Whiteoak High School’s varsity boys basketball team will open their season on December 1 when they travel to Peebles to take on Southern Hills Athletic Conference (SHAC) rival Indians.
The Wildcats will be coached by Blake Kibler who is starting his first season as Whiteoak head coach.
The team will feature six seniors three of which Kibler expects to lead the team this season.
“The leaders on the team are Stephen Ross, Michael Crowe and Trevor Yeager. All three are seniors and we expect a lot from them every night. They are four year varsity players. We will count on them a lot this season to lead on and off the court,” said Kibler.
Whiteoak finished the 2016-2017 season with a dismal 4-16 overall record but, Kibler expects the team to make a big improvement this season.
Kibler said, “Our expectations are very high for this group. We have a lot of upper classmen with experience. We will also be very deep, maybe playing up to ten players a night. We expect to do a lot better this season than last season.”
Despite recent outcomes to the varsity season for the Wildcats Kibler thinks that the team has the players it needs to be successful.
“The strength of this team is our depth. We have a lot of guys who can play. There are several players who could have big nights every time out,” Kibler said.
The team is expecting a big year from junior Traeton Hamilton who Kibler said, “Traeton Hamilton has really stuck out to the coaching staff so far, we see him having a big year.”
Kibler indicated that the team still has a long way to go on the defensive end of the floor to get where they want to be this year.
“The team needs to improve on their defense. We have been working really hard on it so far and we have taken huge steps in the right direction. But, we are far from where we want to be,” said Kibler.
Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.
