The Aplington-Parkersburg boys basketball team will begin practices on Monday, and will continue to strive to meet the standard of excellence that previous teams have set.
Head Coach Aaron Thomas says the early practices will be crucial due to being hit hard by graduation.
“Practice should be extremely competitive with guys trying to establish themselves,” Thomas says. “For us, truly back with varsity experience, just Benny Waller and Caleb Campbell. But we got a lot of good pieces. We’re excited about this group, knowing it’s going to be different. But I think if you look at our conference, with the exception of Grundy Center and Union, everybody lost some major pieces. So it’ll be interesting to see what the conference schedule looks like and kind of rebuilding your team. I know it’s something our coaching staff is looking forward to, seeing kind of who steps up and what our rotation will end up looking like, because right now we have no idea.”
Junior Benny Waller is back after leading last year’s team in scoring, and ranking second on the team with 15.7 points per game. He’s expected to be a three-point threat after over half of his shots came from beyond the arc last year. Senior Caleb Campbell started 11 games last year and came off the bench in all other games. He’s expected to be a defensive presence, being the top returning rebounder. Thomas says he’s excited about the return of senior Mason Ridder, who missed last season due to an ACL injury.
The Falcons will open on Tuesday, December 3 by hosting Sumner-Fredericksburg.
Aaron Thomas interview:
