Boys Basketball Preview

As the weather gets colder, the trees begin to look more bare, and the fall season start to wrap up, students at Jamesville-DeWitt High School begin to realize that basketball season is almost upon us.

“If you were about to rate my excitement from one to ten, I am probably at an 11,” said senior Zack Shaw about the season ahead. Shaw says that no matter what clique, grade or club you’re in, the Boy’s Varsity Basketball games are always fun.

Sophomore Emily Aziz and senior Sean Behan agree with Shaw’s comments. “The games are always so much fun. It’s just a really fun environment to support your school and hang with your friends,” says Aziz. “I just can’t wait to cheer on my fellow students,” Behan added.

Senior Brian Wagner is yet another student who is amped about this upcoming basketball season saying “this year’s ‘bout to be bumpin’.”

Yet how will the three-time, reigning State basketball champions of New York achieve a fourth consecutive title and increase their national ranking which at the moment is no. 43 in the nation?

Although they’ve lost All-State point guard Lamar Kearse and the perimeter threat of Zach Firestone, many on the team feel more confident than ever about the season ahead.

“As always, I think we’ll have a chance for a fourth straight if and only if we work as a team,” said senior point guard Davi Sacco. “I don’t think this will be hard though because I feel like the team chemistry has improved from last year,” says Sacco.

This is a common feeling among the team. Senior small forward Demetrius Mitchell agrees with Sacco; “We had a good team last year, but this year is gonna be special. This team really works together.”

Junior forward Tyler Cavanaugh is one who thinks that this team’s chemistry will drastically help their already powerful offense, which averaged 89.1 points per game last year during the regular season. “If we play as a team, move the ball around and play without egos, opposing teams won’t know how to stop us. We have way too many options and they won’t be able to stop us all,” he says. Cavanaugh said that the egos on this year’s team are far fewer than those a year ago.

Also on the list for this season is the addition of three nationally televised games against other nationally ranked high schools across the Country. “It’s an exciting time because we can show the nation what a public school can do on a national stage,” says Sacco. These games will be played in Morgantown, West Virginia, Boston, Massachusetts and at the Dome in Syracuse, New York.