By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — The AAU circuit does not breed team basketball. McAllen High coach Ryan Flores understood this from the outset.
But for all his belief in ball distribution and balanced scoring, he encouraged his predominantly senior cast to take part in summer ball in an effort to “start coaching each other” and implementing some of the basic principles of Flores’ system.
Months earlier, Flores had taken over the program, his first-ever head coaching job. And by the time fall practice got under way, his worst fears were true. Having played three years in a singular system, his players seemed set in their ways. There was too much individual play for his liking, too much 1-on-1 and isolation sets.
“It felt like, ‘I’m going to get my shots up. I’m convinced, when I’m going down the floor, I’m going to shoot it,’” Flores said about his team’s mindset at first. “That was probably the hardest thing to get them to understand, that we have to win as a team.
“For us to come in and change those things, it took us a while. We had to teach them that this is not an individual game. You’re not playing 3-on-3. You’re not playing H.O.R.S.E. … If you want to be an individual, go play golf.”
Flores had valid reasons behind his thinking. In the event of an injury, bench players have a better likelihood of fitting in seamlessly under a team structure, filling in gaps rather than altering the whole dynamic. And that translated to defensive side, as well, where his Bulldogs had grown accustomed to playing man-to-man.
Within time, McHi refined its team-oriented style of play, spreading the offensive load among five players and getting them to communicate while playing zone defense. It’s been the cornerstone of the Bulldogs’ run this season, winning a share of the district title and advancing to the regional quarterfinals, where they host Harlingen South at 8 tonight at UTPA.
It marks a rematch of last year’s postseason matchup, where McHi was bounced in the opening round. But this year’s team has a different identity — one with balance across the boards. Only one Bulldogs player (Oscar Rangel) scores in double figures each night, averaging 10.9 points. And the rest of the support comes from four other players who average 6.0 or more points each game.
It’s resulted in McHi players falling short of the Valley’s top 25 in individual scoring and rebounding and out of the top 20 in assists and steals. But they’ve gladly accepted that in exchange for their first regional appearance since 2010.
“I think we just have a lot of faith in each other,” said team captain Michael Garcia, who averages 6.0 points and 4.2 rebounds. “It doesn’t matter who has the ball, everyone can perform.
“We have our sets and we try to move the ball around and play off each other. You could get an assist, you could score. Coach Flores doesn’t have that one main guy that can really score, so we just move the ball around and we know someone’s going to get it to the open guy.”
The road there wasn’t easy. Flores started the year playing everyone, from the perceived go-to player to the 13th man, developing a variety of lineups. They picked up steam in early December after a non-district win over Edinburg Vela, ranked No. 1 at times by RGVSports.com this season, and again four days later when they topped the SaberCats to win the La Feria tournament.
“It was a shock and an eye-opener — not just to them but us,” Flores said. “We said, ‘Wait a minute. If we could compete with the best team in the Valley and beat them twice, we have something here. We can work with these kids. We can go to a higher level. We can compete for a district title and maybe advance to the state tournament.”
The Bulldogs (29-7) went 4-2 through the first half of district before going 6-0, pulling out comeback win after comeback win. Now they stand as only one of only five public schools in the Valley still in the playoffs, with a chance tonight to join an ever-shrinking pool.
“For someone that doesn’t follow Valley basketball, they might be surprised (by what the Bulldogs have accomplished this year),” said McAllen Memorial coach Sam Cortez, who had Flores, his nephew, serve as an assistant the past nine seasons. “But being a coach and coaching against those kids at McHi, they’ve got a great opportunity and a good situation over there. At first, the kids had to accept (Flores) and believe in what he’s trying to accomplish. But I think he’s done an excellent job of turning things around quickly.”