Coupeville senior Jered Brown has been a four-year varsity player. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
Fellow senior Sean Toomey-Stout was in the top two in nearly every stat category a season ago.
They have the numbers. They have the experience. They have the talent.
As Brad Sherman enters his third season at the helm of the Coupeville High School boys basketball program, the Wolves are primed to make a big surge.
CHS, which kicks off a new season with back-to-back road trips to Darrington and Oak Harbor Dec. 3-4, boasts 33 players divided equally between three squads.
Sherman will be joined by returning JV coach Chris Smith, while the C-Team needs to replace Scott Fox, who has taken over the Wolf girls varsity program.
Coupeville’s first-string boys squad is virtually the same one which took the court a year ago, as the Wolves lost just sixth man Dane Lucero to graduation.
Hawthorne Wolfe tossed in a team-high 158 points last season, the most scored by a Wolf freshman boy across 102 seasons, but he’s not the only guy capable of filling up the hoop.
The next eight players on the scoring list, led off by Sean Toomey-Stout (122) and Mason Grove (109), were juniors last season, giving CHS a senior-heavy roster this time around.
Ulrik Wells (74), Jered Brown (71), Gavin Knoblich (65), Jacobi Pilgrim (43), Koa Davison (11), and Jean Lund-Olsen (7) are also back, while sophomore Xavier Murdy (4) is a full-time varsity player in his second season.
Rounding out the roster is one newcomer, with senior Tucker Hall making the jump from JV to varsity.
“Depth and experience are going to be big for us,” Sherman said. “This group has shown they are willing to work hard.
“With so many returners, they are getting more comfortable playing together and that’s huge,” he added. “I think we have the opportunity to be strong on both sides of the ball.”
While the Wolves kick off the second week of practice Monday, many of their players have been working on their games year-round. A strong showing at team camp is also cause for happiness.
“Our guys showed a lot of growth over the summer, especially in our transition game and showing a lot more poise on offense,” Sherman said.
“Between our summer practice schedule, the tournament win on the coast, and battling with some big schools in Cheney at camp, we were really proud of the body of work our guys put together in June to carry us toward the season.”
As he mixes and matches players, looking for the best combinations, Sherman wants to see those groups gel.
“We are seeing a lot of good things from a lot of guys right now, and really just stressing the importance of each and every role working together,” he said. “Several of our guys have quite a bit of versatility to play in different spots, which gives us a lot of flexibility with our lineups and sets.
“Trust, on and off the court (is big),” Sherman added. “We have to have five guys on the floor working together, thinking together, trusting one another to do their jobs in every aspect of the game.
“That is a big point of emphasis for us.”
As they work towards the start of the season, the Wolves are hard at work fine-tuning their games on both sides of the ball. Keeping the pressure ramped up on opposing teams is big.
“We know we need to take care of the ball better and finish at the rim,” Sherman said. “Unforced turnovers hurt us last year – and while we aren’t spending any time looking in the rear-view mirror, we do need to learn and improve on some of those key things.
“Defensively we need to just make sure we are playing four quarters of all-in defense with five guys moving hard to position on every single pass,” he added.
“We are really emphasizing closeouts, on-ball pressure, and improved communication on the defensive end.”
Coupeville has a 19-game regular-season schedule, with the final nine tilts all against fellow North Sound Conference teams.
King’s, which finished 3rd at state last year, offered league rivals a chance to play just once, and not twice, and the Wolves, along with Granite Falls and Sultan accepted.
South Whidbey and Cedar Park Christian did not, making for a lopsided league schedule.
For his part, Sherman is not super-concerned with any one team on the schedule, viewing each game as an important building block for his program.
“Really not focused on one particular team,” he said. “Our preparation as coaches and athletes has to be the same for every team we face.
“This is a tough league, and we just need to take it one game at a time.
“As a coaching staff we have full confidence in our guys ability to compete night in and night out,” Sherman added. “We certainly scout and game plan for each team we face, but ultimately it’s our ability to go out and play good team basketball and execute our own stuff that really matters.”
This will also be the Wolves final rumble against this set of conference foes, as Coupeville drops from 1A to 2B with the 2020-2021 school year.
“We part ways with this league next season, so one of our goals is to go out strong and make a statement at every level of our program,” Sherman said.
“Our ultimate hope would obviously be to earn a postseason opportunity in February, but for now, it’s just one game at a time.”
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