Basketball Preview: Whiteoak Wildcats - SHL
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
The Whiteoak Wildcats jump into the 2012-13 basketball season as a bit of a mystery. Last season, they played better at times than their 7-15 overall mark showed, but with a veteran senior group returning for their final season, the Wildcats have an opportunity to erase the results from one year ago.
Whiteoak's varsity squad includes eight seniors, four juniors and one sophomore. Seniors this season include Blake Trueblood, Gage Carraher, Justin Butler, Doc Seip, Graham Douglas, Brent Davis and Leonard Becraft.
Seip led WHS last season in scoring with 15.5 points per game, and Taggert finished with 13.7 ppg. Seip also led WHS in rebounding with eight rpg.
"Doc has improved every year," Wessner said. "He improved his scoring and his rebounding each season. There is no reason not to think he'll continue to do that. It's the same with Luke … every year he's getting better and doing things better."
Juniors are Nick Wardlow, Justin Emery, Jason Jones and Tyler Williams. The sophomore is Zach Vogtli.
WHS lost one senior in Wes Stratton from last season, in which they were 4-9 in the SHL.
As for this season, Wessner said his team must improve defensively, and on the offensive side, there are improvements that need to be made as well.
"Obviously, last year we didn't do a good job as a whole defensively, so we've gone back to basic drills and built from the foundation up," he said. "Offensively, we need to take care of the basketball more. We've worked more on one-on-one individual things, including passing and dribbling, and built it back up.
"Last year was more of a big picture and it didn't work, so we've gone back to small picture and worked our way back up."
At times last season, the Wildcats had trouble breaking into the win column as they didn't piece together consecutive wins all season.[[In-content Ad]]
"We usually game plan game-to-game … last year we tried to simplify it, keep it to one set thing, and in our league, that just didn't work," Wessner said. "We're going to have to study more film of ourselves and of our opponents and make sure we know exactly what they are going to do, and we have to know how to stop it."
The good side for WHS is they have two All-Southern Hills League players returning in Taggert and Seip, as Seip was second-team All-District and Taggert was honorable mention.
Also returning from the starting lineup is Carraher, a three-year varsity starter. Also back with varsity minutes are Trueblood and Butler.
"We are looking for big things from our juniors Tyler Williams and Justin Emery," Wessner said. "They've had really good summers, and we are looking for them to contribute.
"They both will get significant minutes, and they are going to play a big role. Playing at guard in our league, they will be pressured and will have to handle that pressure quickly for us to be successful."
It's no secret the Wildcats' goal this season is to be atop the SHL standings and play in the district tournament.
"Big picture, I feel we have a team that can compete for a league title," Wessner said. "Fairfield is very strong in the small school division, and North Adams and Eastern are strong in the big school.
"We want to get back to Ohio University (district tournament), but that is all big picture, and we have a long, long way before any of that can come about. Early on, I want the team to understand what we are trying to do because we are doing some things differently.
"So far, they've bought into the changes, and team-wise, we must focus on the 'we' before the 'me,' and if we can do, that we can be successful. We have a very tough December with just one home game. We want everyone on the same page so we all can go the same direction."
Whiteoak's varsity squad includes eight seniors, four juniors and one sophomore. Seniors this season include Blake Trueblood, Gage Carraher, Justin Butler, Doc Seip, Graham Douglas, Brent Davis and Leonard Becraft.
Seip led WHS last season in scoring with 15.5 points per game, and Taggert finished with 13.7 ppg. Seip also led WHS in rebounding with eight rpg.
"Doc has improved every year," Wessner said. "He improved his scoring and his rebounding each season. There is no reason not to think he'll continue to do that. It's the same with Luke … every year he's getting better and doing things better."
Juniors are Nick Wardlow, Justin Emery, Jason Jones and Tyler Williams. The sophomore is Zach Vogtli.
WHS lost one senior in Wes Stratton from last season, in which they were 4-9 in the SHL.
As for this season, Wessner said his team must improve defensively, and on the offensive side, there are improvements that need to be made as well.
"Obviously, last year we didn't do a good job as a whole defensively, so we've gone back to basic drills and built from the foundation up," he said. "Offensively, we need to take care of the basketball more. We've worked more on one-on-one individual things, including passing and dribbling, and built it back up.
"Last year was more of a big picture and it didn't work, so we've gone back to small picture and worked our way back up."
At times last season, the Wildcats had trouble breaking into the win column as they didn't piece together consecutive wins all season.[[In-content Ad]]
"We usually game plan game-to-game … last year we tried to simplify it, keep it to one set thing, and in our league, that just didn't work," Wessner said. "We're going to have to study more film of ourselves and of our opponents and make sure we know exactly what they are going to do, and we have to know how to stop it."
The good side for WHS is they have two All-Southern Hills League players returning in Taggert and Seip, as Seip was second-team All-District and Taggert was honorable mention.
Also returning from the starting lineup is Carraher, a three-year varsity starter. Also back with varsity minutes are Trueblood and Butler.
"We are looking for big things from our juniors Tyler Williams and Justin Emery," Wessner said. "They've had really good summers, and we are looking for them to contribute.
"They both will get significant minutes, and they are going to play a big role. Playing at guard in our league, they will be pressured and will have to handle that pressure quickly for us to be successful."
It's no secret the Wildcats' goal this season is to be atop the SHL standings and play in the district tournament.
"Big picture, I feel we have a team that can compete for a league title," Wessner said. "Fairfield is very strong in the small school division, and North Adams and Eastern are strong in the big school.
"We want to get back to Ohio University (district tournament), but that is all big picture, and we have a long, long way before any of that can come about. Early on, I want the team to understand what we are trying to do because we are doing some things differently.
"So far, they've bought into the changes, and team-wise, we must focus on the 'we' before the 'me,' and if we can do, that we can be successful. We have a very tough December with just one home game. We want everyone on the same page so we all can go the same direction."