‘Sustained excellence.’ Pines Charter High celebrates another basketball state title
Championship banners from Pembroke Pines Charter High School’s athletic programs, basketball, baseball and softball among them, decorate the gymnasium walls.
On the basketball court below, about six members of the Jaguars boys’ team scuffed across the hardwood, taking shots just days after securing the program’s second state championship in three seasons.
The players were practicing like nothing happened, as if they didn’t just win the Class 5A state title.
At the helm is head coach Dave Roca, a licensed counselor by trade for about 27 years, along with a larger team of six assistants.
Roca says the program’s “sustained excellence” comes from treating basketball and academics as the same language.
The Jaguars’ title extended one of South Florida’s most consistent high school basketball runs. The team has now won three state championships in a six-year span.
“We talk about having sustained excellence, but also having a disciplined plan of attack daily,” Roca told the Pembroke Pines News.
What frustrates Roca about basketball culture at the national level is a lack of emphasis on academics, he says.
Pembroke Pines Charter is ranked the best charter high school in Broward County and No. 13 in the state, according to Niche.
Roca said analytics help the team avoid “narratives” and prepare more efficiently for games.
“Every opponent we go to play, we’re prepared,” Roca said. “Once we go over that data with the players, we tell them, the data tells us the story and there’s always a narrative. Everyone’s trying to create a narrative, especially the parents.”
He mentioned that players often face competing narratives from families and sometimes within themselves, but data helps ground their evaluations.
The discipline of basketball goes beyond the court, Roca says, and it should translate through all aspects of a player’s life.
This includes expectations for appearance and conduct. He doesn’t allow players to wear slides into the gym, saying they cannot come in “like they just came out of bed, it’s just a bad look and part of the discipline.”
The championship game
Roca admits that though the 5A state championship game, a 52-48 win over Fleming Island on March 13 at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, was not the cleanest offensively, the team still managed to stay composed.
“Credit to Fleming Island, they were really crowding our players,” Roca said, noting that Zacuras Dawson had not faced that type of defensive pressure before.
Roca also said the Jaguars’ strategy focused on slowing the tempo, driving and kicking “not settling for bad shots.”
“What did happen was a team that was playing for one another, teammates stepped up,” he said. “Alex Vardakis had a tremendous game. … He handled the ball extremely well, didn’t turn the ball over, and continued with the tempo we wanted to play in.”
In games like these, Roca explains the offensive sets often break down, forcing players to have to spread out and ultimately it becomes a one-on-one game.
The Jaguars also had to adjust throughout the season to personnel changes, moving away from an independent mindset.
“I think every team has a different makeup,” Roca said. “It’s always player personnel dependent … figuring out the team, their makeup, trying to help them understand, I think this was the biggest hurdle for our team, particularly this year.”
He said three players were new to the program and defensive principles, including “how to shrink and pink gaps,” took time to install.
Roca said even in the championship game, defensive lapses created pressure, especially with foul trouble for forward Robert Guishard.
“I would say if you don’t have Robert, you’re in big trouble,” he said. “But that was because the guards got beat off the dribble. That should not have happened.”
The win capped a 22-6 season for the Jaguars, who won their last seven games, six of them by at least 13 points.
A win that ‘meant everything’
Guishard, a senior forward from Miramar, said the title “meant everything.”
“I was happy, excited, and I was kind of shocked, too,” he said. “Because I never did something like this, and I never won like this on this stage.”
Roca said the team’s biggest strength was its togetherness.
He said that sometimes, even as a coach, the family support he receives from his daughters Natalia, Gabriela and Luciana adds a certain pressure.
“They’re part of the team,” Roca said. “It’s unbelievable and I have so much pressure, because every day they see me watch game film, and they say, ‘Dad, what do you think? What do you think our chances are?’ And I’m like, ‘Holy cow, I can’t let down my kids.’”
Roca adds, looking down at the title ring on his hand, that he tells the players constantly the ring matters less than the experience they live with each year.
“So when they go back and you look at the banners…you’ll remember that team and those guys in your corner for the rest of your lives,” he said. “Not a ring.”
He added that the players bought into a “one more” mentality throughout the season and playing for one another.
For his teaching philosophy, Roca described it as “unconditional positive regard.”
“The teaching never stops,” he said. “It’s just unconditional positive regard for my players, they’re going to make mistakes. … I’m the furthest thing from perfect ... but let’s try to get better.”
His staff includes longtime assistant Kenneth Trueblood, who has been with him throughout his entire 17-year tenure.
“He’s my operations guy, I don’t go anywhere without him,” Roca said. “He’s the pillar of the program, I say.”
Roca said the team this season focused on its affinity for film study and stayed “humble and hungry.”
He pointed to wins over standout teams such as St. Thomas Aquinas (73-70 on Jan. 14) as a defining moment this season.
The Jaguars also delivered a memorable performance against the Belen Jesuit Wolverines (75-51 win on Feb. 28 in the region final) in a packed home game that Roca said showed “player-led” leadership on the court.
“My biggest goal year in and year out, is to have a player-led locker room,” he said. “And at that juncture, I thought, ‘Wow, I can call a timeout and they’re gonna coach each other up.’ ... Their communication was there, they were watching the clock and they weren’t settling for bad shots.”
What comes next?
Roca says the team will celebrate with a banquet before getting back to work.
“We’re going to celebrate this for a little while. … The wins are temporary but the reason I think it is temporary at times too is because we’re all always chasing, in a way, success,” he said.
“So what happens next with this team? I think we’re back in the gym. We’re back to try to get better … hone in on the foundation which is skill and development.”
