Season starts with high expectations

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Dogies will start their hoops season with a target on their backs, given Wyopreps announced the results of the preseason polls last week with Newcastle in the 5th spot in 3A.  
“Coming off of last year we kind of anticipated that we would come in with some preseason expectations. That’s good, but it is what it is,” head coach Allen Von Eye cautioned. “It’s neat and it’s cool, but it doesn’t mean a dang thing unless you’re willing to work toward that because everybody and their dog is wanting to make it to that state tournament. They feel like they can make it this time of the year, and are working really hard toward that.”
Von Eye went on to say that he doesn’t worry that his team has been lulled into a false sense of security due to the early rankings, and are working very hard to prove they deserve the recognition.
“It’s nice that people respect your program and your kids, and people were pretty blown away across the state with how hard our kids work and how fun they were to watch,” he smiled. “But, if you think that preseason rankings crown you, it’s not good. I don’t worry about that with this group because we’ve been blessed with kids who work their tails off!”
The Dogies will be running very fast-paced offensive and defensive systems once again this season, so Von Eye pointed out that practices are very intense right from the start in order to get his players in the kind of shape necessary to go hard for 32 minutes.
“We get up and down the court with our drills from the start of practice, so by the middle the guys are usually fatigued, which is to be expected at this time of the season,” he explained. “One negative by-product of that early on is that your practices are really solid and high energy to start, but by the middle they are tuckered because they’ve gone hard. But Wednesday we started to see that shift showing our conditioning is there. For the entire duration of practice, the energy was as high across the board as I’ve ever had it in that gym.”
The Dogies have great numbers again this season with 37 out for the sport – the most ever in Von Eye’s tenure as head coach. Of those, there are seven seniors and seven juniors, 11 sophomores and 12 freshmen. 
“We’ve got a ton of bodies, which is a good problem to have as long as they’re competitive and want to work hard, which they do,” Von Eye nodded. “We get a lot accomplished in practice and we have a lot of competition. Guys can see that if they don’t work hard someone else will be, so they have to get after it all the time.”
The Dogies lost four players from last season’s squad, leaving some pretty big shoes to fill this year. Cam Quigley, Lyle Whitney and Bryson Tidyman graduated, while Jake Lacey moved away. 
“When you lose players like that, it’s difficult to replace them because of everything they brought to the court,” Von Eye began. “Though we don’t have single players who will encompass everything, we have several guys who will give us pieces of what we lost.”
Returning this season are the squad’s leading scorers from last season, senior Cade Ostenson and junior Dylon Tidyman. Other key players include seniors Sawyer Roberson, Dylan Talley and Kyle “Scrappy” Haslam, as well as junior Isaiah Brooks.
“Cade and Dylon have really matured over the last year and each have been working hard on improving their game, so I think they are going to be really exciting to watch this year,” Von Eye predicted. “Sawyer is just so strong and has a great perimeter shot. Dylon does so much for us in every aspect of the game, and Kyle continues to prove he comes by his nickname naturally.” 
“Isaiah is just an exciting player to watch,” he continued. “I’ve never had someone with the handles he has and the vision he has. He just has this innate ability to find people and get them the ball — sometimes when they aren’t ready for it. The guys’ heads have to be on a swivel because if they’re open, he’s getting them the dang basketball!”
The Dogie coaching staff of Von Eye, Matt Conzelman and Scott Beehler are joined this season by former Dogie players Dave Christianson and Derek Lewis.
The Dogies will tip off their season at home this Friday against the Custer Wildcats at 7:30 p.m., or following the conclusion of the Lady Dogies’ contest.