Last year’s PikeView team was one of the best in the last few years but fell victim to a difficult region. Now the Panthers look to regroup with a more difficult task at hand – be competitive while fielding four new starters.
“We lost a ton of game time,” PikeView coach Colton Thompson said. “Four starters graduated and Dylan Blake is our only returning starter. He was a junior last year and senior this year. One of the key losses was Kobey Taylor-Williams, a 1,000-point scorer in his career and a lot of those other pieces around him, they played a lot of minutes as juniors and sophomores. It was a very seasoned group and leaves us pretty young.”
Blake a scoring machine, will be the focal point for the Panthers this season and for good reason. He’s a talented scorer with good six at 6-foot-3 and has already proven what he can do.
“Yeah, he’s definitely very aggressive and is going to be one of the key pieces,” Thompson said. “He had 42 and 43 in back-to-back games last season which set the school record both times. A few of these other guys in seniors Kameron Lawson and Kaleb Dunn are guys that have been spot minute guys behind that very deep senior class and have been chomping at the bit to get their chance to play.”
The vacancies in the lineup have led to a heated competition to fill them. Thompson believes that will probably be a strength for the team down the road.
“We’re practicing really hard and we’ve had great intensity in practice,” Thompson said. ” Right now we’re pretty deep. I think bottom to top there’s not a lot of separation and there’s a lot of guys fighting for those early minutes off the bench. If they’re not fighting for a starting spot they’re trying to creep in there and be one of those six or seventh men that are going to see some heavy minutes. It’s been really competitive.”
They’ll get indoctrinated throughout the season with a tough schedule. The Panthers play in the same region as defending state champion Shady Spring and will open with another state tournament team in Herbert Hoover.
“I think they’ve seen what we’re up against and they understand the value of strength of schedule,” Thompson said. “You know the record’s not a true tale of the tape with who we are. This year we, follow a lot of Tailgate Central metrics, and we’re usually there at the top of the state for our class. I think it helps prepare these guys for what they’re being thrown into and the grind. This section and this region runs through Shady. We scheduled a lot of the other side of the region last year, but Hoover is good over there and to get out of this region you have to play a tough schedule.”
With a younger team, Thompson is interested in seeing how they adapt early. The first two weeks are what he has circled on his calendar. It will also allow him to break the season into smaller runs and evaluate the progress of the team at various points.
“We’re all in on those first two weeks of the season,” Thompson said. “We’re trying to see where we are and break it into mini runs. We start the season at Herbert Hoover so that’s been a big focus for the opening of practice. We’re coming in ready to play against a really good team and a really good point guard.”
