Youthful Scioto boys will look to reload in 2009-10

By CHRIS MILES

Published: Tuesday, December 1, 2009 4:09 PM EST

There won't be nap time or Cheerios served for snack, but the Dublin Scioto boys basketball team will be extremely young this winter.

A year after graduating nine seniors, the Irish enter the 2009-10 season without a lot of experienced varsity players, but coach Tony Bisutti still thinks his team can be competitive this season.

"I think in most seasons we would've had more guys back with experience," the coach said. "But we had so many talented guys, and last year's senior class was so deep, not many other guys got varsity minutes."

Scioto won the league, and a district title, and came up just one point short in a 54-53 D-I regional final loss to eventual state champion Northland.

The Irish return just two players that played significant time last year on the varsity, in junior post Jemare Mills (6-5) and junior point guard Raneal Ewing (5-11).

Even though his team lacks experience, Bisutti is hoping he and his coaching staff can bring the team far enough along so they can still be in the mix for an Ohio Capital Conference Cardinal Division title.

"We've got good young players," he said. "We're teaching every minute we're out there. This is the situation, and hopefully we can make the most of it."

There just don't seem to be enough minutes in the day for the Scioto coaching staff to get everything in that needs to get it in. So it's feasible the Irish team that starts the season will look completely different than the one that takes the floor at the end of it.

"I looked at the clock today and realized we were out of time," Bisutti said. "We've got to use our time wisely, but we also have to fight the urge of cramming everything in so early.

"We want to get this right, we realize we're not going to be good at everything right away."

Scioto will look to Mills and Ewing to provide much of the scoring punch this winter, but the Irish coaches know that won't be nearly enough and will need others to chip in.

"We've got to find a third scorer," Bisutti said. "There are going to be ups and downs during the season and we really need to find other guys that can score."

Junior guard Jacob McPheters (5-8) and junior post Max Brundige (6-2) appear to be the early candidates to step in to help fill the void left by last year's graduates.

The Irish won't find any OCC Cardinal teams feeling sorry for them this year, particularly after the way they have dominated the league the last couple years.

"If there's a down side for us it's that the rest of the conference has people back," Bisutti said. "All three Westerville teams have the potential to be good. (Westerville) North could be really good.

"There's no one on our schedule that's going to feel sorry for us," the coach said. "We're going to have to be dialed in. A lot of things will have to be right for us this year."

The Irish will open the season Friday, Dec. 4 (7:30 p.m.), at Worthington Kilbourne. They'll play the first home game of the season Tuesday, Dec. 8 (7:30 p.m.), against Olentangy.

"We know this year is going to be a challenge," Bisutti said. "But we've got good kids who work hard. It would be easy to say next year is going to be the year.

"But we're trying to win right now, when we step on the court we're trying to win them all. That's the type of approach we need to have."

"I think in most seasons we would've had more guys back with experience. But we had so many talented guys, and last year's senior class was so deep, not many other guys got varsity minutes."

-- Tony Bisutti