Nerves. Excitement. Passion.<\/p>\n
First-year Kentwood High boys basketball coach Brian Davis is feeling it all these days.<\/p>\n
Except, interestingly enough, pressure. Kentwood enters the season as the Class 4A defending state champs, and has finished either first or second in the South Puget Sound League North Division in three of the last four years.<\/p>\n
Yet, pressure has not entered the mind of Davis, who graduated from Kent-Meridian in 1998 and is in his first head coaching position.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have nerves, but just the good nerves,\u201d Davis said. \u201cThe same nerves most coaches have. The only pressure, for me at least, isn\u2019t from wins or losses, but from knowing that so many young men are under my watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davis replaces Michael Angelidis, who stepped down just two weeks after the Conquerors knocked off Jackson 67-58 for the Class 4A state title last March. Angelidis posted a 74-37 record and two league titles in four years at the helm of the Kentwood program. Along with the exit of Angelidis, the Conquerors also graduated their top two scorers in Josh Smith (19 points per game) and Tre Tyler (10.4). Smith, a 6-foot-10, 300-pound center who earned MVP honors at the state tournament, is now playing at UCLA.<\/p>\n
This winter, with a new coach in fold and without the services of Smith, the Conquerors will be taking on a new identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cDavis\u2019 style is way different from last year,\u201d said Kentwood guard Alec Wilson, noting that the Conquerors will be more up-tempo than last season, when their offense revolved around Smith\u2019s powerful inside game. \u201cIt\u2019s a brand-new team. We\u2019ll be looking to run a lot more. Davis likes to run some sets, but we have some fast break stuff, too. I like what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those who might think the Conquerors are in trouble without the big man in the middle will be sadly mistaken. Though the Conquerors don\u2019t yet have a go-to player, they do have ample options from which to choose. Senior forward Jason Boyce, who averaged 9 points per game last year and is a steady contributor on both ends of the floor, is one of those key options.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoyce is a tremendous athlete, and is really coming into his own,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the sharp-shooting Wilson, who tied a school record last February when he drained eight 3-pointers in an 88-54 victory over Kentlake.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can do some damage,\u201d Davis said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking for him to step up some more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, 5-foot-9 guard Mikelle Everett, 6-foot-6 forward Taylor Jones and 5-foot-11 guard Isaiah Malvar add to an athletic bunch that should once again challenge for league supremacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we do have some great pieces,\u201d Davis said. \u201cOur bench is very good and probably will be underrated. And we\u2019ve got some kids who are going to surprise some people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
CONQUERORS: AT A GLANCE<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 COACH:<\/b> Brian Davis, 1st year.<\/p>\n
\u2022 LAST YEAR:<\/b> 11-5 in league (2nd), 20-10 overall, state champs.<\/p>\n
\u2022 TOP RETURNERS:<\/b> Jason Boyce, sr., forward; Alec Wilson, sr., guard; Mikelle Everett, sr., guard; Taylor Jones, jr., forward; Isaiah Malvar, jr., guard; Skyler Genger, jr., guard.<\/p>\n
\u2022 TOP NEWCOMERS:<\/b> Austin Benson, jr., forward; Jeremy Smith, jr., guard; Denzel Shelton, sr., guard.<\/p>\n
\u2022 STRENGTH:<\/b> Speed, defense, toughness.<\/p>\n
\u2022 WEAKNESS:<\/b> No go-to scorer, consistent shooting.<\/p>\n
\u2022 LAST STATE APPEARANCE:<\/b> 2010.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nerves. Excitement. Passion.
\nFirst-year Kentwood High boys basketball coach Brian Davis is feeling it all these days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":6382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-6381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6381"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6381"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=6381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}