It’s common knowledge that a basketball point guard has lots of responsibilities during a game, and Maddox Casiano has them off the court as well.
Which indicates just how great of a girl she is.
The Nottingham High senior began working at IHOP Pancakes three years ago in order to help Morgan, her single mom of four. As the oldest in the family, Casiano took the job to provide financial assistance for the household. Not a lot of teens would do that with so many other fun things to do, but Maddox didn’t think twice about it.
And in a pleasant twist, it appears to have aided her hoops career.
Aside from admitting the mild surprise that milkshakes — “You’d think it would be pancakes” — are the restaurant’s biggest seller, Casiano gave another revelation: her waitress job helps her point guard performance, and vice versa.
“You’re always talking to a bunch of people,” Casiano said. “When you’re a waitress you have your regulars, but there’s also new faces all the time. You’re talking to people you never met, new personalities and all that. So I feel it’s the same with basketball, you’re talking to the incoming freshmen or sophomores. It’s like getting to know somebody new all the time.”
That ability has helped make Casiano the unquestioned leader of a Northstars team that was 2-8 through Jan. 22. Coach Kyle Jenkins feels that due to the sub-par record, his point guard may be the best kept secret in the CVC.
“We have a lot of girls who work their butts off but we haven’t been tearing up the win column in a while,” Jenkins said. “She might be underrated in the sense they don’t realize how valuable she is to our team because of that fact. But I can tell you as far as we’re concerned, without her we’d be a lot worse. She keeps her cool and tries to get everyone going.”
Casiano is a lifelong point guard. She began playing in Hamilton PAL at age 8, thanks to some prodding from Morgan.
“She’s a big influence,” Maddox said. “She’s actually the one who told me to play basketball. Originally I played soccer, and she said ‘If you like this so much go out and do it.’ I wasn’t the best at the start and she said ‘It doesn’t matter, you’ll get good if you keep playing and keep practicing.’ When she said to do it for real, I made the team.”
Indeed she did, as Casiano became the Stars starting point guard as a freshman and has never relinquished her spot. In addition to her mom, Maddox got support from another adult in then-Nottingham coach Matt Paglione.
“Freshman year was challenging,” she said. “Coach Pags knew I was ready for it. But mentally I really wasn’t. He pushed me, made sure I was ready. He used to say ‘A lot of these kids have been here for so long but it’s OK, you’re 10 times better than them,’ to give me that motivation and prove I could get out there.”
She started as a pure point guard, having little interest in scoring as she was too busy setting up teammates. When James took over the program last year after serving several years as JV coach, he implored her to be more offensive minded for herself.
“She’s gotten more aggressive,” he said. “All she wanted to do before was pass it. We tell her ‘Hey if you have the open lane take that layup. If you have the open shot, take the shot. You don’t always have to dish it out.’
“Her freshman and sophomore years that’s what she did a lot. Last year we started seeing glimpses of it, this year we’re seeing her take more chances, just going to the basket, trying to take shots. That’s what we wanted to see from the beginning. She learned to be a traditional point guard who just dished it out but we say ‘Hey if you’re open go for it.’ So her game has grown in that sense. She’s starting to take charge when she needs to. ”
Casiano admitted that trying to score on her own has been a big adjustment.
“I’m really big on focusing on trying to feed my team, getting them the points,” she said. “Now during practice coaches are trying to get me to put the ball up myself. But trying to do it in the game is a lot more difficult. Even in PAL, I was always looking to pass the ball.
“For shooting they wanted me to practice my mid-range. That’s what I’ve been doing lately. In practice I’ll take 30 minutes for myself to shoot around and work on my shot. And my mom got me some gym memberships so I go there to shoot too.”
Casiano learned how to be a passer and ball handler from watching NBA games and videos. The Golden State Warriors fan has taken tidbits from guys like Kyrie Irving and Steph Curry.
“I use Kyrie as an example,” she said. “He’s a good passer, I always took his skills into my mind. So growing up, I always said ‘All right I’m gonna be the passer, the playmaker on the team, get the people the ball.’ Now that they want me to score, I watch Curry videos for three-pointers. I do a bunch of his shooting drills I’ve seen online. I love learning from the videos.”
Casiano was averaging 9 points and over five assists per game through the Stars first 10 contests. She averaged close to the same numbers last season after averaging under five points per game as a sophomore.
Aside from her stats, she has the intangibles needed to be the floor general.
“She runs the show,” James said. “All the girls listen to her. She’s our leader on the court. She understands what I want, she tries to relay that message and she keeps it going. She’s our ball handler, she’s the one that every girl passes to to make sure everything runs right.
“She has definitely gotten more aggressive shooting the ball. Her shot is very nice, she loves to penetrate and get fouled. She’s one of our better free throw shooters. Emma (Wilke) is our best pure shooter but Maddox is right up there with her.”
Wilke, a junior, led the team in scoring through 10 games with a 10.5 average and James said many of her baskets come off Casiano passes.
“Emma’s like my right hand,” Maddox said. “It’s good playing with her. We understand each other best. She understands what I want to do coming down the court. It’s good.”
Casiano plans on going to Mercer County Community College next year in order to improve her GPA and explore what kind of major she wants to pursue at a four-year school. For now she will enjoy her time as a basketball player, as it allows her to relieve the pressures of her duties in and out of the classroom.
“Basketball helps 100 percent just to get away from all that,” she said. “Having people you know and just playing the game with them is a nice little stress free time. You just enjoy the time you have there.”
And considering how helpful she is to others, the unselfish Casiano certainly deserves some enjoyment.
Senior point guard Maddox Casiano takes the ball up the court for Nottingham basketball in a 55-23 win over STEMCivics on Jan. 11, 2024. (Photo by Wes Kirkpatrick.),
