Back on the Court: Boys Basketball Returns to Defend CCS Title

Last year, varsity boys basketball made school history by winning the CCS championship for the first time and reaching regional playoffs. This year, with a significantly younger team that lost many strong players to graduation, the team still hopes to put in a strong performance.

“There isn’t that much pressure on us to repeat this year just because our team is a lot different,” shooting guard junior Tommy Andrews said. “Of course our main goal [is] to win CCS, and we will definitely have in mind this year that we are the defending champions and want to repeat.”

Although its lineup for this year is strong, the team lost many of its best players to graduation, including leading scorer Daniel Rosenbaum and starting center Patrick McColl.

“We graduated six seniors last year, each one of them being a major contributor to the team,” small forward junior Adam Rosenbaum said. “We have a lot of young guys, eager to work hard and learn, and [new players] are now starting to step up as leaders. We are such a new team that in many ways it’s tough to compare us to last year’s team.”

The team’s strength this year is the stamina of its players, who will try to outrun and exhaust their opponents.

“We are a really good fast break team,” Tommy said. “We want to run teams hard and get them tired because we know we have the depth on our bench to keep up the high pace all game.”

To exploit the players’ stamina, the team will continue to employ ball movement as a key part of its strategy.

“We want to get everyone involved,” Tommy said. “If we can really get our ball movement down and continue to improve our defense I think we will be formidable.”

However, the team will work to strengthen its defense as the season gets under way.

“We are an exceptionally hard working team with a ton of really talented shooters,” Adam said. “Right now I think [our] biggest weakness might be our defense, but it’s so early in the season, we have time to shore [it] up.”

While no one can guarantee a repeat, the Eagles still looks forward to an exciting and successful season.

“Last year was a great year [but] we are a far different team this year,” Adam said. “We have a lot to learn, but from where I see things, a second title is certainly within our ability as a team.”

The team’s strength this year is the stamina of its players, who will try to outrun and exhaust their opponents.

“We are a really good fast break team,” Tommy said. “We want to run teams hard and get them tired because we know we have the depth on our bench to keep up the high pace all game.”

To exploit the players’ stamina, the team will continue to employ good ball movement as a key part of its strategy.

“We want to get everyone involved,” Tommy said. “If we can really get our ball movement down and continue to improve our defense I think we will be formidable.”

However, the team will work most to strengthen its defense as the season gets under way.

“We are an exceptionally hard working team with a ton of really talented shooters,” Adam said. “Right now I think [our] biggest weakness might be our defense, but it’s so early in the season, we have time to shore [it] up.”

While no one can guarantee a repeat, the Eagles still look forward to an exciting and successful season.

“Last year was a great year [but] we are a far different team this year,” Adam said. “We have a lot to learn, but from where I see things, a second title is certainly within our ability as a team.”