Possible Transfers Inside The Men’s Basketball Team After A Turbulent Season
Jules Goddet | April 20, 2023
During the 2022-2023 season, the basketball team experienced many storms but stood as one as their season continued. In particular, their trip on the west coast to compete in the Coast-2-Coast (C2C) athletic conference championship hosted by UC Santa Cruz at Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz, Calif., has been a historic run. One of these storms has been the firing of Coach Dominique Boone, the former head men’s basketball coach at Warren Wilson College (WWC) by the end of 2022, resulting in some questions about their future in players’ minds.
Antonio Banuelos, a junior majoring in business and coming from Forest City, N.C. is playing guard for the Owls. He has been playing basketball since he was five years old.
“Well, I've come from a basketball-oriented family growing up, so basketball runs through my veins and everything,” Banuelos said. “It kept me level-headed and out of trouble. It keeps me calm and motivated to stop and achieve goals that I want to achieve in life.”
Dashwan Goodine is a junior majoring in business as well and coming from Seneca S.C., is playing point guard. Like for Banuelos, basketball means a lot to him.
“I have been playing basketball forever,” Goodine said. “Basketball is something that brings peace to me, something that also allows me to connect with other people.”
Braxton Cocker, freshman and another point and shooting guard, comes from Rutherfordton, N.C. and is majoring in business. For Cocker, basketball is a family tradition.
“I have been playing since I was three or four,” Cocker said. “My dad got me started, because he played basketball and my uncles and everybody played basketball. So it just kind of runs in the family.”
They all reported choosing to come to study at WWC for athletic and academic reasons, but mainly because of the recruiting from Coach Boone.
“I chose WWC because of the past coach that was here,” Banuealos said. “I've built a relationship and bond with him like no other, and he was recruiting me the most out of high school.”
For Goodine, the campus and academics were also part of the reasons that brought him here.
“I chose WWC mainly for athletic reasons, and most importantly, academic reasons as well,” Goodine said. “But I thought it was a little different. As far as I like, an environment with a lot of nature and stuff. So I thought that would be pretty cool to check out.”
Goodine, Banuelos and Cocker were all teammates for the last season. The events of which have helped them create better relationships with each other and resulted in several wins.
“Well, the beginning of the season was a little rough,” Cocker said. “Coach Boone leaving and everything in the middle of the season was a challenge. But I think in the second half of the season, I think we all came together and started playing better.”
Goodine confirmed this idea that the season was very turbulent but pushed the team in the right direction rather than the wrong one. The team stood together against the challenges.
“It was kind of a weird season,” Goodine said. “But I think that throughout the whole season, the team kept a strong chemistry and brotherhood. We kind of kept that family core together. So it was a weird season, but it also was a fun season, in a sense behind the scenes.”
For Banuelos, this season was more personal for him because of his leadership position in the team and playing three years for the Owls. In addition to the team results, Banuealos focused on being a great leader — even through adversity.
“I tried to be a great leader,” Banuelos said. “What I like the most is being able to lead my team due to adversity we dealt with all season long.”
All of the players agreed on the fact that the real breakdown of the season that the team had to face was the leaving of Coach Boone. The day the players came back from winter break, they heard the news that Coach Boone would not come back to coach the Owls.
“It was the day we came back,” Banuelos said. “He sent us a text in the group chat, you know, explaining what was going on. He really could not say too much. But, you know, he left us in hands with Coach Robin until everything got figured out.”
This decision was not understood by everyone on the team and was kind of a surprise for everyone, which was the main reason the team felt lost and had to face a new challenge. His departure hurt the team deeply and brought many ripples in the stability of the team.
“The team felt it was definitely a loss for us because Coach Boone brought a lot to the table,” Goodine said. “He was a mentor, he was a great father. He was — he did, like a lot of things for us. So, the team was kind of down and out.”
This departure brought disorientation to the team and challenged their results for the second semester.
“Everybody was shocked, surprised and hurt,” Cocker said. “I think everybody in the team was kind of at a loss. Like nobody really knew what to do and what direction to go. But I think not being able to, like being in touch with him or talking to him for a little bit, I think that's what was the hardest part.”
Finally, Coach Robin Martin-Davis, the head women’s basketball coach and director of athletics, came to help the team stand together and resulting in several wins.
“I give credit to Coach Robin,” Banuelos said. “She was able to step into a role and lead us the second half of the season very successfully.”
Even in the absence of Coach Boone, the goal of the team remained to compete in the UC Santa Cruz championship.
“My main goal was to come back and have a way better season than I did last season, you know, for myself and for the team,” Banuealos said. “I feel like we knocked both of those goals down by reaching the conference tournament.”
To continue playing for the Owls and reach numerous wins was also pushed by the will to honor Coach Boone’s name.
“We knew that coach Boone wanted us to finish the season and also keep his name, you know, still up to par,” Goodine said. “So it was a loss, but we knew that he wanted us to keep going. So that's what we did.”
This will to win was also led by numerous losses in the first part of the season, and resulted in a general team meeting where all of the players decided to move on, to bring wins.
Even if the end of the season resulted in a historic record, several players shared doubts about their future and are trying to move on from Coach Boone’s leaving. The students shared that they are still considering options.
“It was basically a family decision,” Banuelos said. “My family felt it was time for a new scenery. But I'm just exploring my options, I had not heard back from a lot of schools so far. So I'm just taking that process into consideration. But mainly what really sparked was losing Coach Boone because at this point, knowing where we don't have any coach right now, it's kind of hard to see how everything is gonna be laid out next year.”
Goodine has the same reasons as Banuelos to leave, playing here for three years and looking for new horizons.
“I chose to explore my options, just because I think that I've been here for three years, and I just kind of wanted to switch the scenery up a little bit,” Goodine said. “I still haven't made my decision on whether I'm leaving or not, because I'm in the transfer portal. But that doesn't mean I still can't come back. I just kind of wanted to explore my eyes and see other things out in the world.”
Goodine and Banuelos would both like to play professional basketball, otherwise moving into the Business field or coaching. Cocker and Goodine both shared that they have goals to become professional basketball players overseas and in different countries.
This season was hard for the Owls. They had to face many challenges. However, despite all of this adversity, the Owls stood together as one.
“I'm very thankful for Warren Wilson for giving me three good years, letting me play basketball at the next level,” Banuealos said. “You know, there's always gonna be love.”
Cocker shows this love for his teammates by wishing them the best for their future careers.
“For the guys that are leaving, or planning on leaving,” Cocker said. “I wish them the best and hope they can find a school that best fits them. But if not, I'd love to have them back.”