Boy's Basketball: Outlook

James Wood

Coach: Al Smith, fifth year

Last year: 9-14 (1-7 Northwestern)

Key losses: Chad Potter; Jake Lewin; Mel Savarese.

Key returnees: Michael Carter, Sr. G; Ryland Williams Jr. G; Camden Butler, Jr. G; Peyton Crickman, Jr. G; Nick Foura, Sr. G; Brett Lewin, Sr. F; Taylor Edwards, Sr. G.

Top newcomers: Chris Davet, Sr. G; McCall Toler, Soph. G; Dakota Orndorff, Jr. F; Brady Hepner, Soph. F.

Outlook: Smith said it definitely took his team a while to get used to ‘The System’ because it was so different than what his players were used to last year.

Prior to last season, Smith said he used to frown on his players taking the 3-point shot, but that’s definitely not the case after the Colonels’ 80-65 win over Woodgrove in last Tuesday’s season opener.

“I think they’re more comfortable with it,” Smith said. “I saw a real difference from the first half to the second half [against Woodgrove]. Our traps and rotations were so much better. We really improved in just one half. They’re starting to react. The thought of putting up that many threes was a different concept. I think we’ve got over that with 65 threes [attempts] against Woodgrove.”

Carter (11.4 points last year) returns as Wood’s leading scorer, but Smith’s team should have plenty of options on offense with Williams (10.7 points, 3.2 steals, 2.3 assists), Cam Butler (9.8 points, 2.8 assists) and Nick Foura (9.8 points) back.

Smith wants his team to take at least 80 shots (with at least 40 of those coming from beyond the 3-point line) a game, rebound 35 percent of its misses, create 26 turnovers and shoot 20 more times than its opponents.

“We have to stay focused on those five goals,” Smith said. “We don’t have a Division I prospect on our team. We have some solid players but for us to be successful we have to rely on each other. We have to play together and pull for each other. Our whole goal is to create a high pace of play. We want to play all 13 and still have fresh legs at the end of the game.”

Next game: Tonight, at Liberty, 7:30