WESTMINSTER -- The Bellows Falls boys basketball team will have depth at both the center and forward positions as they start their campaign this week under coach Evan Chadwick, who believes his team has shown strong character to begin the season.
While the team graduated five seniors from last year's roster, including four starters, the Terriers will return six players from last year's team. This includes senior captains Will Hallock and Eli Allbee, who Chadwick said have been setting a good example for the rest of the team and are well respected by the players.
Hallock will be among the key forwards for the Terriers, in addition to returners in senior Andrew Dunbar who is listed at center, and junior Cameron Perry. Freshman Jaden Bazin is also another forward for the Terriers, and is someone Chadwick said has shown potential early on this season. Sophomore Steven Joslyn is another forward Chadwick expects will compete for minutes at forward this year. Chadwick noted that all of these players will compete for spots at the center and forward positions.
At guard Chadwick expects Allbee to be running point for the Terriers, while also getting contributions from freshman Saul James and Morgan Haskell. Another player Chadwick said can play at either guard or forward is Carson Clark, who is a senior transfer from Springfield and has fit in well, and is expected to make significant contributions to the team. Senior Douglas Sterling is a returner that can also play both ways, according to Chadwick.
A returner in junior Coby Levesque, and newcomers junior Reid Hill and senior Robert Roman round out the 13-player team. In an interview on Thursday, Chadwick said he didn't have an idea of a starting lineup at the time, and that it would likely be a game day decision.
"The beauty of this year is I've got depth, so my first and my second teams can really challenge each other, and that's really where you set the tone and that's really how you get better is challenging each other every day in practice," said Chadwick.
Chadwick believes the strength of his team will be character, as he thinks his players are buying into the team are responding well to being challenged by the coaching staff. Having made a strong character as their baseline, Chadwick thinks everything else this season will build off of that which will benefit them when they face challenges throughout the year.
Offensively Chadwick said the Terriers were going to run "chaos" which is a term that he used when talking about both sides of the ball. He said he wants the Terriers to run up and down the floor in transition, and try to get shots up in 10 seconds or less, but if they can't do that, there will be other offensive sets they can use. Chadwick acknowledged that it's an unorthodox type of offense, but he believes the Terriers have the players to run it effectively, and the freshman have started to pick up the system.
"Freshmen you've got to kind of get along and get them into the program and kind of understand things it takes a little bit of a learning curve, but these freshmen are really smart, so it hasn't been that big of a learning curve for them so we're lucky there," said Chadwick.
On the defensive side of the ball, Chadwick said his team will be running strictly man-to-man defense, and that his team's success on that side of the ball will depend on how well they play this system. Chadwick also said he expects to run full court pressure whenever his personnel allows for it.
Chadwick noted his team will have a very difficult schedule this year including multiple teams at the Division 1 and 2 level. Some of the difficult matchups he noted was playing against Hartford and Otter Valley twice, who both made it to the Semifinal of the Vermont Division 2 Boys Basketball Championship last season, with Hartford making it to the championship game. He also noted they will play Division 1 teams Burr & Burton, Mount Anthony, and Brattleboro.
"I feel like any given day we can compete with any of those guys, but it's all about belief and it's all about execution," said Chadwick.
An emphasis from Chadwick this season is that he wants his team to be better prepared than they were last year, and he admitted that there were times last season when he could have been better prepared himself. Chadwick said that his team will be better prepared this year, and looks forward to seeing how the season pans out.
The Terriers were scheduled to play at Mount St. Joseph on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. in their season opener. They will begin the season with five straight road games before they play in their home opener against Twin Valley on January 7, with tip off scheduled for 7 p.m.
"The only goal it doesn't matter how many wins or losses we have in the regular season, are we playing our best basketball come playoffs?" said Chadwick. "If that's the case I think we're a Barre team."