The summer heat became a bit unbearable for Kario Oquendo, so bye bye long hair.
“Yeah, yeah, it was a little too much”
Plus when the leader of the house says it’s time to cut it, you gotta listen.
“My grandma, she wanted me to cut it too,” Oquendo added. “So I just said alright, I’ll go ahead and cut it.”
Oquendo says he feels like he plays better with the shorter hair which certainly says a lot. The rising sophomore Titusville guard is currently playing on the summer circuit with his travel squad, Team Parsons 2020. He’s averaging 13 points a game against some pretty stiff competition.
“When he makes his mind up to make a play or get to the rim, there’s not too many people that can stop him from doing that,” Team Parsons head coach Anthony Ricks said. “So he’s playing pretty well, doing what we ask of him.”
“I’m working on my jumper right now because last year I didn’t take a lot of threes,” the guard said. “I like getting to the rim a lot though, that’s really my game.”
Oquendo’s game as a freshman starter last year helped Titusville make it to the regional semis where they fell to eventual 6A state champ Leesburg. The Terriers lost three seniors so the rising sophomore is working on becoming more of a leader.
“I have to go out there and play better than I did last season, because I kind of followed the players in front of me, because it was their team, but this year people are going to have to follow me.”
Colleges are already beginning to follow the 6’3” guard. Louisville came to Titusville to watch him work out earlier this summer.
“Currently, he’s projected at being a high level, high major division one level, but you have to continue to work,” said Ricks.