Season preview: Banner County boys to depend on senior leadership

Cole Wyatt takes over as the head boys basketball coach at Banner County, and feels that the Wildcats will compete for a conference title in 2014-15. Wyatt previously served as an assistant at Banner County for the last four seasons.

"I will be taking over as head coach this year for coach Jim Wyatt," he said. "Coach (Brett) Cross and I played and assisted under Coach Jim for several years, and are very excited to be able to work with this group and look forward to the upcoming season. We attended a summer camp in Wyoming, coming away with a feeling of positive growth from our kids.

"Our seniors have a lot of game experience and have matured both on and off the court. This group will be ready to compete for the conference title."

The Wildcats finished last season 9-13 overall. This group will have to replace two seniors from a year ago that averaged significant playing time in Ben Hostetler and Brenton Soule. Hostetler averaged about 9 points per game and 5 rebounds per game last year, while Soule average 4.5 points per game and 5.7 rebounds per game.

Banner County returns a trio of seniors that should have an impact this season. Tyson Dahlgrin, a 6-foot, 4-inch power forward, averaged 17 points and 11 rebounds per game a season ago to lead the team in both categories. He broke the school record for rebounds in a season with 240 last year, and was also named first team all-conference in the Minuteman Activities Conference.

Mike McKown, a 6-foot, 1-inch guard, also returns for his senior season after averaging eight points per game and three rebounds per game a year ago. Senior Kadan Huber, a 5-foot, 11-inch guard, shot 30 percent from beyond the arc as a junior.

The Wildcats have several others that should make an impact this season. Wyatt said senior Bryce Olsen, a 6-foot, 2-inch center, "brings a lot of experience to the team." He averaged two points per game a season ago.

Wyatt also expects Dalton Jordan, a 5-foot, 9-inch senior guard, to have a solid season.

"I'm looking for many good things from this young man. He has developed good ball handling skills and knowledge of the game," he said.

Cole Blanke, a 6-foot, 2-inch sophomore, also returns after limited playing time as a freshman.

"This kid has heart and works hard," Wyatt said. "He will develop into a solid part of the team with continued hard work on his underneath game."

Wyatt said he has high expectations for his retuning players this season.

"I expect them to be good leaders and to work hard to push themselves and the younger kids to be better," he said.

Key newcomers include Roby Fonseca, Cole Carey and James Sandberg, Wyatt said. The head coach said Fonseca, a 5-foot, 1-inch senior, has the potential of being an excellent three-point shooter.

Looking at his team's strengths, Wyatt said that experience will be a key this season.

"The strength of this team will be our age and experience and our size," he said.

One area that the team needs to improve upon is keeping its composure at the end of games, Wyatt said.

The first-year head coach expects a balanced offense for the Wildcats this season.

"I see our team being well balanced with a strong post presence, along with multiple kids who will be able to shoot from the outside," he said.

Defensively, Wyatt expects another strong year from his team.

"We were very strong last year, and I expect nothing less," Wyatt said. "We played with good intensity and speed on defense."

As for the Wildcats' biggest challenge, Wyatt said the key is finishing games.

"Our biggest challenge will be learning to finish games with composure and to the best of our abilities," Wyatt said.

Heading into the season, Wyatt said his team is ready for it to begin. The Wildcats open the 2014-15 campaign Friday at Oshkosh. They host Potter-Dix on Saturday.

"The kids are working hard and are excited to start playing games," he said.