There’s reason for optimism at Compton High as the Tarbabes prepare for the upcoming basketball season.
After spending the last few years at Roosevelt Middle School, the Tarbabes have taken full advantage of their new campus and the new gym that has come with the state-of-the-art facilities.
“Having a gym is refreshing,” senior Xavier Goodlow said. “At Roosevelt it was a small court. It was small. Now we got this extra space. We can do a lot more, a lot more conditioning, and we can just work a lot harder. And what I’m looking forward to is winning, honestly.”
The Tarbabes are looking to win their first Moore League contest since the 2021 season and improve on their 3-win campaign a year ago. The increase in numbers has brought in a couple freshmen that coach Tony Finley is excited about with Suavius Denem and Roman Sims.
Much like their gridiron counterparts, the Tarbabes have seen an increase in participation that will allow C-High to field teams at all levels for the first time in years.
Along with their freshmen newcomers, the Tarbabes will have plenty of new faces at the end of December when the sit-out period for transfers ends. Compton currently has six transfers that Finley expects to play minutes for the team.
Three of those transfers are currently cleared via the sit-out period including Jason Stubberfield, Jhase Johnson, and Zai Williams. The other three are Jayden Willz-Vaults, Karim Beverly and Jaishawn Ruffin who are looking to join the team but haven’t been cleared by CIF as of Sunday, Nov. 16.
“I feel we can match up speed wise and size wise with anybody in this league now,” Finley said.
While the Tarbabes will need to wait for some of their roster, he’s excited for what that will do for his guys that have less experience as they get important minutes early in the season.
“It’s gonna be good for us in the sense that, you know, we got a lot of sitouts,” Finley said. “So we should be competitive and we got a lot of depth this year. In the past years, we only had maybe two or three players that could really compete in the Moore league at that high level and it’s tough league. This year, I think we feel like I got 7 to 8 or 9 guys that can compete in the league. It should be fun.”
While the basketball team will need to build some chemistry once they’re on the court together, the team will have several guys that have some familiarity as they hit the hardwood after football season.
Goodlow, Nelson and Jay’rome Norwood are a football trio that were part of the C-High defense this season that will look to bring that defensive intensity.
“I’m a defensive first player,” Goodlow said about what he’s looking forward to the most with the newcomers. “And me having to score like that (in previous years) says a lot, but we have a whole bunch we have different pieces. And I feel like they are going to fit.”
Time will tell how the team will gel, but the Tarbabes get their first look on Monday night when they open the season at home against Compton Early College. They’ll open Moore League play on Dec. 16 when they host Wilson.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Goodlow said. “My team is looking really good, and it’s probably the best prepared we’ve been for Moore League in a minute.”
