A playoff run cut short in 2017 left only three remaining players on the roster from that years campaign available for this years campaign. The Dripping Springs High School men’s basketball team has trained harder than ever while also developing players from the junior varsity and freshman levels. 

     Head Coach Craig Swannack’s team centers around many quick and smart shooters with a bigman centered in the middle of the offense.

     “With our guards, we like to space them out around the perimeter and give them opportunities to both attack and shoot,” Swannack said, “Then we’ve got a couple of bigmen who we try and keep mobile, once again so that our guards can attack.”

     Nick Statz, Trace Young, and West Weichert were among many players to have played on sub-varsity teams in 2017 before moving up and becoming contributors on the varsity level in 2018.

     “Playing on [junior varsity] really helped prepare me for this year, I had the chance to play on varsity, but I decided to work on my game and my focus so that I could help the varsity team even more this year,” Weichert said.

     The importance of a year on junior varsity is superior than a year spent on the end of the bench as a varsity member and many players felt this way and followed through with that route.

     “I really wasn’t that great of a player coming into last season, I had the size to play varsity, but I couldn’t really move my feet, and I just needed some time to learn the game,” Statz said, “Now after a year of developing I feel like I’ve morphed into a real basketball player and I know the rest of the team went through the same thing.”

     There are many differences between the junior varsity level and the varsity level including skill, pace, and the general importance of games. However, the one thing that tends to stand out between the two is the atmosphere in which the games take place in.

     “I think the environment is the biggest difference,” Ben Bondurant said, “The amount of people, the music, the pregame intros, the noise of the crowd, it’s all so noticeable on the court, especially after last year it [seemed] like we were playing in complete silence.”

     The team is 4-2 following a win over Burnet.

     “Tiger Nation, make sure to come out to the games and support,” Price Siemering said. “We’ll try and put on a show for you guys.” 

Written by Rigley Willis, Sports Editor

 photo by Carmen Comparan