Our ITG Next Georgia 4 Questions with the Coach guest this week is Bainbridge High boys basketball coach Kelvin Cochran. The veteran coach reached quite a milestone last year when he picked up his 200th career victory at the Southwest Georgia school. Cochran knows the Bearcats basketball program as well as anyone, having served as assistant boys coach for 24 of his 27 years there and as girls basketball head coach for 11 years prior to being named the boys head coach.
The Bearcats had another successful season last year, including a 21-1 start and a berth in the region championship game. In chatting with coach Cochran, we ask him about the 2022-23 season, as well as how things are going so far this year.
Q: Coach, thank you for joining us for our 4 Questions spotlight. With the core starters of your Bainbridge basketball team returning last year, you guys wound up having a great season, finishing with 26 wins, including a 9-0 region record. That’s a lot of wins, and it was a solid season, but with a tough two-point loss to Fayette County in the second round of the playoffs, would you describe the season as bittersweet? What was your assessment of the season as a whole?
A: Yes, most definitely a bittersweet feeling, considering the way the season ended last year. We suffered a heartbreaking loss at the buzzer to a good Fayette County team after feeling like we had a chance to make a run to the championship game. Last year’s team was led by a selfless group of seniors who just wanted to win. They didn’t care who scored the points each night, and they loved to compete, especially on the defensive end. Seniors KJ Cochran, Dontae Broadnax, KJ Bryant, VJ Erving, and Amarion Ford all had the ability to make plays for their teammates and themselves, and they will definitely be missed. They left a lot of good basketball memories for our Bearcat faithful.
Q: One player who really came through for you was AJ Grant. He was a solid contributor last year as the only junior in the starting lineup. It’s got to be encouraging to have him play well, right?
A: Yes, AJ was the little brother of this group of seniors, dating back to middle school. His ability to shoot the three-ball and his basketball IQ made him a great fit with that senior-laden squad. As being the most experienced player returning, it will be mostly on his shoulders this year to lead the Bearcats.
Q: Let’s talk about this season, Coach Cochran. You guys started off 8-3 through the first month, then hit a bit of a rough patch. There’s a lot of basketball left to play, but how would you describe the performance of your Bainbridge basketball team so far?
A: I would describe our team performance so far this year as inconsistent, even though we have a good number of seniors who were a part of the team’s success last year. It has been a challenge for some of them to step in the bigger roles vacated by our graduated seniors. We play well in spurts and have been getting off to slow starts during this rough patch. We turn it on in the second half and give ourselves a chance to win, but we run out of time. We have to find some consistency down this stretch run to the end of the season.
Q: Besides AJ Grant, who else are you depending on to lead this Bainbridge basketball team the rest of the way in 2024?
A: As I mentioned earlier, we have several seniors who were a part of last year’s successful season. Hopefully the experience of practicing against last year’s seniors will give us a chance to compete for another region championship and state playoff berth this year. Along with AJ Grant, seniors Zyrell Williams, Keith Gaines, Gabriel Smart, Cam Sanders and sophomore Ty Jones are tasked to lead the 2023-24 Bearcats.
