Boys basketball is different than most other area sports in that the five local schools all get to see where they stack up against each other.
Mayer and the Orme School meet twice in the regular season. Mayer, along with Prescott High and Chino Valley, also plays in the Bradshaw Mountain Holiday Tournament.
Of course the Prescott High and Bradshaw Mountain renew their rivalry in January.
Last season, Class 4A, Division II Bradshaw Mountain beat 4A, DI Prescott and 1A Mayer.
Prescott beat Mayer and lost to 3A Chino Valley.
The Cougars beat the Wildcats, and the Wildcats beat Orme. Only the game between Mayer and Orme had a margin bigger than 10 points.
The head-to-heads offer some intrigue, but each and every team is gunning for something more than bragging rights: a trip to state.
Only Chino Valley and Mayer made it last year.
Leading scorers have graduated across the board. Here is a look at what each school has in the mix for the coming season:
Prescott - 3-23 last season, no playoffs
Leading scorer Matt Shipp (15.8 points per game) is gone. He also led the team in assists, and leading rebounder Josh Chavez also graduated.
Coach Gabriel Van Guse stepped aside, giving way to former Badger player Adam Neely who has been an assistant under Van Guse the past two seasons.
"A lot of what we're going to be doing is similar," Neely said. "The guys are comfortable in some of what we do. The ideals are the same. It's not like I wasn't here. It's not like I wasn't already teaching some of the same things that I'm teaching now."
The Badgers will look to pressure their opponents more this year, rather than standing back and waiting against the strong Western Sky Region. They have the big statistical losses to graduation, but return more varsity experience than they did in 2008.
"Hopefully we're to the point where having some of these experienced kids, having them who already know the fundamentals and are getting better at it, we're going to start seeing the results," Neely said.
He said they work well together, even if they don't have an individual that is going to stand out and blow you away. They have to believe that they can be successful coming off a frustrating season.
"They worked hard day in and day out and they didn't see the results," Neely said.
Isaac Browning is one of seven seniors this year. At 4.8 points per game, he is the second leading returning scorer behind Derek Trebesch's 6.3.
"(The goal is) to be competitive every single game and hopefully come out with wins," Browning said. "We have the potential to do it. It's just a matter of putting it on the floor."
Bradshaw Mountain - 12-17 last season, no playoffs
The 2008-09 Courier Co-Player of the Year Jordan Weir scored 18.8 points per game last season. But teams did all they could to stop him and if he didn't score, the Bears probably didn't win.
With Weir gone, Bradshaw Mountain coaches feels they have the players ready to step up and make it a more dangerous team.
"I think it's going to be pretty even this year," senior center Jake Howe said. "We don't have a monster shooter this year so it's more getting the ball out and getting it around."
Howe averaged almost 14 points a game as a junior along with more than nine rebounds per night. Coach Doug Beilfuss expects his big man to draw similar attention to what Weir did.
"I expect to see a lot of zones when he's out there because he's 6-10," Beilfuss said. "He can handle the ball, he can shoot from 15 (feet), he can shoot from the 3 if we allow him to.
"Jordan was a phenomenal shooter," he added, "but if you have a big guy, you can throw it right inside two, three feet away. It's going to open up a lot of the floor."
Beilfuss expects 20 points and 12 rebounds from Howe every night. That will create more space for shooters Christian Marcum and Tyler Jewell, even if they don't quite have the unlimited range as Weir.
The Bears also return Jake Balsiger, a defensive presence at forward, and junior point guard Javi Olivas.
"Last year Jake was still trying to figure himself out," Beilfuss said. "Javi was up and down. With this year's team, we're going to be a lot more confident on offense."
Howe said he thinks the team will be even better. They have an intensity they didn't have a year ago.
The goal?
"Oh, we want to win the state championship," Howe said.
Chino Valley - 19-10 last year, lost in 3A state quarterfinals
The Cougars' top returning scorer this season? Kai Bighorse, who had 2.3 per game in 2008-09.
Chino Valley has won a game at state each of the past two seasons. But it's not thinking that big just yet as the 2009-10 season gets started with a large lack of experience.
Two years ago the Cougars lost seven seniors. Last year they lost six.
"I've actually had to do a lot more coaching this year," coach Clint Cross laughed. "A lot more teaching, just trying to go over fundamental stuff. Last year I felt from Day 1 that we could have played a game from the first day of practice because those guys had so much experience."
Ryan Middleton, Eder Camargo and Bighorse were among the players who saw some time last year. But they will be expected to play a much larger role this year.
Junior Ty Mier takes on the point guard responsibilities. Jordan Hastings and Teller Bard will man the posts.
"I think we'll surprise some people," Cross said. "I think we'll shoot the ball decent.
"They work their tails off; they've got a lot of enthusiasm. But I think their strength is they shoot the ball pretty well."
Middleton said the season is going to start slow but they will get better.
"I'm excited for this year," Middleton said. "It's going to take a lot for us to have a winning season, but we can do it."
Two-time defending state champion Goodyear Estrella Foothills is the heavy favorite in the 3A West Region. Cross doesn't know what to expect from his team but said the goals are to be competitive, do well in the region and reach the state tournament.
"If that happens, I don't know because I'm not real sure yet what they're capable of," he said.
Mayer - 21-12, last season, lost in 1A state quarters
The Wildcats finished in a three-way tie atop the 1A West region and lost in the state quarterfinals by only two points.
Some key players are back from that team, with one big exception: 2008-09 Courier Co-Player of the Year Aaron Sullivan graduated.
"That's the key," Mayer coach Roland Medina said. "I need to find a point guard.
Jacob Martinez will get the first crack at replacing Sullivan. He had the same opportunity at quarterback in the fall but got injured before the season started. He will take another crack at filling those shoes in a new season.
Sophomore Mason Smith, who transferred from California, will also get a look and possibly shift Martinez to the shooting guard.
However that works out, Mayer is pretty set up front with seniors Blake Ambrose and Alex Sapien. Ambrose was the second leading scorer last season behind Sullivan with 13 per game. He had almost 11 boards per night while Sapien led the way with an average of 12.
They will also have to take charge as leaders in place of Sullivan.
"They're more of a silent type of leader," Medina said. "They do it by example more than talking. I'm hoping they're going to step up."
The Wildcats trip to state last season was their first in 1A. Medina hopes to get back and likes what he sees so far.
"I don't know if I'm just getting too old or what, but we've had some good intense practices," he said.
The road back to state may not be as treacherous as it was a year ago in the deep 1A West. Gilbert Christian, formerly Surrey Garden, moved to the East region with Salt River and Veritas Prep. Tempe Prep moved to 2A. So Mayer will take aim at Valley Lutheran and Orme as its chief competition.
Orme School - 4-13 last season, no playoffs
The Warriors enter the season with their third coach in as many years.
Todd Roe takes over after coaching the junior varsity girls' team last year. He will try to get back to the runs into the state tournament Orme had become accustomed to until missing out in 2008-09.
Roe will lean on junior shooting guard Theo Turner, who started every game last year, as well as juniors Metehan Akcam and Alex Curtis who are in their first years at the school.
"The three of them are going to make a really strong unit," Roe said. "I think we're going to give a lot of teams a lot of trouble."
Turner can shoot. Akcam, from Turkey, is 6-foot-2, really fast and really skilled, according to Roe.
Curtis showed his athletic ability as the elusive quarterback on the football team and will take over at point guard on the hardwood.
"We're going to try to get out and run," Roe said. "We're not very tall. Theo is probably our tallest player at 6-3. So we need to get out and run and push the ball and try to force turnovers by doing a lot of trapping and things like that."
In 2006, the Warriors lost in the state championship. In 2007 they advanced to the semifinals. In 2006 it was the first round and last year it was no postseason. They would like to reverse the trend.
"I think we can make a strong run into the playoffs," Roe said.
Reader Comments
Posted: Wednesday, December 09, 2009
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Orme didn't lose to Mayer!!!!!!!!!!!!! Only JV boys but the two varsity teams won. IN girls also, Ramona is a junior and Hillary is a junior also.
