Jerry Mike said he has had five standards for his teams in his 24 years as a coach in the Foothill League, standards he has brought to Hart High as the head of the girls’ basketball program.
“The first standard is, we want you to be here,” Mike, in the midst of his fifth season at Hart after 19 years at Valencia High, said after Monday’s practice. “Now, I know that sounds silly, but you have to be here. Their second standard is, we want a strong, consistent effort … Our third standard is very important: We want you to allow us to coach you … We want you to be a supportive, positive teammate. You know you’re competing with each other, you know you’re competing for minutes, but we also want you giving a little pat on the back … (And) we want you to put in the work.”
With those five standards in mind, the Hart Hawks have flown to three consecutive league titles and a 34-2 league record in that span. The only blemishes on that record are losses to Canyon in the 2022-23 season and Valencia this season.
The reason for that?
“Andrea Aina and Morgan Mack and Emery Eav all do this: They put in the work,” Mike said.
The trio of seniors has been part of each of the last three Hart squads, Mack as a starter since her freshman season, and Aina and Eav growing into their roles as starters and leaders.
Now, the Hawks have a chance to cap off three years of league dominance with an elusive CIF championship. Hart came close to winning it all in the 2022-23 campaign, only to see La Salle win its second consecutive title.
Last year, the Hawks were bounced in the first round by Harvard-Westlake, which went on to win a state title.
Mack, a Long Beach State commit and leading scorer for Hart with 18 points per game, said those losses still hurt to this day, but that the Hawks are as motivated as ever.
“I think this year, it’s kind of different,” Mack said. “We want to get back to where we were … So, just putting in the work and just knowing, every day, this could be our last practice.”
Not far behind Mack in the scoring department is Aina with 17.2 points per game, helped by her team-leading 86 three-pointers on the season. Mike called her an “elite shooter,” something he said he’s only used for one of his players a couple of times in his 30-plus years as a coach.
“Every single day, we come here to work, get better,” Aina said.
Eav, the team’s point guard, leads the Hawks with 3.7 assists per game, marginally ahead of Mack at 3.6 per game. She said the simple fact that everyone on the team gets along has helped everyone to play better.
“I really think it’s just the team,” Eav said. “I mean, everybody on the team, we all get along and we always do stuff together.”
That includes dressing up as their coach this past Halloween, wearing his trademark beanie or L.A. Dodgers cap, slip-on Vans, sweatpants and a casual shirt.
His players know him, and Mike knows his players. It’s why, on Monday, even after countless practices throughout the season, the Hawks (20-7, 11-1) were hard at work getting ready for Thursday’s game against the San Jacinto Tigers (22-6, 8-0) in the CIF Southern Section Division 2AA playoffs.
Mike and assistant coach Zach Koebel could be seen directing players to do certain things, things that may not have been needed during the regular season, but could be the difference between moving on or going home in the postseason.
“In playoffs, you have to be perfect,” Mack said. “And (Mike) pushes us, because he knows what we can be. We’ve been really striving hard on defense the last years I’ve been here, so just knowing that, you know, we do a good defensive play, but knowing we have to be better and we can be better.”
One thing the Hawks won’t be worrying about is a long bus ride as Thursday’s game is scheduled to be played at Hart High.
“It’s great,” Eav said. “I mean, obviously we don’t have to drive super far. And also, it’s just nice to have all my family here and just our home court, something I’m familiar with.”
What’s unfamiliar this year for the playoffs is the Southern Section using a computer ranking system to create playoff divisions and brackets. Mike thinks that will make every game matter that much more, because in theory, every team is somewhat evenly matched, and every win should be celebrated because of that.
“I think a lot of these games, you see, ‘Oh, league champ. Oh, they’re playing a league champ,’” Mike said. “And the team that’s 21-4, they’re playing a team that’s 20-5. So far, I think it’s a good feel.”
But no matter how Thursday’s game shakes out, Mike said the standards that he preaches, the ones that Mack, Aina and Eav embody, are standards that will hopefully continue on as the younger Hawks have watched those three do what others have done before them.
“I think the players coming up, hopefully they see that,” Mike said. “And they had players like Arleigh Eav and Kayla Hourigan and Lainey Grider and Elyse Mitchell doing those things, too. So, that’s kind of how you want to see it, you know, the program being built like that.”
