(Avoca) Junior Raydden Grobe projects to be one of the best players in the conference and strong collection of sophomore talent will take the floor for AHSTW boys basketball this season.
After going 17-5 last season they could be even better this year. Coach GG Harris admits his team has a several players back that played a lot of minutes and saw increasing roles as the year went on. “We’ve got a good core group coming back that got a lot of minutes last year. They are a hungry group, they like basketball. They’ve put a ton of time in.”
The Vikings did graduate a very good senior class with the likes of Sam Porter, Clayton Akers, Joey Cunningham, Michael Mantell, and others but the cupboard isn’t bare. “All that work they’ve put in is for a reason and they are hungry for the rewards. I’m looking for big things from these kids. They are hungry, they are excited, they’ve really matured as young men and athletes. We are practicing and things have been going really well. We’re really excited for what we can do.”
Raydden Grobe averaged 15.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game as a sophomore. Harris says Grobe has become a better finisher at the rim. “He can finish in various fashions whether it’s putting it down literally for a dunk, euro, two-feet, fadeaway, just being able to finish in a variety of ways. He’s not the thickest kid in the world, but he has to be pretty slippery to use his length and his skill set in the right way.”
The sophomore class features three guys that saw significant varsity minutes last year and has the potential to be a special group. “They have the numbers there and have really spent a lot of time together.” Harris says, “There’s a nucleus there of numbers, but they’ve really, really meshed with the guys above them.” Brayden Lund averaged nine points and 4.5 rebounds per game last year while Kyle Sternberg and Cole Scheffler also made contributions.
Harris looks to field a scrappy and competitive team. “These kids know basketball. They are figuring out how to play at a high level.”
They are fixated on one goal. “We want to win a state title. Whether we get it this year or next year or never we are going to practice that way. You have to act like a champion long before you are ever a champion. Those aren’t my words, I’m stealing that from all the great ones, but that’s what they want. That’s what they are going to work for and that’s what we want as a program. We want to win a state title, we want to get to the state tournament, we want to be different and do something this school has never done before. That’s the goal.”
Coach Harris considers Tri-Center to be the preseason Western Iowa Conference favorite. November 30th at Woodbine is scheduled to be the season opener for the Vikings.
