The following article is the preview of the 2006-07 TWHS season, as published by This Week Worthington. It is intended to give you a little background on who some of the current players are and what was expected at the beginning of the season. I'll be updating the team's progress soon....
http://www.thisweeknews.com/?sec=home&story=sites/thisweeknews/112207/Worthington/Sports/112207-Sports-459004.html
Thomas Worthington High School boys basketball coach Bob Miller believes his team is capable of picking up where it left off last season, when it finished 17-4 overall and captured the OCC-Central Division championship.
But experience has taught him that success isn't guaranteed from one year to the next.
"Every year is a new challenge," said Miller, who is in his 25th season with the Cardinals and 35th overall as a head coach. "We really have to play well to match what we did last year. We only returned two starters, but we have a lot of experience back. The potential definitely is there, but our schedule is challenging and we have some injuries."
Thomas, which opens Saturday at home against Marion-Franklin and plays Tuesday at Grove City, lost three players from a year ago to graduation in guards Pat Barren and Nathan Edick and center John Spaniel. All three were starters.
Edick was second on the team in scoring, averaging 14.3 points and making 52 3-pointers as he was first-team all-league and honorable mention all-district. He made a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded to give the fifth-seeded Cardinals a 48-45 win over Dublin Jerome in the first round of the Division I district tournament.
Thomas concluded last season with a 68-43 loss to seventh-seeded Grove City in the second round.
Barren, a two-year starter, averaged 3.5 points last season and made second-team all-league. Spaniel also averaged 3.5 points and made honorable mention all-league.
The Cardinals return two starters in 6-foot-4 senior guard Taylor Hobbs and 6-6 senior forward Justin Hallowell. Hobbs averaged 14.9 points and made 55 3-pointers and was named OCC-Central Player of the Year and made second-team all-district. Hallowell averaged 10.5 points and made second-team all-league.
"They play so well together," Miller said of Hobbs and Hallowell. "They're very unselfish players. They just have to keep getting better."
Also back are seniors Jarrett Cowgill (6-5 center), Kyler Cowgill (6-5 center), Casey Jewett (6-5 forward) and Wade Mickey (5-11 guard) and juniors Eric Easley (5-7 guard) and Nick Girardi (5-10 guard). Easley, Mickey and Kyler Cowgill are expected to join Hobbs and Hallowell in the starting lineup to start the season.
Two players who did not return for their senior seasons were guards Luke Dinan and Alan Juckett. Both are recovering from knee injuries.
Jewett, who averaged 4.7 points last season, and Jarrett Cowgill are sidelined with leg injuries suffered during football season.
"I don't know when I'll get them back," Miller said. "We'll have to wait and see."
Rounding out the team are seniors Nidal Abu-Kwiek (5-11 guard), Gavin Banks (5-8 guard) and Chris Nocar (6-7 center), junior Jordan Peters (6-2 forward), sophomore Ty Craig (6-0 guard) and freshman Chris Rock (6-4 center).
"We have a lot of experience," Miller said. "We're in the process of trying to develop depth. We're hoping to do that and at some point get (Jewett and Jarrett Cowgill) back. Last year we had a good shooting team and I think this team will be a pretty good shooting team as well."
One of the primary goals for Thomas is to defend its league championship. The Cardinals went 10-0 in the OCC-Central last season to place ahead of Delaware (6-4), Central Crossing (4-6), Pickerington North (4-6), Marysville (3-7) and Westerville Central (3-7).
"The league was very young last year," Miller said. "Every team has some good players back this year. There are a lot of good players in the league. That, of course, will make (defending the title) more difficult, more challenging."
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