our minds that we all needed to play super hard. We have to play great defense, hustle a lot, take charges, block shots, go score the ball, take open shots, make the right passes. We all just had that in our minds.’’

Shaw’s strong finish versus reinforced the Eagles’ optimism following Friday’s shaky start. 

“I felt like going in we were playing to maybe the competition instead of playing the same way no matter who we play,’’ Laurendine said. “Because of that approach, we got ‘got’ per se and that kind of shook our guys a little bit. (They realized) maybe there’s something to what Coach has been preaching to us here and they came back.

“I love how we responded and finished the camp. I thought we played well together and the kids were having fun. I talk to them about that all of the time. If we’re not having fun out here, if I’m not having fun doing this, I’m not going to do this anymore. So if you’re not having fun out here, guys, we need to figure something else out.

“So they were having fun together. They were talking a lot to each other in positive ways. That’s kind of what we preach in our program, that our culture is everything and if you’re either helping it or hurting it. All I want is guys that are here to help with positive attitudes. That’s what we got to (during camp). Our positivity really cranked up and we finished in a positive light.’’

Laurendine liked the work he saw the Eagles compile particularly given that it is only mid-June and the Eagles remain very much a work in progesss.

“I don’t call many timeouts,’’ Laurendine said. “I try to let my guys work through things because you’re doing different things. My angle is to not win as many games in the summer as possible. (Meaning) I’m not trying to win as many games in summer as possible. I’m trying to make sure that my players get into as many experiences as possible, as many situations as possible.

“We’re looking at the clock. We’re down five (points) with one minute, 30 seconds left. Who needs the ball? Things like that. That’s what I’m trying to get to and I tell my players that this is a time to experiment with different types of shots that you’ve been working on.

“But we’re also trying to build team chemistry. And that’s the end goal, to make sure everyone has gotten a little better, myself included. I try new things. We put in new things that if I don’t like it, I scratch it. If I like it, we work on it more. I see some teams that look finished products in the summer and we are nowhere near a finished product.

“I told our guys that’s what you want. You don’t want to be as good as you can be right now. So when we lost those two games, I was happy about it because it proved to my team that we need to get better. That’s kind of what they took (away) and they responded. I was real proud of my team for coming back the next day and just really playing hard and playing well together.’’

“The competition in all four games were about the same,’’ Naquin, the budding sophomore standout, said. “It’s just that we played differently in the last two games than we did in the first two games. In the first two games we were more lackadaisical and we didn’t have as much intensity as the second two games. And that’s what made the difference between the wins and the losses.

“So I think we learned something important this weekend. We have to play every possession like it’s the last possession and we have to win every possession. We can’t just turn the ball over or let (opponents) shoot wide-open shots because that’s how we lose. The last game that we played (versus West Monroe), I think we really picked it up. The two losses in the beginning kind lit a fire under our bellies, so we can perform how we’re supposed to perform.’’

“This is definitely one of those years that we feel like we can win the championship,’’ Butler, the senior, said. “Especially with the team that we had last year, we feel that the team this year is on the same level or even better than what we had last year or the last two years. We definitely feel like this year is our chance to win it all.’’

“We’ve just got to put our heads together,’’ Naquin said, “put all of our talents and egos aside and (then) I believe that we’re going to win big.’’