Kasim Alston has good reason for calling Imani Tate one of his favorite players.
The Bishop Loughlin guard possesses many of the innate qualities a coach is looking for in a young player. She is a hustler with a solid basketball IQ. Tate can be found throwing her body on the floor for a loose ball or diving out of bounds for one.
“She is aware, knows what to do,” said Alston, the soon-to-be first-year varsity coach. “It’s the will to win. Those things you really can’t teach. The kid has to want it.”
The 5-foot-8 sophomore gives Alston, who coached the JV last season, the ability to play her at multiple positions. She can play anywhere from the two to the five and often finds herself guarding the opposition’s biggest player because of her tenacity, speed, and leaping ability. It is a role Tate, who is ranked in the top 100 in her class by scouting services, has grown accustomed and feels it will only help her when colleges come call. But she does admit she is more comfortable at the guard spot.
“They underestimate me a lot so I go out there and show them what I have,” said Tate, a Bronx native.
That would include a budding offensive game, something she has been working on over the summer with her Ring City AAU team. Alston wants her to improve her ability to drive equally well with both hands and changes directions more fluidly. He believes all she needs is confidence in her ball handling and wants her to pump fake more against bigger defenders.
“It’s feeling really comfortable,” Tate said. “I am feeling like I can go against some of the better players and still be able to do what I have to do.”
She may get her chance next season. The Lions have only a handful of returning players from a varsity team that didn’t win a game all season in their first back in CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens Division I. Alston has already seen the type of impact Tate can have on a game, while helping Loughlin’s JV to reason the league semifinals.
“In the semifinal game when I thought the star players were going to step up, she showed up and she pretty much dominated on both ends of the floor for me,” Alston said.
Just another reason why he is fond of her, a trend he sees continuing throughout her time at the Fort Greene school because of her desire to improve and test herself.
“I’m looking forward to going out there,” Tate said, “and showing what I have.”
