In his fourth year at the helm, Skyline boys basketball coach J. Jay Davis thinks he has his deepest squad yet.
“By far, it’s not even close,” he said.
The statement speaks volumes, considering the Spartans are coming off a 22-5 season and an eighth-place state finish — the only state placement in program history.
“We had a really nice team last year, but we’ve got 13 or 14 kids who can play at this level — and play, not just put a uniform on,” Davis said.
Skyline graduated seven seniors off of last year’s team, but returns several key elements.
Senior forward Kasen Williams (9.4 points, 6.3 rebounds per game) and junior guard Will Parker (5.1 ppg) both started last year.
The Spartans also return 6-foot-7 Lucas Shannon and 6-foot-6 Bryan Cikatz. Both players are forces in the middle, but can also draw defenders away from the basket.
“They both have the ability to step out on the perimeter, face up, and knock down shots,” Davis said.
Skyline also brings up key components from junior varsity in guard Blake Omlin, guard Jim Wackerhagen, forward Max Browne and post Isiah Richmond. Browne and Richmond both bring more size to the lineup, standing 6-5 and 6-6, respectively.
Guards Teran Togia, Jordan Simone and Mason Gregory — all wide receivers on the Spartan football team — will join the lineup.
In addition, two freshmen — Jonah Eastern and Addison McIrvin — have already stepped in the first two games of the season.
“One through 13 or 14, we’ve got kids who can play,” Davis said.
With all the depth, the Spartans hope to run opponents ragged by pushing the ball up the court on offense. Success there will start with the defense — a familiar philosophy to a program that held opponents to 45.8 points per game last season.
“Some nights your shot’s going to be off, some nights your opponents going to make it really difficult for you offensively, but that constant is defense,” Davis said.
Skyline, which was without five football players in its first two games, beat Renton 48-47, lost 49-43 loss to Kentwood in last weekend’s Les Schwab Tip Off.
As for where they might be at the end of the season, Davis didn’t want to get ahead of himself.
“Expectations, I leave those for other people,” he said. “We just want to get better every day. We want to build on what we did last year.”
