How Cardinal Newman boys basketball is dealing with 7 player dismissals midseason
Phillip Deter hasn’t seen many years like this since he took over as coach of the Cardinal Newman boys basketball program nine years ago.
Under Deter, the Cardinals have one of the top programs in the S.C. Independent School Association, winning three state championships. That includes a state title last year and no losings seasons under Deter.
But with a depleted roster because of multiple player dismissals, that streak will be put to the test over the next few weeks.
The Cardinals dropped to 8-7 after a 66-22 loss to Heathwood Hall on Tuesday in one of the program’s worst region losses in recent memory. After the game, Deter kept his team in the locker room for an extended period of time.
“We’ve got to keep fighting,” he said. “We need more practice time. We are going to break it down piece by piece and get this group where we need to be. It will take a little bit of time. We’ve got to change our philosophy a little bit.”
Cardinal Newman’s roster hardly looks like the one from the start of the season (or even a month ago), a group that was expected to have the Cardinals primed to defend their state championship.
Seven players were recently dismissed from the team for violations of team and school rules. Tuesday was just their third game with a retooled roster, which included just nine players dressed and several brought up from the junior varsity squad.
Deter and the school declined to go into detail about the reasons for the player dismissals.
“We have internal issues that we are currently dealing with,” Deter said. “They will not be playing with us the rest of the season.”
Of the seven players let go, four were starters, including their top two scorers.
Sophomore Luis Echevarria is the lone starter left from the team to begin the season. Echevarria is averaging 10.5 points a game, scoring 11 points against Heathwood and 19 in Monday’s win over First Baptist.
“It is tough, but at the end of the day you are working with kids and you love them,” Deter said. “The nine we’ve got in that locker room tonight, it is our job to get them better. I think we have the staff to be able to do it. We’ve got the mindset to be able to do it.”
Cardinal Newman has nine games left in the regular season, starting with Friday’s game against Hammond. The Cards were scheduled to play in the MLK Bash on Monday but decided to back out after the loss of so many players.
“It is different,” Deter said. “We’ve got a good group of 17 combined kids from JV and varsity and it is on us to figure that part out of who’s where and what we needed to develop.”
