Matt Brown: Northwood is blessed to be in the 3A state championship game Subject:* A friend wanted you to see this item from High School OT: https://wr.al/1K3z3 Northwood boys basketball coach Matt Brown discusses the Chargers' run to the 3A state championship game, a group of freshmen that have led the way, and what to expect in the finale. Show Transcript I'm joined by Matt Brown of Northwood, the head coach of the boys basketball team. Coach Brown. Congratulations. Huge win for you guys on Tuesday night. Overtime West Carter at regional Championship It's been a slow build for you guys as a program to this point. How does it feel to to reach this milestone? Uh, it's always It's always a good feeling that got, you know, the guys worked hard towards this moment. We've been very blessed to be in this position right now. Um, I think you know the thing that jumps off the page about your team. Is the three freshmen kind of leading the way? I think you guys had a really good team the last two years. I think a lot of people who maybe didn't know you had those guys coming in would have expected to step back. Can you tell us about those those three freshmen you've gotten and how you've seen them kind of grow over the course of the year? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Jarod Stevenson, um, or 68 power forward. He can step out, shoot the three. He can do it all, uh, defensively. He can guard the perimeter he can block shots without filing. He's just all around, really good player. He really does a lot for us. Even if he's not scoring the ball. He's able to facilitate and draw the double teams and make the make the right pass and right the right play. Um, Drake, pal. He's a 65 freshmen. He's the little brother of Deuce, pal, which played for me for the last three years. Um, not so little. He's a little bit better there, But you know, he defender can play the point position, you know, makes play after play for us, um, down the stretch for the last couple of games. And he's just a very versatile player. And then Fred Whitaker, um, came from Durham, uh, freshman point guard. He kind of runs the show and defensive stopper for us and, you know, be being able to be a freshman at the point guard position and being, um successful at it. It says a lot about him as a player as well and about you know, those three guys just coming in, not letting the crowd get to us the last couple of games and kind of playing, um, kind of like a senior, almost all three of those guys, and they stepped up huge for us. You've got a couple of seniors in Troy Arnold and Kobe Burlison who have assumed, provided some some leadership and experience for your group. What do they mean to to you guys as a team? Oh, I mean, they're they're the heart, the heart and soul of the team. I mean, they've those two as well as Tucker Tucker, Morgan eight, and, uh, McClancy Borough. They've been with us for the last three years, and they've been on that sweet 16 ride in the Final Four on last year. So they've been a part of that group, and, you know, their role players, um, leading up to this year and practice players. And they get much playing time before this year. But you know what? We're trying to teach these guys is about the culture, about Northwood and by what it takes to be a Charger player. And those guys are the epitome of a charger. Claire. I mean, they're gritty, they're hardworking, they're dedicated. And they're really teaching the younger guys how to become that Charger basketball player. And there they're the key guys to our success this year. You took too close losses in conference play, really early in the season. The Southern Durham in East Chapel Hill That kept you out of the top two in the conference. So you get in as an at large wild card. Um, what did you see? Growth wise in learning experience wise from those two losses that may be stuck with your group. Oh, yeah. I mean, it was a blessing in disguise. I mean, I told the guys after those two losses, you know, we're going to learn from it. Um, I always say you learned from you learn more from this close losses in the close winds. To be honest, especially early in the season and how young we were, um, we need to learn what we did wrong. And we learned and we grew from it, and we didn't let it kind of, you know, we didn't let it get to us too much. Um, it hurt, but we use that hurt to, you know, kind of propel us into becoming a better basketball team and kind of, um, knowing and understanding that we need to pay a little bit more attention to detail, and I think those two losses really helped us. Um, get to the point where we are right now. I think you look at the theme of kind of the teams that are still standing in these championship games. In this weird year, where there's been so many challenges and curveballs, it's, you know, the well coached teams that have built up a program and a culture. You look at our treacle. Millbrook, Farmville Central. That's, uh, that's that kind of program. And I think you and your opponents at Weddington in this game fit that bill as well. How much do you know about Weddington? And how excited are you for them as a challenge for your group? I mean, they are a very well coached team. Like you said, Um, brave culture, great program. Um, I actually remember playing them. They went to team camp a couple times in South Carolina was when I was in South Carolina, Dutch Fork. They went to team camp a couple times, so I knew I've known of them and we played against each other as when I was at Dutch Fork, so I kind of know them as a program. I watched a couple of films with them already. And, man, they they shoot the lights out, they they're really good. They're a good basketball team. Fundamentally sound well coached. Um, it's gonna be a challenge. Um, you know, but every game, to be honest, you know, when you get this far, every game is gonna be hard. So I'm just again. We're very blessed to be in this position that we're in right now and very thankful you've always had, you know, good defensive physical teams. That's kind of the name of the game in your conference. And that's how you guys play this year. You have more size than you have in the past. How how big of a role is that played and helping you guys get over the hump this year? A huge I mean, it was a little bit different going into this year, knowing that we got a couple of 686 10 kids coming in. And, um, I mean, last year's team, our biggest kid was about 6465 on a good day. So it's been it's been a good thing, you know, we've we got to do a little bit of different things on the defensive side that we weren't able to do last year. Our style plays a little bit different, but our culture is the same. You know, the defensive side of the ball is what is what matters and what's going to win those games. And that's the main focus for us. Matt Brown. Northwood, Thank you so much for your time and best of luck on Saturday. Thank you.