Last season did not quite go as planned for the Meadow Bridge boys basketball team.
Injuries, as well as not having a true home gymnasium to play its games made for a rough season on the hardwood.
Now the Wildcats have a new gymnasium and three seniors to anchor what head coach Brandon Wickline believes will be a bounce back season.
“Teams will take us for granted this year, but the kids are excited,” Wickline said. “We are dressing 14 players and they are all great kids. We have three seniors coming back in Cordell McClung, Blake Bennett and Brycen Sawyers. I had Sawyers and Bennett come up to me and say they are going to double our wins from the last two years combined.”
Sawyers has been a standout during his career and has been a handful in the post for opposing defenses.
“It’s no secret, we are going to run stuff through Brycen. If he is capable of scoring 30 points a night, we will give him a chance to do it,” Wickline said. “He worked a lot in the off-season and has gotten better with his left hand. His jump shot is better and his passing is better. He puts in the work and he is very coachable.”
The versatile big man possesses the traditional look of a post player, but he can also run the floor and step out away from the basket.
“Brycen is so fundamentally sound in the low post and has really good moves. Then he can step out and hit the foul line jumper. He is about 6-foot-2, so he can matchup with a big and take them off the dribble,” Wickline said. “He is a hard matchup. He is physical and not just when he is posting up. He sets screens away from the ball and runs the floor hard. That is something our bigs do really well.”
With Sawyers drawing plenty of attention, it will likely leave room for his fellow seniors to excel as well.
“Blake and Brycen will be in the post. I went back to the three out and two in. I am still an inside out guy. I can’t wrap my head around just run down the floor and shoot a 3-pointer every time,” Wickline said. “Blake has improved his shot and I think he is going to have a big year rebounding the ball and scoring the ball. Cordell can shoot the 3-pointer for us and he will be a lock-down defensive guy.”
Sophomore Kaiden Simms is coming off a stellar season in football and will be a versatile player for the Wildcats on the court.
“Kaiden is just an athlete. He rushed for 1,600 yards in football,” Wickline said. “He will have to play the guard and the forward position for us. I have put a lot of pressure on him, but he can handle it because he is very coachable. He plays inside-out and just like football, you can put him anywhere and he will make an impact.”
Trent Roles is another two-way football player that will now, as a freshman, be thrust into the point guard role for Meadow Bridge.
“We have a player with a knee injury that won’t play this year. So, at point, we are probably going to start Roles,” Wickline said. “He has great court vision and sees the floor really well. I just put it all out there for him. The speed of the game is going to be faster. He will be playing a very tough position because it is high school basketball and it is the position I played. So, I will be harder on him, but I think he will handle it.”
Jadon Butcher did not play last year, but was an offensive lineman on the football team. He is expected to add depth on the post. He will be joined by sophomore Tony Martin who will also see some varsity time.
“We will probably go seven deep,” Wickline said. “The three seniors have stepped up in practice and helped the younger guys. The players are leading the team and that is what I like.”
This season the game-plan for Meadow Bridge is fairly basic, take care of the basketball.
“When we didn’t turn the ball over, we scored on over 50 percent of our possessions. We could score the ball, but we would have 25 or 26 turnovers per game,” Wickline said. “Taking care of the ball has been a big focus. We are going to have some turnovers, but we shouldn’t be having that many turnovers.”
