SV boys open season shorthanded

St. Vincent boys basketball coach Bruce Valleroy has been through this many times before, but that still doesn’t make it easy.
The St. Vincent boys team has been shorthanded at practice since it began Oct. 30. The team has had just three players in the gym, in part because a large majority of the team is still playing football. The Indians have one senior, one junior and one freshman doing basketball activities at the moment.
“We will be ok,” Valleroy said of his team, “It may take us a little bit to get going once the season begins and we have everybody. These guys have been focusing on football for the past few months. We have to get their basketball legs under them, but once football ends their season, we look forward to having them.”
Valleroy is no stranger to having the football team going on long runs in the postseason taking away players from his practices.
“I know in 1999, I had just one player in the whole program,” he said. “We had maybe three practices before we had to play in a tournament. I’ve been in this situation many times before. Rome was not built in a dayso when those football guys come in I don’t expect much in that first week.”
The Indians went 16-12 last season and reached the Class 2, District 4 championship game and graduated seven seniors, including many of their top scorers, including Blake Monier, Grant Abernathy, and Dylan DeWilde.
The leading returning scorers are seniors Jacob Schremp and Payton Strattman, who both averaged five points per game last season. The Indians have 13 players in the program. Junior Park Ellis shared time on both varsity and JV last season, and was the leading scorer on the JV. Boston Tarrillion will be the post presence, and Eli Abernathy will be a guard.

Sophomores are Max Wheeler, who started as a freshman, when injuries struck the roster last season. Wyatt Winkler is another sophomore who may be in the starting lineup at times for the Indians this year. Valleroy will also rely a lot on his freshmen to fill out the roster and add depth.
“Sometimes your youth can kill you, but sometimes it can really pay off,” Valleroy said. “We know we are going to make some mistakes and our youth may hurt us in some ways. I think it can also be strong for us as well. These young guys are good athletes and basketball players.”
None of the returning players averaged more than five points per game last season, so Valleroy expects that there may be stretches where different players lead in the scorebook.
“I think we need all 13 players to contribute,” he said. “I have five freshmen and they are going to see some varsity time. They are good, but as you know there’s a big difference from grade school to varsity basketball. I was very impressed with them this summer.”
Valleroy wants his team to push the ball up the court this season.
“We always harp on doing that, but I think we have the ability to get it up and down the floor,” Valleroy said. “We want to score more on our transition. Early on, that may not be the case, but we get in there for a couple of weeks I think it will come together.”
On the defensive side of the ball, Valleroy will look to Tarrillion to be the post presence, along with Schremp. But, he expects everyone to crash the boards for rebounds.
“We want everyone playing defense and crashing the boards,” Valleroy said. “I don’t care if you’re 5-6, or 6-5, we expect everyone to pull their weight on that side. I think we have a lot of versitile kids who can do a lot of things.”