PH South boys basketball: new coach, new roster

Park Hill South is a basketball program that prides itself on defense. It’s been defense which has been such a big part of netting them two district titles in as many years coming into the 2011-2012 season. It will be much the same this year as athletic director John Sedler takes over the head coaching duties of a team that doesn’t return a single letterman from last season and will be starting with an almost entirely new slate of varsity players.

“The mainstay of our program has always been our defense and we’re trying to keep it that way,” Sedler said. “We had a couple sophomores last year that played a couple minutes here and there, but we have less than 40 points scored in a varsity game coming back. Our seniors have just as many varsity minutes as the freshmen, so we’re trying to get them to mesh into what’s best for the team.”

What the Panthers lack in experience, they hope to make up for with athletic ability and that will start at the point guard spot with sophomore Anthony Woods, who gained some experience at the varsity level at the beginning of last season and will provide South with a basketball savvy leader.

“At the high school level, any team that doesn’t have a good point guard is going to struggle because you can’t get from point A to point B. At Park Hill South we’ve been fortunate to have those in the past, now we have Anthony Woods and I feel really strong about his abilities,” Sedler said.

Joining him in the backcourt will be Payton Meek, Spenser Braymer, and Mikel Blake. With a history of tall, natural post players, the Panthers will see a slight change in that this season with a pair of 6’4” power forwards including Hudson Welty and Robert Lane. Senior Dylan Huber and freshman Allan Hyatt will also be in the rotation down low.

“Our 6’4” kids have become our post players, which is something different, we’re not that big, but they’ve given us some good options inside. Those four guys will make the nucleus of our interior and they’ve gotten better and better,” Sedler said. “I’d say most of our posts are what you would call a hybrid, they can step out.”

Having been an athletic director and coach in the district for more than 20 years, Sedler knows what it takes for good teams to win and he boils basketball success down to a basic philosophy.

“Generally good teams rely on the intellect of their perimeter players and effort of their posts,” Sedler said.

The Panthers will for the most part be growing up on the basketball court this winter and with early games against William Chrisman and Rockhurst, they’ll find out fast how steep that learning curve will be. It won’t be so much about their opponent as themselves though.

“In our league, every game is going to be a dog fight. But it’s more a matter of us than our opponents, how we play,” Sedler said. “We’re not sure what the strength is. The potential is there to be competitive.”