By Christopher Tenpenny
The Archie Whirlwinds Boys’ Basketball team is ready for the season to begin as they began practicing last week.
The Whirlwinds are led by head coach Brian Tenholder who is coming off a 11-14 record in 2019-2020 season. The Whirlwinds lost four seniors from a season ago but add two new seniors for this season. Tucker Wolfe and Hunter Yahnig look to have an impact on the court this season, much like they did during the football season.
“Wolfe is a leader on and off the floor,” Tenholder said. “He can score as well and that’s something we were missing last year. Yahnig is very athletic and can stretch the floor for us.”
For returning players, senior Dylan Sutton led the team in scoring a season ago with 12.7 points a game and looks poised for a big senior season. Senior JW Dalton was third in scoring last season at 7.5 points a game and looks to have a big impact as well.
“Dylan brings a winners mentality,” Tenholder said. “He’s very competitive and does whatever he can to win. His shot has improved, and his defense has gotten better. JW started out slow for us last year but really came on as the season progressed. He’s a good shooter and over the summer he was playing lock down defense for us.”
Most of the team is coming off a deep playoff run with the football team and are now making the quick transition to basketball. The team was able to get some work together over the Summer and has a lot of senior leadership. Tenholder is not worried about the limited practice time up to this point of the season.
“Luckily this summer we got to play quite a bit,” Tenholder said. “We had our first open gym last Sunday, two days after the football game. We are working on getting the shooting form back and into basketball shape. Once we do that, we will be ready.”
Archie runs a read and react offense. This offense requires constant moving and is typically set up with all five players outside of the paint. Players can then make cuts, set picks and post up depending on what the defense is giving them. Teams cannot focus in on one key player as everyone is a threat.
The diversity of the offense and the athleticism of his team is what makes it so appealing to Tenholder.
“I love the read and react offense because it has a counter to every defense,” Tenholder said. “It takes a high basketball IQ to know how to attack each defense. Leaves it up to the kids to figure it out.”
Archie is scheduled to open up their season at home against Sherwood on Nov. 30. This will be part of a boys and girls doubleheader and will take place immediately following the girls’ game which starts at 5:30 p.m.
