EVERETT — Although it may be the season for barbecues, baseball and fireworks, the Meadowdale boys basketball team is already hard at work preparing for next season.
Summer leagues provide great opportunities for players to get more practice and for coaches to get a feel for how next season’s team might work together.
The Mavericks graduated seven seniors this year, so the team is concentrating on getting to know each other and each individuals’ strengths, coach Chad McGuire said.
“We’re trying to figure out who we are and what style we want to play,” he said.
The Mavericks’ participation in the Everett Summer League has given the team an opportunity to try out new sets. The league lasted three weeks in June and gave Meadowdale the opportunity to face a lot of the teams it will see again next season.
McGuire also is focusing on getting more playing time for younger players.
“The common theme is players don’t have a lot of varsity game experience,” McGuire said.
Even though McGuire lost four starters, he said a group of seniors will provide the nucleus for next year’s team.
Returning starter Jake Linton is back and playing very well, McGuire said. Linton is playing for the Seattle Rotary Select team in the Amateur Athletic Union this summer as well.
“He’s one of the best players in the state,” McGuire said. “It seems like every time he steps on the court he gets better.”
McGuire said returning guards Jordan McGinnis and Dee Huffman also have performed well.
Linton said he is looking forward to next season at Meadowdale, and he said he hopes to keep the momentum going from the past two seasons.
During McGuire’s first season at Meadowdale two years ago, the Mavericks advanced to their first state tournament in 25 years. They finished sixth in state that year and returned to the tournament again last year, with the same outcome.
The biggest difference between next season and the previous two will be that the Mavericks will have to contend with 4A schools in the playoffs now that they have made the jump up from 3A.
In regular-season play, Meadowdale will face the same opponents as in previous years; the only change will then be in the postseason.
McGuire said the team’s goal will remain the same as before — to make it to the playoffs.
“We’re looking forward to a new challenge,” McGuire said.
Linton also said he is looking forward to playing the 4A teams in the postseason. He said it will be a challenge, but he’s ready to face it.
“I just want to have fun,” Linton said.
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