Both the Cook County High School boys’ and girls’ basketball teams have been practicing hard the last couple of weeks, and while the girls are coming off a 20-3 season, the boys hope to build on a 12-10 record that saw a young Viking squad improving with each game. Girls’ coach expects exciting season
Several starters are back from the Vikings’ 2010-2011 squad that, despite its excellent record, finished 4th in the conference.
When asked about his expectations for this year’s squad, Head Coach T. J. Super said, “We of course have high expectations and goals for the season. I know this team will look and play differently than the teams we’ve put out there in the past. They will come into their own identity and play their own style of Cook County basketball.
“Our core philosophy will be the same. Our execution of it may be different. We have 10-11 solid varsity players, so we may be showcasing a deeper bench. We may see more outside shooting, without a 1,000-point scorer [Brea Boomer] roaming the middle.
“I think we’ll see different lineups out there depending on match-ups and how girls are playing. I like what I’m seeing so far, although we have a long way to go.”
Ashley Deschampe led all scorers last season with a 17.3 per-game average and is on pace to become the Vikings’ all-time leading scorer. Deschampe was named first team all-conference and has continued to refine her game through dedicated practice.
Two players who will be hard to replace are graduated seniors Ailee Larson, who led the conference in assists and was one of the leaders in steals, and Boomer, who was also a first team all-conference selection and who has taken her game to college.
“It’s impossible to replace Brea and Ailee, similar as it was impossible to replace Essa and Tina the year before. You have to have young girls step up and play to the best of their abilities, not try to do what those other girls have done in the past. Each girl in the program can contribute a different way, and when every girl understands her role and fulfills her duty in that role is when you see success. As long as each girl shows up every day to work hard and improve, we’ll be fine. If they show up and exceed expectations that I have, the other coaches have, and the girls have for themselves, that’s when you see greatness. This is what we strive for in our program,” said Super.
When asked who else besides Deschampe will lead the team, Super responded, “Molly Zafft and Bekah Laky will be our other senior leaders. Bekah was a full-time starter last year and Molly worked very hard over the past year to put herself into position to be a leader. Besides those three, we have 7-8 solid players that will be fighting for starting spots and playing time.”
Between the varsity and junior varsity there are 18 girls out for high school basketball, and 25 girls are playing in middle school. But as Super noted, “The amount isn’t as important, though, as the effort put out by those girls.”
Because Super employs a frantic full-court press (it looks like a wide open jail break), the Viking coaches use liberal substitutions to keep Viking players fresh and wear down opponents. The formula has worked so well that many times Super puts in second or third team players in the second half of games to keep the score down. But with a different set of players this season, will he employ the same scheme this year?
“We will continue to focus on being a man-to-man pressure team. Our 4-out motion offense will continue to be our staple offense, too. We will be mixing in some new things, though our base philosophy will be the same-pressure defense, run and attack offense.”
When asked if he thought his team could improve over last year’s squad, Super said, “We were 20-3 last year and the section got a lot tougher. Mountain Iron Buhl, who won the section, returns a lot of great players. Barnum is back in the section, as are the newly paired Northwoods (Cook/ Orr), South Ridge (Albrook/Cotton). And Cherry should be tough. Besides those teams, though, there are a couple of other really good teams, too.”
While the conference may be stronger, Super expects his team to be highly competitive and play an excellent, exciting brand of basketball.
“We want to see girls diving on the court, sprinting all the time. We love to see our speed play out and get the girls attacking the basket. I love to hear people say it’s exciting to watch our girls play because oftentimes girls’ basketball gets a bad reputation for being boring.
“Along the same lines, though, I want our girls to be successful and do things the right way, learn discipline within our speed game, and to learn how to be good teammates and great people. We hope that when a girl leaves our program, they know the game, understand how it is meant to be played, and go with an understanding that it is still only a game and the lessons they learn while playing it are the utmost importance.” Boys look to returning starters for success
On the boys’ side, Head Coach Mitch Dorr returns most of last year’s starters including David Bergstrom, a 2010-2011 second team all-conference selection.
Bergstrom, now a senior, is very good at all phases of the game. As a guard he is an outstanding rebounder and last year was the top defensive player on the team (and maybe in the conference) while also leading the team in scoring, averaging about 12 points per game.
Fellow senior Dylan Quaife will also be counted on to rebound, score and play tough defense. Few players in the conference can match Quaife’s speed and quickness, and he is a heady player.
Two juniors who return as starters will be very interesting to watch. Both players showed marked improvement through their sophomore season and both have grown physically over the year. Colin Everson, a fine shooter and tough ball hawk, will be counted on for points and crashing the boards. Last year’s floor general, Kale Boomer, has grown about 4 inches and should be the team’s X-factor. A great ball handler but streaky scorer as a sophomore, Boomer relied on his quickness and endurance to wear down opposing players guarding him. This season he’s a lot bigger and stronger and it will be interesting to see if he’s even faster. When the Vikings’ offense stalls, look for him to drive to the hoop and dish off or take the ball to the rim.
Dorr has a cadre of four or five players who will push for playing time, and if the team is going to improve on last year’s record, he will need them to step up when called on.
As always the Vikings will be pushed to play tenacious team defense by Dorr. Last year’s stingy squad gave up about 40 points per game. Look for more of the same, but the team should be able to score more points. Still, if the other team can’t score, Super it shouldn’t take too many bushel baskets of baskets to win games.
The boys’ first home game is December
2 at 6:30 p.m. against Nashwauk-Keewatin and the girls’ first home game is at 4:45 p.m. on December 2 when they also face
Nashwauk-Keewatin.
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