Wildcats hoping to improve on last year’s state appearance
Published 9:37 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
Mount Si basketball coach Garrick Phillips has a lot to smile about
these days. His group of returning varsity players includes eight that went
with the team to state and played for their fifth-place spot.
The varsity team boasts 10 playoff games under its belt, several
of which were in do-or-die situations. He has two seasoned players back on
the court after receiving season-ending injuries last year, Vince
Longbucco, senior and a co-captain, and Mike Dollinter, also a senior. In addition,
he has four-year varsity player Isaiah Cormier, a mainstay in the
`Cats launch to a state place.
“Both have done a real good job of leadership,” said Phillips,
of Cormier and Longbucco. “Isaiah is a four-year varsity player. He
knows exactly what we want to do with the program. He has been helping out
with the younger kids and implementing the things we want to do.
“We are really excited to have Vince back. He kind of has new
life since he spent all last season on the sidelines watching, and that was a
really frustrating time for him. He is excited to be back and is working
real hard,” continued Phillips.
After an eight-win, four-loss regular season last year, the
Wildcats cranked up the intensity and took fourth in KingCo, sixth in
Sea-King and fifth in the state. But the team is ready to improve on its
accomplishments.
Eight of the top returners have state playoff experience: Cormier
had 18 points against the Ellensburg Bulldogs; Mike and Marc Dahm, the
twins, had eight and 11 points respectively against North Thurston at state;
and Sean Fallows, a 6-foot-3 senior, dropped a three-point bomb
against North Thurston so the `Cats could head to the locker room with a
halftime lead at state.
In addition, there is Logan Ratcliffe, the sophomore guard
who has proven his worth as an athlete in several Wildcat sports. Also on the
list of top talent is 6-foot-2 junior Brett Bergstrom.
In his eighth season at the helm of the `Cats, Phillips has amassed
a record of 62 wins and 101 losses.
The team will have a different look this year after the departure of
Chris Kaplan, Ben Eaton and Jason Arriaga to graduation, but Phillips is
seeing some positive changes for the team.
“We do have guys that can step in that are better ball handlers and
better shooters all around. We are going to look to spread the floor and run a
lot. We are going to look to press and shoot a lot of jumpers on the breaks,” he
said. “It will be a little different because
we don’t have the size at the varsity level. We will have to rely on speed
and quickness and defense.”
Defense has become more important this year without the size
of Kaplan and Arriaga. “Our defense will be a big key for us since we will
be outsized by most of the people we play,” said Phillips. “We are also
going to have better athleticism than most of the teams we are going to play.
“We are going to press a lot, trying to be more aggressive just
because we have such an advantage with our athleticism. We may have been a
little more slow-footed [last year] so we could slow it down and pound
inside. This year we are going to try and score as much as we can from our defense.”
The team also has some top shooting talent in Fallows and the
Dahms, but Phillips is quick to point out that Longbucco and Ratcliffe are also
very capable. “Our top eight guys are all three-point shooters and will have
attempts from the three-point line. That makes us hard to guard,” said Phillips.
Also vying for a league championship will be Mercer
Island, Sammamish and Issaquah, all of whom are returning competitive
teams this year. And Phillips is keenly aware of how the league will view the
team after its impressive late-season run.
“I think finishing higher than anyone else in our league will give us
a mark on our chest, and people will be out to get us. We have a lot of
returning guys. I don’t feel any pressure, and I don’t think the players do, they
just have a lot of desire. They have that desire to get back there and do
better than last year, to try and improve. I think that’s a reasonable goal,”
said Phillips.
“We have a ton of experience, and if I had to guess, I think we will
have a better winning percentage than we did last year,” he continued. “It’s
really tough to repeat, but our winning percentage should be better
because our chemistry is so much better this year.
The team also knows they have to adapt to the new chemistry to
take advantage of the team’s talent. “We alter what we do every year to
adapt to the personnel we have. We have had to adjust, and next year will be
different. We have a bunch of big tall kids on JV, but those kids aren’t ready
for the varsity level,” said Phillips.
But the team’s numbers are up at the freshman level, with 15 making
the team. “Our feeder programs are starting to have an impact. Every year
we have a lot of freshman in the program, but this year, I think we have the
strongest freshman class we have ever had,” said Phillips.
Assisting coach Phillips will be Gary Spalding, at the
junior-varsity level, and Stan Durman, at the
“C” team level. Also helping out will be Brian Hill, Justin Herr and
Jimmy Skeen.
Mount Si kicks off its season Saturday, Dec. 2, hosting Mount
Rainier. The team’s league opener will be Friday, Dec. 8, at Sammamish. Tipoff
is at 7:30 p.m.
