First-year Cheney High School boys’ basketball head coach Gregg Smith looks back at the 2015-2016 season and sees a pair of accomplishments — personal growth in his Blackhawks squad and a team that never let up, no matter what the score was.
“The kids fought hard all year long and I’m proud of them,” Smith said. “They should be proud too.”
Smith said that focus on working hard and never giving up led to personal growth in all his players, giving them skills they can use to grow as young men and, especially the five seniors, in the future as they move out into the world.
That focus didn’t manifest itself in wins, however, as Cheney went 1-11 in a competitive Great Northern League where teams play each other three times due to there only being five schools. The lone win for the Blackhawks came in the next to last league game Jan. 30, 48-43 over West Valley, snapping an 11-game losing streak.
Cheney finished 5-15 overall, earning non-league wins over Deer Park (twice), Idaho’s Timberlake and Reardan.
Going forward into the off-season Smith said they need to work on two areas: shoring up players’ basketball fundamentals and making sure they continue to learn and be comfortable in the offensive and defensive system. Smith is excited to get summer ball started, not just the tournament games but also practices where most of the changes and adjustments can be worked on and made.
The Blackhawks can look forward to 3 – 4 practices during the allotted summer schedule, including one where players will work solely on aspects of their position without distraction.
“In college, we called it ‘pro-time,’” Smith said, adding they’ll likely come up with a different name for high school.
The Blackhawks will also be getting into the weight room more, another focus for Smith. As for competition, Smith said they would be taking part mostly in local tournaments such as those at Eastern Washington University, Medical Lake and the Saxon Shootout at Ferris in Spokane.
It will be a young team Smith and his assistants will be working with in the coming months, with two juniors and two sophomores likely to return to varsity. The Blackhawks have a good group of underclassmen coming through the ranks, and had some success there this year.
Cheney’s junior varsity squad finished with a record of 13-6 while the freshmen team went 14-5, with a couple of those losses coming when a couple players were moved up to JV late in the season, Smith said.
“They still won down the stretch without those two guys,” he said, adding two of the JV losses occurred with only six players on the roster due to teammates attending other obligations.
As for next year’s schedule, Smith said that’s currently in flux. The good news is the Blackhawks have only one week with three league games scheduled, something that happened several times this past season, making practice time difficult to find.
The bad news, so to speak, is a team that graduation makes younger will likely be picking up tougher non-league competition, playing bigger schools and moving up the classification ranks rather than down.
“Wins and losses might be an issue again,” Smith said. “But it’s still promising.”
Hawk's Team Awards
Mr. Blackhawk — Morgan Wichman
Most Improved — Morgan Wichman
Most Valuable — Ty Graham
Most Inspirational — Ty Graham
Coaches select the Mr. Blackhawk winner. All other awards are selected by a vote of the players.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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