Boys Basketball Co-coaches, Ryne LaBuda and Rhett Simanton.
This year the Big Sandy Pioneers will have Co-Head coaches; Rhett Simanton and Ryan Labuda. They have 14 basketball players but will bring up some 8th graders.
Rhett said his coaching philosophy "is more or less, not basketball first, but character and playing together as a team. Before we even talk strategy, I feel this is important. They have made a big jump towards that in football. I feel like and hope to continue that in a positive way. I think it was a big, big reason they got where they were at the end of the season." Champions.
We will play DGS at Stanford on December 3rd. I asked Rhett, "What do you expect to see from your team at the first game"? "More or less, I expect to see them come out and play together as a team; that's what I really want to see. First, I know that talent is there. I really do. I know it's there. It's just kind of like how they played on the football field. I hope they played the way they played on the football field and how it correlates on the basketball floor. I hope to have success."
I wondered if the change to a 35-second shot clock would make much difference. "I think offensively, no. But in the scheme of things on defense, we put a little pressure on them in the beginning, maybe teams that don't like to get a shot up real quick, and some pressure on defense will affect some teams."
Rhett sure would like the community to continue supporting the boys as they did at the football games. "I think we'll have a great year, and the girls will too. Both teams will have a great year."
Visiting with Ryan Labuda, what do you want to see from the boys? You know, we won the state championship in football, and we did that because we worked hard and we played tough defense. We just want to pick up with that attitude where we're going to continue to work hard. And hopefully, play tough defense, to take pride in that. Hopefully, we can build off of the successes we stacked up in that football season. We've got many of the same kids returning, so I think it's an easy thing to do or a progression to make.
