By Terry Toohey
As point guard in his playing days, Chester coach Larry Yarbray Sr. appreciated the benefit of having good big men.
“I played with some good big guys in college, guys who were 6-7 and 6-8 and could play,” said Yarbray, who played for Ron “Fang” Mitchell at Coppin State. “But I really appreciated it when we played teams like Syracuse, Clemson and Maryland, who had guys 6-11 and 7-0, we had to change everything we did. It was a different game.”
As a coach, Yarbary appreciates the value of good big men even more. Guards may be the key to winning, but without some size, it’s hard for the backcourt guys to do their jobs properly.
“If you have a couple of guys 6-7 or 6-8 on the high school level, they can change the game, too,” Yarbray said. “On defense, they can take away the lane and make guys jump shooters. On offense, they can open things up for everyone because they do all the little things like rebound and set picks. Those are the things that every team has to have to be successful.”