The West Windsor-Plainsboro South boys’ basketball team has just one player who knows what it’s like to play a full high school season.
Fortunately for the Pirates, he’s the type of player who can make an impact.
After averaging 10.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.5 assists as a sophomore in 2019-20, Rickey Boone is raring to go into his senior year. Last year was a wash for both North and South, as their season was relegated to playing four games against each other.
Boone passed his time by watching Hamilton West games, since he had friends on the team. He enjoyed watching his AAU buddies play, but it hardly filled the gap of not playing himself.
“I was sad that our season was just against high school North and we weren’t playing much,” Boone said. “It was unfortunate, but we’ll have a better season this year.”
Boone will be key to whatever good fortune the Pirates experience. He may even be an early-season surprise to teams that don’t remember him from two years ago.
“Rickey’s always been one of the main ingredients since I’ve taken over the program,” third-year coach Mike Hussong said. “He’s a great kid, a hard worker, and very gifted. He can do a lot of different things for us.”
Such as?
“He’s one of our lead guards, he’ll handle the ball, he’ll also play off of it as well,” Hussong said. “He’s one of those guys who can do it all. He’ll get some rebounds.”
Most important is, he will defend.
“He’s got the potential to lock anyone down that he’s guarding,” Hussong said. “He can stick with anyone. He’s got that mentality going night in, night out, to take on a challenge defensively. Also, he’s got a nice wing span and deflects a ton of passes for us. That results in steals. He’s really pesky that way.”
Boone is not shy about declaring himself to be an all-around player. At just over 6-feet tall, he is confident that he can handle whatever assignment he’s given.
“Most of my teams I’ve been on were always small so I was able to play all positions,” he said. “I’ve never been the tallest but I was always a strong little kid. I was alway able to box out get rebounds. I’m a great rebounder. I know how to play all the positions. I’m a well-rounded player.”
Despite missing last season, Boone still managed to work on his game. Along with playing AAU, he played in a tournament at Rutgers, attended several camps and also wandered around to several gyms.
“I played against some good competition; I played some college kids,” he said. “I like to play a little above my grade. I would go to the Y and they had a lot of people from colleges playing there. My goal was to play higher competition.”
Boone was born in Hamilton, moved to Ewing, and came to West Windsor in fifth grade. He started playing basketball with his cousin at age two “and we just started loving the game.” They began playing at the YMCA, moved to the Boys & Girls Club in Trenton and then went over to Moody Park.
His AAU team, the YSU Elite, played a challenging schedule in both Florida and New Jersey last summer.
“He’s been really working on his game the last year-and-a-half or so, working on that outside jump shot,” Hussong said. “He’s added that and he’s really good at scoring around the basket. He’s athletic, he gets to the rim really quickly. He’s about 6-foot but he plays a lot bigger than that.”
Boone readily admits that penetration is his scoring weapon of choice.
“My favorite thing to do is attack the basket, draw fouls and get ‘and ones,’” he said. “I think I’m a good set shooter, and I love to run. I can dunk, so you’ll see a couple of dunks this season.”
Although he was not the varsity coach when Boone was a freshman, Hussong could not help but notice him.
“You could definitely see some of the attributes jump out at you right from the first time you see him,” the coach said. “He’s always had that little bit of an “it” factor when it comes to his physical ability.”
Hussong feels that Boone will not have to carry the entire load this year. He points to players such as Cal Kasof, Josh Raeter and Ben Jaclin as all having the ability to score.
Boone agreed, saying “Our team is young but we have a good core.”
When it was mentioned he might get double teamed at times this year, Rickey just shrugged.
“I hope so,” he said. “That would be incentive for me. I’d like to make other defenses struggle a little bit. And other guys will be open. I have to find other guys. I’m a point guard, I have to.”
He will be directing a team that’s young but has a chance to improve with time.
“Getting that experience and handling the varsity speed and physicality is something we have to learn on the fly,” Hussong said. “The quicker we adjust to that the better off we’ll be. We’re all about team basketball, sharing the basketball, knowing our assignments, taking care of the ball. And defensively, if we get stops we’re looking to run and score in translation.”
Look for Boone to be in the middle of it all.
High School South’s Rickey Boone is one of the Pirate’s lead guards. (Photo by Rich Fisher.),
