Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009

East boys anticipate more balance in 2009-10

Greatness was expected from Olathe East’s boys basketball team last year and, led by Bruce Reed and Danny Mundweiler, the Hawks didn’t disappoint, rolling to a 19-4 record and a second straight appearance at the Kansas 6A state tournament.

Without Reed, who averaged 15 points and eight rebounds, and Mundweiler, who scored better than 17 points per game, the future is considerably more murky entering the 2009-10 season.

“Of course it’ll be difficult to replace those guys,” East coach Jim Super said. “Those are two good ballplayers, but we feel like we’ve got a lot of depth. We don’t necessarily have varsity experience, but our JV had a great season last year and won all but one game. That’s not varsity competition, so we’ve got a lot of guys who have to step it up and play well.”

The good news is that the Hawks’ cupboard isn’t bare.

Junior Tyler Kalinoski averaged 8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists last season while emerging as one of the top three-point shooters in the Sunflower League. He’s back and will take over most duties at point guard.

But unlike last year, when Mundweiler was virtually the only ball-handler, East expects to exhibit more freedom and versatility on offense this year.

“It’s definitely more wide open and I think the offense will be more spread out this year,” senior Bryce Schippers said. “We could have a lot of different leading scorers from game to game.”

Schippers, who averaged 4 points per game, also will see time at point, but he’ll primarily serve as a shooting guard.

On the interior, senior Cody Gafford will be asked to step into Reed’s role.

“Bruce was a good friend of mine, so it’s cool to know I can take the spot of a player like that,” Gafford said. “I just hope I can be as good as he was.”

More steady playing time, might make a big difference for the 6-foot-6 senior who averaged 4 points and 4 rebounds a game last season.

“It was hard to get into a groove last year, because I’d play a lot some games and then I wouldn’t play some games,” Gafford said. “Hopefully, this year I’ll be playing a lot more and I can really get a feel for the varsity games more and more. I think I can really step it up.”

It’s a tall order for players like Kalinoski and Gafford, but they’ve known all offseason more would be expected of them.

“Everyone can play their own game a little more, because we won’t have to go through Danny and Bruce all the time,” Kalinoski said. “Everybody is going to play a bigger role.”

Senior Ryan Hocker inherits Anthony Nemec’s role as defensive stopper, while senior guard Jordan Banks tries to come back from ankle surgery, which will put him out until at least January.

The rest of the Hawks will be new to the varsity. In the paint, seniors Andre Massey, Andrew Talbert and Isaac Talbert will significant times, while senior guard Brian Jackson and juniors Cole Cook and Logan Souder provide depth in the backcourt.

“Everybody has to step up,” Super said. “Tyler needs to step up. Cody needs to step up. Every one of the seniors has to play well for us I think. All eight of them have to play and they have to play well.”

If the Hawks can overcome their inexperience and rise to the challenge of varsity ball, a third trip to state might be in order. At the very least, building off last year’s first-round exit at state is the goal.

“To build off last season, you go to state and you win at least the first game,” Super said. “Last year, we went and lost the first game, so this you go and win the first game and then keep winning. I hope we have a team that can do that, but we’ll see.”

Submit an ad