Responding after a Nov. 22 scrimmage against Barron at Stanley-Boyd, Orioles Head Basketball Coach Dakota Nichols shared thoughts on the season ahead, as Stanley-Boyd prepares to face St. Croix Central Dec. 3 at home.
“Despite losing a great senior class from last year, I feel very confident in this years team,” he said. “We have excellent leadership from our seniors, coupled with a talented group of underclassmen. We have good size and quickness again this year which gives us certain advantages.
“I think the conference will be balanced this year, every game will pose new challenges, but we are excited to get the season started.
“This has been the most competitive first week of practice we’ve had since I started. The guys are competing for starting spots and playing time. We have kids that dedicated themselves to basketball in the offseason, with record numbers in open gyms. We just have more guys playing basketball in the offseason, which is great to see!
“We will be a balanced team this year, looking to take advantage of transition opportunities and using our size to limit the opponents second chance points. “
On varsity this year are Chezny Harris, Alesio Venturini, Jackson Gindt, Storm Tiry, Carter Isenberger, Logan Gray, Troy Haas, Charlie Hoel, Brenner Meyers, Jesse Allard, Carson Woodcock, Josiah Demske, Brayten Mallo, and Connor Goebel. The Orioles face off against St. Croix Central at home Thursday, Dec. 3. Game start is 7:15 p.m.