Basketball culture is growing in middle Georgia, especially in Houston County

Not all sports are created equal in the public eye for one reason or another.

Growing up in South Georgia (and the South in general) football reigns supreme at every level of the game.

I went to Cairo High School. Every seat at West Thomas Stadium and then some was filled every Friday night whether it was the rival Bainbridge Bearcats or a weak non-region opponent.

By comparison the gym, baseball and softball diamonds rarely had more than parents or a few fans at the games. Even when we had Emerson Hancock, the sixth overall pick in the 2020 Major League Baseball draft.

Middle Georgia sports are similarly dominated by football, but there’s no question that basketball has been receiving an increasing amount of attention in recent years.

Warner Robins has been a staple in the basketball community for decades, but now other programs are starting to see consistent success. Not only that, but the AAU scene is growing with the Warner Robins All-Stars organization.

Perry boys basketball head coach Mark Gainous has been a vocal supporter of AAU basketball.

“If you play basketball just during basketball season you’re probably not going to be a good basketball player in high school,” Gainous said. “I give a lot of credit to [the Warner Robins All-Stars] a lot of credit with their development. It’s not us, it’s them. Because they’re practicing twice a week, they’re playing basically a ‘national’ schedule…Hopefully we’ll have more guys that play for that organization. But I’ve seen a big difference in Christian Grant and Kam Thomas.”

It’s not just Houston County, either. Players from all over middle Georgia play with the Warner Robins All-Stars.

Seniors this year include Malik Gillespie and Kaden Coney from Houston County, Gavyn Williams and Rykeem Ashley from Warner Robins and Chase Dupree and C.J. Howard from Southwest-Macon.

That’s not to mention Tristan Warren, Prince Ragin and Tyler Harris, juniors at Warner Robins.

Those are only the upperclassmen. There’s 31 underclassmen from all five Houston County schools as well as Peach County and John Milledge Academy. There’s a good handful of players in elementary school, too.

Playing in an AAU program like this exposes these players to better competition not just in the Atlanta area, but from out of state.

That kind of exposure is one of the reasons Gainous was comfortable playing Thomas as much as he did his freshman year. His program is one that rewards effort and commitment rather than seniority.

“I’m comfortable with guys that work in practice regardless of what year they are. We don’t play seniors just because they’re seniors or juniors just because they’re juniors,” Gainous said. “We don’t allow our juniors to play [junior varsity]. If they can’t play good minutes as juniors they’re not going to play at Perry High School.”

“We’re comfortable with guys that come in and take basketball serious. We know the guys that play AAU, they take basketball serious so we’re comfortable with those guys playing,” he continued. “Eventually it’s going to pay off…We’re just comfortable playing guys that love basketball, that want to come in and work every single day. We’ll let the chips fall where they may.”

Warner Robins boys coach Jamaal Garman is the longest tenured coach in Houston County, and he’s firsthand seen the rise of the sport as he closes in on two decades coaching here.

“We’ve always had good teams in the area, now we’ve got a lot more teams that are actually going to the state playoffs, winning their region championships…making state playoff runs,” Garman said. “I’m just loving being a part of that. I just want it to continue, and let’s make sure that we are all a part of the final story at the end of the season…We’re in a football area, but we play basketball too.”

Houston County’s boy’s team under Buddy Bivins has improved every year since he took over in 2021. They’ve been right in the Region 2-5A championship race, and a literal couple of bounces away from claiming one.

Their relevance as a perpetual championship chaser isn’t likely to change anytime soon.

That’s not to mention any of the girls teams. Warner Robins and Rebecca Ivory have the most recent championship game appearance of any program in 2022.

The Veterans girls have an Elite Eight, Final Four and Sweet 16 appearance in the last three seasons respectively.

Even the Houston County Basketball Media Day hosted at Warner Robins High School on Nov. 8 is something many counties don’t have, as Gainous noted.

“Events like [Houston County Basketball Media Day], a lot of counties don’t have this,” Gainous said. “Warner Robins, very successful program. Houston County has been a very successful program. Northside with Buck [Harris], he’s had success wherever he goes and then Veterans just got a new coach as well. I always pull for all the teams in the county even though we might be rivals.”

While basketball may never catch up to football, it’s making itself known in Houston County and the greater middle Georgia area.