Team Preview: Whiteoak Wildcats
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
The Whiteoak Wildcats are entering a season of transition. The reigning Division II Southern Hills Athletic Conference champions are rebuilding a team that lost a lot of scoring and a lot of leadership.
WHS begins this season with a lot of unknowns, as they have to find a way to replace 965 points of regular-season scoring from three players who averaged double figures in scoring last season in All-State selection Doc Seip (17.8 points per game), Luke Taggert (14.1 ppg) and Gage Carraher (11.9 ppg), all of whom are now graduated.
This season, the Wildcats, who finished 12-11 overall and 9-4 in the SHAC last year, will look to their returning leaders in seniors Tyler Williams and Justin Emery to get the program settled once again and back on the path of the SHAC for not only this season, but beyond.
Coach Tom Wessner explained what it is like as a coach to replace that type of offensive production all at once.
"We had three players who played a lot of varsity for three seasons, and that is tough to replace," he said. "When replacing that much experience, you are trying not to reinvent the wheel, but you have a lot of different players, so you need to make sure you are putting them in positions to be successful."
This season's team will consist of four seniors in Nick Wardlow, Williams, Emery and Jason Jones. The juniors are Zack Taggett and Kyle Adams, while the sophomores are Brandon Ashbaugh, Tristen Nicely and Kyle Marler. The lone freshman this year is Cody McClure.
Wessner spoke about the senior class.[[In-content Ad]]
"I think this is a very interesting senior group," Wessner said. "They understand what we are trying to do offensively and defensively, so that helps. They've bought in, so now we have to get the rest of the team to buy in so we can get on the same page, and I think we'll be ok."
Wessner described the upcoming year as a season-long process.
"Early in the season, wins and losses aren't as important as making sure we are doing the right things consistently," he said. "We're not going quite as deep into the playbook … it isn't as extensive as it used to be, but we are still going to try to play defense, to press some.
"We are going to add all of that together and try to win some games. I want to see a lot of buy-in. We will have goals early, and as soon as we hit one, we want to move onto the next one. Really, if we have success, it will be based on the expectations we have and how quickly we can get to them and move onto the next one."
The team had good participation over the summer, which has helped the learning curve some this preseason.
"This was one of the first times we added new things in the summer, and in November, it gelled faster than in years past," Wessner said. "The summer was good for us."
The team has all four grades at the varsity level, which allows Wessner and his coaching staff to work with varying levels of basketball players.
"The seniors, I have an idea what they can do, and the sophomores, I think I know what they can do, but they have to show me," Wessner said. "We all need to play a little bit harder, but we have some time to get ready for the opener."
WHS begins this season with a lot of unknowns, as they have to find a way to replace 965 points of regular-season scoring from three players who averaged double figures in scoring last season in All-State selection Doc Seip (17.8 points per game), Luke Taggert (14.1 ppg) and Gage Carraher (11.9 ppg), all of whom are now graduated.
This season, the Wildcats, who finished 12-11 overall and 9-4 in the SHAC last year, will look to their returning leaders in seniors Tyler Williams and Justin Emery to get the program settled once again and back on the path of the SHAC for not only this season, but beyond.
Coach Tom Wessner explained what it is like as a coach to replace that type of offensive production all at once.
"We had three players who played a lot of varsity for three seasons, and that is tough to replace," he said. "When replacing that much experience, you are trying not to reinvent the wheel, but you have a lot of different players, so you need to make sure you are putting them in positions to be successful."
This season's team will consist of four seniors in Nick Wardlow, Williams, Emery and Jason Jones. The juniors are Zack Taggett and Kyle Adams, while the sophomores are Brandon Ashbaugh, Tristen Nicely and Kyle Marler. The lone freshman this year is Cody McClure.
Wessner spoke about the senior class.[[In-content Ad]]
"I think this is a very interesting senior group," Wessner said. "They understand what we are trying to do offensively and defensively, so that helps. They've bought in, so now we have to get the rest of the team to buy in so we can get on the same page, and I think we'll be ok."
Wessner described the upcoming year as a season-long process.
"Early in the season, wins and losses aren't as important as making sure we are doing the right things consistently," he said. "We're not going quite as deep into the playbook … it isn't as extensive as it used to be, but we are still going to try to play defense, to press some.
"We are going to add all of that together and try to win some games. I want to see a lot of buy-in. We will have goals early, and as soon as we hit one, we want to move onto the next one. Really, if we have success, it will be based on the expectations we have and how quickly we can get to them and move onto the next one."
The team had good participation over the summer, which has helped the learning curve some this preseason.
"This was one of the first times we added new things in the summer, and in November, it gelled faster than in years past," Wessner said. "The summer was good for us."
The team has all four grades at the varsity level, which allows Wessner and his coaching staff to work with varying levels of basketball players.
"The seniors, I have an idea what they can do, and the sophomores, I think I know what they can do, but they have to show me," Wessner said. "We all need to play a little bit harder, but we have some time to get ready for the opener."