As the first semester begins its descent, boys varsity basketball makes its return to the school year.
Tryouts for basketball began on Nov. 3 and concluded on Nov. 15.
This season, the varsity team lost its “big three,” as senior Thomas Gifford calls it.
The “big three” consisted of three now-seniors, Joe Rodriguez, Gifford, and Anthony Fischetti.
“It took us three and a half, almost four years to build up our chemistry and work together efficiently, and really get the hang of everything” said Gifford.
Fischetti, who left the team this year, still has high hopes. “I think we [the team] will be pretty solid this year,” said Fischetti.
Gifford continued, “Now, we have to try and fill Anthony’s spot with a younger player. Still, whoever replaces him we will help out to make sure our chemistry and communication is working.”
Despite the break up of the “big three,” Gifford predicts that preseason will go well. “Based on tryouts and the turnout of the players this year, I have a lot of confidence in this team.”
With all of the changes to the chemistry of the team, along with the addition of new players who have little to no experience, it is difficult for one to predict the outcome of not only preseason, but also league.
Directly following the end of tryouts, the boys basketball preseason starts up sooner than one would think. The first preseason game will take place on Nov. 25.
According to Gifford, the boys varsity team is expecting the presence of a few new football players to the team, as well as cross-country runners and players moving up from junior varsity (JV).
“We’ve improved a lot since my freshman year. Last year we weren’t so great because we went through a learning phase with our new coach [Pat Smith], and we barely had any seniors. Smith is a lot more experienced, and this year I think we are going to do a lot better,” said Gifford.
The boys varsity basketball league games are not anticipated to begin until Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015, and it is expected that the league will end some time in mid February of 2015.
