Plenty of new faces hit the court for the Meadowdale boys basketball team as the Mavericks wrapped up play in the Mountlake Terrace Summer League.
The Mavericks, who advanced to the Class 3A state tournament, lost all but one of their starters. The lone returner is senior-to-be Roger O’Neill.
Meadowdale coach Chad McGuire was impressed by the players who will be moving up to varsity next season.
“We saw guys filling in nicely,” he said. “Our JV coach Andy Streit has done a nice job getting guys ready. It wasn’t much of a drop off. The hardest part is getting to learn to play at the varsity level and figuring out the intensity it takes and the execution. I thought we made really good strides in both of those areas.”
Meadowdale advanced to the semifinals of the season-ending tournament before losing to Inglemoor.
O’Neill was the primary ballhandler for Meadowdale last season and he also was assigned to the opponent’s best offensive player.
His role will change next season.
“You’ll see a different player,” McGuire said. “This year he’s going to have to score more for us. He had a really good summer for us.”
Meadowdale’s top three scorers — Paul Werner, Matt Gorman and Evan Matteson — all are gone. Some of the scoring load will be picked up by reserve returners Connor Hamlett and Sam Werner.
“All three (O’Neill, Hamlett and Sam Werner) are going to have to score more than last year,” McGuire said. “They’re going to play lot more minutes and are going to have to produce more.”
Two other players likely to play significant roles are Kris Larson and A.J. Carroll, who will both be seniors.
McGuire sees defense as being the Mavericks’ strongest asset.
“Defensively, we’re athletic. We’re going to be really solid,” he said. “That’s going to be the core of next year — our man-to-man defense.”
Edmonds-Woodway also experienced a significant turnover, losing all five starters that helped the Warriors to back-to-back Class 4A state tournament appearances. Edmonds-Woodway also lost head coach Gail Pintler, who stepped down. He was replaced by Todd Rubin, who was an assistant coach at Seattle Prep.
The Warriors have two players with some varsity experience in senior-to-be guard Jeff Wilson and senior-to-be center Kenan Polovina.
The rest of the roster is likely to be a mixture of players, both younger and older, said junior varsity coach John Richer.
“It’s kind of up in the air who fills those other spots,” Richer said. “It’s whoever works hard over the offseason. … It’s going to be a real challenge this year to get the chemistry on and off the court. The idea is that our team leaders really step up and take charge of that.”
Last season’s team featured eight seniors, including long-time starters Max Ortiz, James Conti and Connor Donaldson. That meant that some players, who might have otherwise played varsity had to wait for their turn.
“If those guys can play well together, I think the talent is there and the motivation is there,” Richer said.
This group of Warriors will forge their own identity.
“We’re trying to look forward to this new group,” Richer said. “We’ll set our goals based on who we have independent of what happened in the past.”
Another new head coach in the league, Lynnwood’s Darren McNeal, spent June holding some practices and coaching his team in a tournament and scrimmages against other teams, as well as directing a team camp. McNeal already was familiar with his players since he was a Royals assistant for six years.
“I think the transition has been fairly easy,” McNeal said.
Even though he coached the junior varsity squad, McNeal was very active in the offensive and defensive schemes as the head varsity assistant.
Lynnwood lost five seniors but returns starters Geoff Meinken, Aaron Matzen and Simi Fajemisin. Reserve Jared Milne also is back.
A key loss was the graduation of point guard Andrew Beatty, who started since his sophomore season. Several candidates have emerged for the position but McNeal isn’t ready to proclaim a starter quite yet.
“They’re working hard and still developing,” he said. “It is a significant jump from JV to varsity.”
The Royals should have a strong inside game with the 6-9 Fajemisin and the 6-4 Meinken, a football player who has verbally committed to Washington State. Fajemisin will be a junior and is still progressing as a player.
“I just want him to continue to love the game and continue to develop his skills,” McNeal said.
Meinken brings some grit to the power forward position.
“He’s aggressive. He plays hard,” McNeal said.
Matzen led the Royals in scoring, averaging about 11 points per game.
Mountlake Terrace coach Nalin Sood appreciated not only the diligence but the play of Craig Estrada and Jacob Champoux, a pair of junior varsity guards looking to move up to varsity next season.
“They did a great job of committing themselves,” Sood said. “They improved as the summer went along.
“They only helped their chances to be key players for next year’s varsity team.”
The Hawks dealt with what many other teams also faced, which was that they were missing some players who likely will play major roles on the team.
Sood and his staff spent some time implementing a new offense, which the players picked up quicker than he initially thought it would take. In the new offense, the Hawks attack the defense off the dribble and have a little more freedom in trying to find the open man.
The old offense was a little more rigid and structured, Sood said.
The change was driven by personnel.
“It’s very much more player-oriented,” Sood said. “It’s a little more of an opportunity to play freer. It goes back to the way kids play naturally.
“We’re 50 percent of the way there.”
The players who were not able to regularly attend the summer league games will need to step up next November.
“It will take a lot of teaching,” Sood said. “It’s fun to teach. We’re learning as the kids are learning.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
