Last year was a very unusual season for the Mount View boys basketball team piecing the program together after not fielding a team in 2022-23.
Needless to say the road was a little rocky with a roster that had never played varsity basketball.
“We had our ups and downs. We did get stronger as the year went on,” head coach Gary Brown said. “I thought overall the people that finished the season grew and learned from it.”
This year, the Golden Knights have a bigger roster with five players returning from last year.
“We have an opportunity to be good, we just have to work hard. Hard work is what we are stressing,” Brown said. “They could be a solid group. We didn’t play a style of basketball last year that we normally play. We did some things differently. We still have to match up our personnel with what they can do, but we want to change some stuff we did last year.”
“We had to keep it simple last year,” Brown went on to say. “We played a lot of zone, which we don’t normally play. It was kind of a new experience for me. We couldn’t do as much teaching as we normally do because we didn’t have anyone to practice against. We did a lot of drills. The specifics of team play we couldn’t do as much as we like.”
The players back from last year start with seniors Jaron Hale and Zy’Mir Martin,. They are joined by two juniors Juwan Jackson and Zion Jackson, as well as sophomore Ky’rece Hughes.
“Zy’Mir was our leading scorer, but our second leading scoring and rebounder graduated,” Brown said. “We will have to find a guy that replace those number, especially rebounding. We don’t know right now who will take those roles.”
The new additions have shown some promise, but a lack of basketball experience has slowed Mount View during the preseason.
“We have some kids that came out that are probably just as, or more talented than the ones that we have,” Brown said. “They don’t have any varsity experience, but if they buy into what we are trying to do and perform at a high level, they will play. At this point we are doing a lot of drilling and conditioning, but a lot of the drills we did last year, they haven’t retained. We have to re-teach.”
“We have a number of freshman that we do have to teach as well, Brown continued. “We also have a lack of athleticism. People still think we are fast and athletic, but we really aren’t. The kids haven’t developed the muscles like they used to running up and down hills or playing on the basketball courts.”
Although it was a struggle a year ago, the Golden Knights did pick up a sectional win in the postseason.
“It will take time to find the people we can use,” Brown said. “I would like to use eight or nine people, possibly 10 if they develop like we hope. We will have to wait and see.”
Mount View opens the season Dec. 10 at Van.
