Experience, depth, talent – Polk County boys basketball coach Josh McEntire thinks all the elements exist for the Wolverines to have a successful 2015-2016 season.
The key, McEntire said, will be how all of those pieces fall into place.
“I think this team will just keep getting better as the year goes along,” McEntire said. “I think this team can really do some good things, compete for a conference championship and make a playoff run. All the pieces are there. Hopefully, we can stay healthy.”
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Polk County takes the first step on its journey on Tuesday, hosting East Henderson in the season opener for both teams. The Wolverines open the campaign looking to build on the 6-6 run on which they closed the 2014-15 season, Polk County finishing 7-18 but still qualifying for the state 2A playoffs, where the Wolverines fell in the first round to West Wilkes.
Injuries played a key role last season, with Polk County struggling most of the year just to have enough bodies for team scrimmages. McEntire hopes that another year of physical growth for his squad, plus some offseason weight training, will help the Wolverines avoid another year of bumps and bruises.
“There’s an amazing difference in people like Holden (Owens), Daniel (Painter) and Dillion (Overholt),” McEntire said. “Their bodies have changed, and with the weight training they’ve gotten bigger and stronger, which is going to help a lot.”
Though Polk County’s football season ended just over a week ago, all of those players are expected to be in uniform on Tuesday. That includes senior guard Jamal Wheeler, who led Polk County in scoring (17.8 ppg), rebounding (5.3 rpg), steals (3.2 spg) and assists (2.0 apg) last season. Wheeler, expected to be one of the Western Highlands Conference’s top players this season, will be joined in the backcourt by sophomores Overholt and Owens, senior Painter and junior Jaymes Wingo.
“Any of those four guys can start at the two or three spot,” McEntire said. “With any of them, we’re not losing much production. It brings a lot of competition to practice.”
The Wolverines should also get help in the backcourt from Jaylon Bontrager, Brandon Bacher, Rustin Muse, Brett Phipps and Josh Chupp.
Returning in the frontcourt are seniors Wes Mullis and Davis Derkach, with Wingo also expected to provide help in the post. Seth Hardin and Malik Miller will also see action in the Wolverine frontcourt.
“Davis and Wes are experienced post players,” McEntire said. “Davis, when he was at his old school, played some three, so he can spread the court and play more like a stretch four.
“We can use some different lineups. We can go big, we can go small, we can do a lot of different combinations with our guards. Having two bigs that are two experienced seniors helps a lot. These kids can handle the ball well, so when we play a team like Hendersonville who is going to press a lot, we can match up with them.”
McEntire expects Avery to be the team to beat in the WHC this season, with Mountain Heritage and Hendersonville also among the upper echelon.
“There’s not going to be any easy games,” McEntire said. “It’s going to be a tough night every night.”
