2017 Whiteoak Wildcats Preview: Will the Wildcats improve on last season with changes in program?
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
Having a new head coach in Blake Kibler, the Whiteoak Wildcats boys basketball program looks to take a different path to success beginning in the 2017-18 season.
Whiteoak hired Kibler — a 2005 WHS graduate — in March of this year, replacing three-year head coach Jeremy McGraw. Last season, the Wildcats finished 4-19 overall and last won a conference championship during the 2012-13 season, when they were 9-4 in Division II of the SHAC. In the SHAC last season, WHS was 1-12.
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Now with a new era on tap, the Wildcats have a lot of work to do to get back to the top of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference (Division II), which begins this season with setting a new foundation and playing by the standards set by Coach Kibler, as he stated the expectations of the team are high.
“Our expectations are very high for this group,” Kibler said. “We have a lot of upperclassmen with experience. We will also be very deep, maybe playing up to 10 players a night.
“To do so, the big thing that we want to improve on from last season is our defense. We need more intensity and more discipline. Hopefully we will be there by December 1.”
Whiteoak enters the season with six seniors, seven juniors and two sophomores, giving them a quality lineup of players that have experience playing varsity basketball.
The seniors for WHS are Trever Yeager, Stephen Ross, Jimmy Lofton, Michael Crowe, Charley Skinner and Trevor Martin.
The junior class consists of Atlee Carr, Traeten Hamilton, Ryan Roberts, Chase Butler, Jacob Campbell, Zach Rand and Logan Cummings. The two sophomores are Clay Risner and Brayden Yeager.
“Traeten Hamilton has really settled in our offense. He is really becoming a big part of this team offensively and defensively,” Kibler said. “Trever Yeager had a really solid summer as well. Crowe and Ross did a really nice job as well and came to anything and everything we had going on.”
Hamilton returns for his junior season after having a sophomore season last year of 8.5 points per game (188 points) in the 22-game regular season.
Yeager also played in 22 games last year, and during his regular-season play, he averaged 11.4 ppg, scoring 251 points to lead WHS in scoring during the 2016-17 season. Ross is also back for his senior season, coming off a year where he scored 119 points in 22 regular-season games with a 5.4 ppg average.
Last season, the Wildcats had their season come to a close in the sectional semifinals with a 57-39 loss to South Webster.
Having three of their four leading scorers back from a season ago, the Wildcats began the transition of learning from Coach Kibler this past summer and during the preseason, with Whiteoak wanting to move forward this season.
“Our summer was solid as we did a lot this summer,” Kiber said. “The kids were exposed to a lot during the summer, and this preseason, our main goal was to start doing things the right way on and off the court. Also, we wanted to build their confidence, especially after having four years of losing records.
“Again, we want to keep moving forward, recognize the mistake, learn from it and move on. We are going to celebrate the little accomplishments, but never be satisfied. We are really focusing on our defense and getting kids in the right places for the right situations. We will be challenging our team to play solid defense every single night.”
With one of the goals being to win in the SHAC, the Wildcats will also have to play in a strong non-conference schedule, too. This season, the non-conference slate consists of Felicity-Franklin, Glenwood New Boston, Westfall, Bethel-Tate, Portsmouth Notre Dame, Silver Grove (Ky.) Northwest, Washington and East Clinton.
As the Wildcats haven’t had a winning season in the past four years, Coach Kibler is bringing his brand of excitement, expectations and optimism to his team. Last season, the Wildcats had wins against Silver Grove (Ky.), Clermont Northeastern, East Clinton and North Adams.
“We can win some games in the SHAC. We are hoping to surprise a lot of teams this year,” he said. “I’m so excited to be able to coach the game I love at the greatest school in the state. We are really excited to bring winning back to Whiteoak basketball. It’s such an honor.
“I want to thank all the coaches from peewee all the way to JV. We all have really put some time in to make Whiteoak basketball great again. We couldn’t do it without those guys. I also want to thank all the kids who really put the time in this summer and came to anything and everything we had set out.”
Whiteoak hired Kibler — a 2005 WHS graduate — in March of this year, replacing three-year head coach Jeremy McGraw. Last season, the Wildcats finished 4-19 overall and last won a conference championship during the 2012-13 season, when they were 9-4 in Division II of the SHAC. In the SHAC last season, WHS was 1-12.
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Now with a new era on tap, the Wildcats have a lot of work to do to get back to the top of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference (Division II), which begins this season with setting a new foundation and playing by the standards set by Coach Kibler, as he stated the expectations of the team are high.
“Our expectations are very high for this group,” Kibler said. “We have a lot of upperclassmen with experience. We will also be very deep, maybe playing up to 10 players a night.
“To do so, the big thing that we want to improve on from last season is our defense. We need more intensity and more discipline. Hopefully we will be there by December 1.”
Whiteoak enters the season with six seniors, seven juniors and two sophomores, giving them a quality lineup of players that have experience playing varsity basketball.
The seniors for WHS are Trever Yeager, Stephen Ross, Jimmy Lofton, Michael Crowe, Charley Skinner and Trevor Martin.
The junior class consists of Atlee Carr, Traeten Hamilton, Ryan Roberts, Chase Butler, Jacob Campbell, Zach Rand and Logan Cummings. The two sophomores are Clay Risner and Brayden Yeager.
“Traeten Hamilton has really settled in our offense. He is really becoming a big part of this team offensively and defensively,” Kibler said. “Trever Yeager had a really solid summer as well. Crowe and Ross did a really nice job as well and came to anything and everything we had going on.”
Hamilton returns for his junior season after having a sophomore season last year of 8.5 points per game (188 points) in the 22-game regular season.
Yeager also played in 22 games last year, and during his regular-season play, he averaged 11.4 ppg, scoring 251 points to lead WHS in scoring during the 2016-17 season. Ross is also back for his senior season, coming off a year where he scored 119 points in 22 regular-season games with a 5.4 ppg average.
Last season, the Wildcats had their season come to a close in the sectional semifinals with a 57-39 loss to South Webster.
Having three of their four leading scorers back from a season ago, the Wildcats began the transition of learning from Coach Kibler this past summer and during the preseason, with Whiteoak wanting to move forward this season.
“Our summer was solid as we did a lot this summer,” Kiber said. “The kids were exposed to a lot during the summer, and this preseason, our main goal was to start doing things the right way on and off the court. Also, we wanted to build their confidence, especially after having four years of losing records.
“Again, we want to keep moving forward, recognize the mistake, learn from it and move on. We are going to celebrate the little accomplishments, but never be satisfied. We are really focusing on our defense and getting kids in the right places for the right situations. We will be challenging our team to play solid defense every single night.”
With one of the goals being to win in the SHAC, the Wildcats will also have to play in a strong non-conference schedule, too. This season, the non-conference slate consists of Felicity-Franklin, Glenwood New Boston, Westfall, Bethel-Tate, Portsmouth Notre Dame, Silver Grove (Ky.) Northwest, Washington and East Clinton.
As the Wildcats haven’t had a winning season in the past four years, Coach Kibler is bringing his brand of excitement, expectations and optimism to his team. Last season, the Wildcats had wins against Silver Grove (Ky.), Clermont Northeastern, East Clinton and North Adams.
“We can win some games in the SHAC. We are hoping to surprise a lot of teams this year,” he said. “I’m so excited to be able to coach the game I love at the greatest school in the state. We are really excited to bring winning back to Whiteoak basketball. It’s such an honor.
“I want to thank all the coaches from peewee all the way to JV. We all have really put some time in to make Whiteoak basketball great again. We couldn’t do it without those guys. I also want to thank all the kids who really put the time in this summer and came to anything and everything we had set out.”