A Happier Home

So goes the dream, in chronological order, of just about any player who has had a falling-out with a coach:

They, 1) Quit the team; 2) Transfer to another school; 3) Establish themselves as a star; 4) Lead their new team to victory over the forlorn former coach.

Sound like the plot of a B movie?

Well, for Ellis Richardson, this is real-life drama.

Richardson, Poly High’s best basketball player, has a chance to write his own ending to the script at 7:30 tonight when the Parrots travel to Birmingham for a City Section 3-A Division quarterfinal.

When Richardson returns to the Birmingham gym, where he played two seasons for the Braves, he isn’t expecting a warm welcome.

“I expect to get booed,” Richardson said.

But that doesn’t mean the 6-foot-3, 185-pound junior swingman is dreading his return. Quite the opposite, actually. He says he has been dreaming about this matchup since he checked out of Birmingham in June and transferred to Poly, his home school.

Richardson said he left Birmingham because of personal problems he had with Coach Al Bennett, but he wouldn’t elaborate.

Bennett declined to comment.

Richardson said he and Bennett never saw eye-to-eye. Bennett favors a slow-down game. Richardson likes to shoot, and dunk as often as possible.

“Ellis is the kind of kid who likes the ball in his hands,” Poly Coach Jay Werner said.

Richardson thought Bennett’s shifting zone defense was too difficult, which is why he is happy about playing man-to-man at Poly.

Since the transfer, however, Richardson isn’t as quick to blame his former coach.

“It was mainly I was really young,” Richardson said. “I can’t blame him for the whole thing.”

Richardson is one of four players who left Birmingham last year. David Redmond quit the team after the sixth game but Richardson stuck it out, even after he was benched for two games.

Redmond transferred to Canoga Park in the spring, Kenny Mason transferred to Cleveland and Gilbert Arenas left for Grant. The transfers combined are averaging 70 points a game.

Birmingham hasn’t suffered from the defections. The Braves (18-7) won the North Valley League title and earned the No. 4 seeding in the 3-A playoffs, one place higher than the Parrots (18-7), who finished tied with Sylmar for the Mid-Valley League title.

The addition of Richardson at Poly has bolstered a team that finished 6-18 last year. The combination of Richardson, who leads the Parrots with averages of 18.3 points and 7.1 rebounds, and five returning starters has been a winner.

But Richardson’s acclimation has been a continuous learning process, Werner said.

“He has an incredible desire to win on the offensive side of the ball,” Werner said. “But on the defensive side, there was a lack of that desire.”

Werner said he isn’t as demonstrative with Richardson as with other players because he believes in grooming his coaching toward the individual. The method has endeared Werner to Richardson.

“He’s the best coach I’ve ever had,” Richardson said. “He teaches me a lot. If I do something wrong, he’s not gonna yell at me or cuss at me.”

Werner has reminded Richardson that team goals never included beating Bennett and rubbing his nose in it.

“I’ve told him it’s not about Ellis Richardson and Al Bennett,” Werner said. “It’s about Poly winning a basketball game.”

Although Richardson shares that opinion, he can’t let go of the past completely.

“It would be nice just to see the look on [Bennett’s] face after [we] win,” Richardson said.