With big expectations, Southwest to be led by big stars

As the Southwest basketball team was featured for about 10 minutes during the Bibb County School District’s basketball media night on Thursday, Patriots stars Chase Dupree and C.J. Howard sat at the table looking laser-focused.

Each time a question was asked — even if it was directed to their head coach, Monquencio Hardnett, instead of them — the two seniors shot glances at each other from opposite ends of a table at the front of the room.

It was almost as if the pair of basketball phenoms, who have played together for years, could read each other’s minds.

Dupree and Howard were in agreement on plenty of things when it came to Southwest’s goals just a year after playing for the GHSA Class A-Division I state championship in the 2024-25 season.

The duo and their head coach all talked about the offseason — a taxing but productive one — and the attitude after coming so close to a trophy.

“I want the offseason to be the same. Mine is the same every year, and I want to give (the team) the mindset that their offseason shouldn’t change either,” Hardnett said.

The team is still expected to be one of the best in the state in Class A-Division I. Basketball outlet Sandy’s Spiel ranked the Patriots as the No. 2 team in the class behind only Putnam County.

Dupree and Howard are key reasons for those expectations. The pair fueled the team’s playoff run and eventual 27-3 record. Howard scored 31 points in the title game. Both players earned preseason All-State team honors. Dupree won the HypeSouth “Mr. Middle Georgia “ award in 2023-24; Howard won it the very next year.

The accolades are eerily similar, but the demeanors are a bit different.

Dupree is almost easy-going, talkative on the mic at Bibb County’s media night. He cracks jokes. He and his father, Southwest athletic director and football coach Joe Dupree, are well-known around Macon for their athletic accomplishments and friendly smiles.

Howard, on the other hand, is just as freakishly intense off the hardwood as he is on it. He chose not to answer certain questions at media day — not in a way that was rude, but instead in a way that seemed strategic, almost as if he thought a future opponent might be listening — and was intentional with his words on the occasions he did respond to questions.

Regardless, Dupree and Howard are close. The way they interact makes that much crystal clear. They’ve played together since ninth grade, building Southwest’s current dynasty more or less from the ground up.

They are friends as well as teammates, even if it does not always seem that way.

“In practice, you really wouldn’t think we like each other,” Dupree said. “It can get real bad in practice. Sometimes even in games we’ll argue and then we won’t talk for two days, but we always come back around.”

It’s a side effect that both of the stars are perfectly fine with. Their coach understands it, too.

“There’s no question they push each other really hard, in practice and every day. When you have great players — and I used to be a decent player too — if they have egos, they’re probably not going very far. These guys don’t have that problem,” Hardnett said. “That was a turning point, when they started holding each other last year. Nobody got mad, nobody had an attitude.”

Dupree and Howard have made a conscious effort to become leaders for the Patriots. Even with their key teammate Brandon Ashley graduating, they feel like a more well-rounded group. Several returning players now have experience after the lengthy postseason run in 2024-25.

There will also be newcomers. Alex Butts, a talented player for the Westside Seminoles across town last season, transferred to Southwest in the offseason.

“We’re more mature now,” Dupree said.

Then he grinned.

 “Except for Alex. He’s not mature.”