Farmersville senior Mathew Salvador will look to help lead the Farmers to success under the direction of first-year head coach Kingsley Akinwole. File photo
By David Wolman
Changing a team’s culture isn’t easy, especially for a squad that has gone 3-30 in district play over the last three seasons.
It’s a statistic that first-year Farmersville head boys basketball coach Kingsley Akinwole has talked about with his players on more than one occasion — more so recently as the Farmers prepare for preseason scrimmages against Sherman, Prosper Richland, Prosper Rock Hill and Van Alstyne, followed by the team’s home opener against Bonham on Nov. 18.
It’s an outcome that Akinwole would like to see change for the better — and quickly.
How does it change?
With a philosophy that Akinwole calls “212 degrees.”
“You bring that extra degree by sprinting up the floor, hustling for a loose ball, having discipline and having that ‘dog-in-you’ mentality,” he said. “We have some of the same athletes as last year, but the mindset is different.”
Akinwole looks to bring the same mindset from his previous job as a varsity assistant at Allen. In his final season with the Eagles, they went 42-3, made the state semifinals and earned the highest ranking in school history — third in the nation by Massey Ratings.
He enters a completely different situation at Farmersville. He is tasked with turning around a Farmersville team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2013 and hasn’t won a playoff game since 2004.
The Farmers had a promising start to last season, finishing their preseason schedule 15-7 but struggling to a 1-9 record in District 13-4A.
“They’re probably tired of hearing me say ‘3-30’ the last three years,” he said. “My job is to make sure that they care about that and hope to get better.”
One difference Akinwole has noticed is the speed and athleticism the Farmers possess. He plans to take advantage of that with a run-and-gun style of play in which Farmersville will look to score at will while playing a scrappy defense. Having players who can play the wing while also defending the rim could be a major strength, Akinwole said.
One player who highlights Farmersville’s versatility is senior Devin Swain Jr. Named the district’s newcomer of the year as a sophomore, he will look to build on a breakout season in which he averaged a team-best 14.8 points per game on 46% shooting, with 64 assists, 58 deflections, 73 steals and 141 rebounds.
“Devin has the potential to go anywhere he wants in college with his size, skill and basketball IQ,” Akinwole said. “His basketball IQ is at an elite level. With him being full-time basketball year-round, it’s helped him. He’s lifting three times a week, and his explosiveness is much different from last year. It will shock a lot of people because he can get up and down the court.”
Two more players who will bring athletic presence to Farmersville are juniors Marquis Oshodi — Akinwole’s son — and Amare Warren. Oshodi hasn’t played basketball since he was a freshman, when he played for his father at Princeton, where Akinwole was the Panthers’ freshman coach.
Expect juniors JJ Decker and Mathew Salvador and sophomores Brandt Martinez and Tavian Smith to also be major contributors for the Farmers. Decker didn’t play much last season, but Akinwole appreciates Decker’s “blue-collar approach,” saying Decker isn’t afraid to dive on the court for loose balls or battle for rebounds in the paint. Salvador has a similar approach and is a natural shooter.
Seniors Travis Lombard and Tatum Swanson are tennis players who could make a difference in the paint for the basketball team with their size.
Senior Ethan Stone is a lockdown defender who has accepted the challenge of guarding the other team’s best guards.
“His energy will help us a lot,” Akinwole said. “He’s able to take some charges, which is something a lot of people don’t want to do these days. He’s a guy who’s going to give us that spark when we need it most.”
Akinwole said playing larger schools such as Rock Hill, Richland and Sherman will help prepare his team for the grind of the season.
“We’ve got three big tests to see if our speed can match the mindset of the level that we want to get to,” he said. “We’re trying to get to an elite level like Allen.”
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