Boys basketball had a record setting regular season going 13-6 without a senior class. In 2020, the first inaugural team obviously had no seniors because the first year of the school did not have a seniors class. Along with a brand new team, math teacher Andy King began his first year as head varsity coach. Seniors can provide a lot of leadership, so this dynamic placed the team at a disadvantage. The words of Coach King prove this wrong.
The junior leaders during the 2020-2021 season were Brandon Orgilbold, Paxon Piatkowski, Jack Lusk, Nathan Cunningham, Luke Tillman, and Drew Kline. Those players either started or were in constant rotation for games.
The first year team learned valuable lessons, such as how to play at a varsity level, how to come together and cooperate. Head coach Andy King, expressed that he always had confidence in his team, and he knew it was going to take time for them to mirror his hopes and dreams of a group with great skills and cooperation.
This season, the team also has no seniors but they have shown that this disadvantage of no seniors does not affect their ability to dominate on the court. Freshman Kellen Murphy broke the single game three pointers record with seven threes against boys town.
“Of course everyone would love to have seniors because that typically means that you have kids who have played varsity basketball for multiple years, King said, but even our sophomores and juniors have played varsity basketball for a minimum of one year already.”
The experience of playing on varsity is beneficial because they know what to expect when they face challenges when playing in front of a lot of people, and how to play against higher difficulty players on other teams.
“I don’t care what grade you are in for leadership,” King said. “I have sophomores and juniors that are as good of leaders as I’ve had with seniors in the past.” Leadership is very important for anything, it improves communication, and motivates others.
“Having no seniors let me and other juniors to step up and lead the team.” junior Will Farrington said. “Another thing is that I am able to help this year’s freshmen because I have already played on varsity for one year, so I can show them how to play on this level.”
Another part that makes a team great is the amount of hard work and practice that is put in during the off season. King’s goal was to make this team a very connected group.
They have been lifting in the weight room all summer and fall and played summer league. They also participated in a camp in Kansas City, where they practiced their skill work and shooting.
“I think that the work that we’ve put in during the off season has helped our team a lot” Farrington said.
In conclusion, the 2023-2024 basketball season was a record setting season with a record of 13-6, the best that the boy’s basketball team has ever had. Without seniors, players learned to improvise by stepping up and leading their team to success.
