Five seniors are on the Cassville boys basketball roster this season, aiming to lead the team to new heights and under new management.
Caleb Reynolds, Cassville boys basketball coach, said he is excited to be returning to his roots.
“I am very excited to a part of the Cassville basketball program again,” he said. “My family moved around quite a bit when I was growing up, but I began my basketball career as Wildcat years ago and I am thrilled to be back here now with a family of my own. We have a great group of young men here and I am really looking forward to coaching them.”
The group is upperclassmen-heavy, with five seniors and two juniors leading the way.
“Aidan Cook, who led Cassville in scoring last year, will be a one of our seniors we rely on for leadership,” Reynolds said. “He is not a vocal guy, but his work ethic this summer and throughout the preseason has been second to none, and he makes everyone around him better. Besides that, we return all but one player from last year’s varsity squad so we won’t lack for experience and leadership.”
Cook put up 12.3 points per game last season, and second-leading scorer Jon Dunbar, at 9 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per game, is also back on the floor.
“Cook is a tremendous athlete and ball handler who we hope will be hard to defenders to keep in front,” Reynolds said. “Dunbar has great length in the post, and at 6-7, should be able to have an impact on both ends of the floor. Other returning players we expect to make an impact include seniors Hernan Hernandez, Caleb Leach and Ethan Lamborn, and juniors Cosmo Rhoads and Cadyn Smith, along with several others.”
Though the upperclassmen will likely get most of the time on the floors, there are some younger players Reynolds hopes can get some good experience.
“This may be one of the most experienced teams I’ve ever coached solely based on the number of juniors and seniors we will have with past varsity playing time,” Reynolds said. “However, two sophomores could work their way into the varsity rotation by the end of the season, Simon Gates and Eli Stokes. Gates is a stocky, strong guard who performed well this summer in spite of some injuries. Stokes is a solid post player with tremendous potential going forward.”
Reynolds said overall, the Wildcats are about average athletically, but they will benefit from a size advantage.
“We expect at least four players who will go 6-4 and up see time in our varsity rotation, so our size should be great strength for us,” he said. “Given the improvement this team has made over the past two seasons in their record, it seems clear we need to continue to build on the foundation that has been laid. The tools are here for this group of young men to be a really good team. We just have to put those tools to use if we want to be playing late in March.”
To make a late postseason run, Reynolds said the team will have to put a focus on defense.
“I take great pride as a coach in my team pressuring our opponents into making mistakes and controlling the game with our defensive effort,” he said .”If we do that this season we will have a lot of success in the win column.”
Cassville was 8-18 last year and 4-21 the year prior. The Wildcats have not won a playoff game since winning the district tournament in the 2010-2011 season.
