Grantsville boys basketball is feeling the change more than anyone, with new head coach Shane Heath at the helm. As always, with a new coach comes the excitement of a new philosophy and new offense.
Last year the Cowboys had a rough beginning of the season before entering Region 11 play. Going 2-9 heading into region play, things looked bleak for the Cowboys but they turned it around against region foes going 4-6 and earned a tie for fourth place with Ogden.
With their fourth-place finish, the Cowboys traveled to Delta, who was undefeated in Region 8 play, and forced the Rabbits into overtime battle. Grantsville eventually lost 63-56 in overtime but gave Delta all they could handle for a 3A first-round game.
The Cowboys will hope to improve this year and there will be some familiar faces to help them in 2008-09 season. Alex Childs, who has started since his sophomore year, plans on sending out his senior year with a bang. Childs has formed into a typical all-around player and has plenty of game experience.
Junior Reggie Roberts has the ability to stretch defenses with his shooting while seniors Austin Gumucio and Cody Colson provide a great inside presence with rebounding and scoring. Colson in fact, has earned so much of an inside presence that he has been nicknamed the “garbage man” by coach Heath.
Jake Roberts and Jake Clonts have both showed great improvement from last season.
“Jake Roberts is my shut-down defender and will likely guard our opponents’ point guard even though he isn’t a point,” said Heath. “Jake Clonts can jump out of the gym and understands the game at the same time.”
Juniors Ben Tripp and Austin Cunliffe are expected to contribute this season also. Fours sophomores are also going to gain varsity experience for the Cowboys. Heath plans to coach to his team’s strengths this season.
“We are going to have a very athletic team but not too much height,” said Heath. “We are going to try and run the ball as much as possible and look for fastbreaks whenever we can.”
Their offense will also use a lot of motion and consist of many players fighting through screens. With their lack of height also, Grantsville will look to draw their opponents’ bigger defenders away from the basket so that they can use their athletic ability to run in and out-hustle any opponent on the boards.
As far as defense is concerned, Heath did mention that man-to-man will be their primary defense but that could change with the different opponents the Cowboys will see this winter.
“My first priority will be to change the attitude of the players and help them realize that it is a privilege to play basketball at Grantsville,” said Heath. “They do get along real well together and you can see that on the court when they play.”
Spending the last four years as an assistant coach, Heath has seen what his players are capable of and expects that every night. “Seventy-five percent is not going to cut it. We need to give it our all every night,” said Heath.
With tryouts wrapping up this week and actual practices beginning, Grantsville basketball players will be focusing on conditioning. “The best conditioned team will win all the close games in the end,” said Heath.
Heath, with his assistant coaches Jimmy Arellano, Rick Harrison and Jason Rollie, will try to get his team ready for their season opener at home against Tooele on Nov. 25, at 7 p.m.
Jake Gordon: jgordon@tooeletranscript.com
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