The boys varsity basketball team plays their first round at the state basketball tournament at 6 p.m. on Wednesday March 11, and with the field’s fairly even win-loss records this season, the tournament’s ultimate winner is not easy to predict.
“We have to be confident enough to know that we are one of the best teams in the state, and that we bring good effort to the games,” assistant coach Matthew Lauritsen said.
Among the Class A schools that will be playing at state, all teams have at least four losses. West is the #2 seed.
West played many different schools throughout the season, and head coach Steve Klein said that the team didn’t play their best in some games, but each one helped the team grow and improve.
“Other teams challenged us with how they guarded us, and how they pressured us, and we had to adjust how we were going to try to score baskets and attack,” Lauritsen said.
Klein said that the main strategy they use to pull out a win during games is through their uniquely organized practices.
“I mean realistically, what I look at it is, how well did we prepare?” Klein said.
Preparation is a very important aspect to the coaches, and junior Levi Kyle agrees with the competitive side to each practice. Each player is put onto either the purple or yellow team. The goal of each one is to make the other better.
“Everything’s like a competition, whether it’s the purple group or the yellow group,” Kyle said, “During practice, we’re not like teammates anymore, we’re just competing for a winning spot.”
Competition and strategy aren’t the only things that go into pulling out a win for the team. In a fast paced game of basketball, the level of teamwork heavily impacts how a game will turn out. Klein and Lauritsen teach their team to look past themselves during a game and focus on the bigger picture.
“That’s one of the things I learned in the three years of being the head coach here,” Klein said, “The hardest thing is to try and figure out how to get your guys to be unselfish, yet be selfish, to play well.”
Games don’t always go the way the team wants it to go, but the coaches use mental strategies to push the game back in their direction.
“We can always control our effort or be a good teammate, and then when things are going bad, we try to stay the course and really dig into making the right play and trusting that it’s going to turn back our way,” Lauritsen said.
On the players’ end, a good mindset during the season can make or break it, but their strong sportsmanship can help turn a bad game around.
“It’s great to know that even if we’re not playing well, there’s somebody that’s gonna come in and possibly pick the team up,” Kyle said.
With the challenging practices, teamwork, and skill during each game, the team has improved throughout the season.
“They’ve realistically evened out that disadvantage that they have, and they’ve done a fantastic job with that as the season went along,” Klein said.
As the players are gearing up for state, they evaluate their team and their opponent. The team uses Klein and Lauritsen’s humility lessons in order to play well.
“I think just at this point in time, we just can’t take our opponents for granted,” Kyle said. “At the end of the day, we’re still playing high school basketball players.”
Kyle is going into the game calm and confident despite this season’s stats and is choosing to focus on collaborating with his teammates.
“Every team has the chance to come in and beat us, but we just have to keep our heads level and continue to play our game,” Kyle said.
