After a five-year drought, the longest in program history, the Wyoming East boys basketball team made its way back to the state tournament last season, falling to eventual Class AA runner-up Bluefield in the opening round.
That game was the last time Tanner Whitten, Tucker Cook and Chandler Johnson suited up for the Warriors with the latter two lost to graduation and Johnson currently enrolled at Independence.
Now the challenge for East head coach Derek Brooks it to replace those three players, all of whom were starters. Johnson manned the paint, Whitten was a two-time first-team all-stater and Cook could stretch the floor.
“It’s going to be tough to fill those roles those guys left,” Brooks said. “It’s hard to fill 20 points a game from one guy in the last two years. We got our guys now in the gym every day working and getting better and we’re going to compete regardless. I think those guys are going to get better as the year goes on from the sheer fact they’ll get those reps but it could be a rough start for us early. Not a lot of these guys have played varsity minutes and if they have it’s kind of been mop-up minutes here and there.”
Fortunately for Brooks he returns his starting guards as well as a key reserve in Jacob Howard.
“I think Cole (Lambert) and Garrett (Mitchell) are going to lead us for sure,” Brooks said. “I see Bryson Huff stepping in and giving us good minutes and hopefully becoming our third leading scorer. He’s going to have to score the ball some. Then we’ve got Tanner Cook and Jacob Howard. Howard’s played a lot in the past. He got a ton of minutes in the state tournament and throughout the season he averaged about 20 minutes a game. He’s kind of an undersized big but he’s a strong kid and a physical kid. He knows how to use his body to score and Tanner Cook hasn’t got a ton of varsity minutes but we look for him to be more physical than he has been. We also had a surprise come out this year in Jackson Danielson. He’s been pretty solid in practice and hasn’t played basketball in three years but he has upside and will only get better as the year goes on.”
Brooks anticipates Mitchell and Lambert will have to carry the load in the early going until their less experienced teammates are up to speed. That’s something he’s comfortable with as they’ve earned his trust. Mitchell was thrusted into action as a freshman and Lambert spent all of last season as the team’s primary point guard, facing the pressure defenses thrown his way by teams like Bluefield and Shady Spring.
“Garrett’s been with me now for four years,” Brooks said. “He started half the year his freshman year after all those guys left our program and I think that helped him in the long run. I hated it for him in the moment but I think it helped him because he saw what he needed to do to get better and succeed at the varsity level. And Cole, he’s the hardest worker I have. He’s working on his craft 365 days a year whether he’s in the gym, lifting weights or working on his handles at home.”
Aside from experience, Brooks is worried about his teams’ size and athleticism in comparison to their counterparts. Westside is back in the section after a stint in Class AAA and Bluefield and Chapmanville, teams who also have title aspirations, boast athletic lineups
“We’re kind of big somewhat,” Brooks said. “To be honest my guards are the same size as my bigs except Cole. We just don’t have a tremendous amount of athletes. I don’t have a bunch of sprinters or jumpers and the competition we play has that and it tends to make it difficult against teams who don’t have those athletic kids. That may be one of our weak points going in. I think if we just play hard grow we can help ourselves a lot.”
Despite the new cast in New Richmond, the goals remains the same.
“I wouldn’t say it’s changed any,” Brooks said. “If you’re not competing for a state championship why are you coaching or playing? The team might be a little different this year but that’s always our goal.”
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com
