Last season for the Westside boys basketball team ended in heartbreaking fashion as they fell in the semi-finals in overtime to Millard North after a last second steal. This year’s team looks to make it back to that point and go further and win it all for the second time in the school’s history. The team lost lots of talent from last season with six seniors graduating and five of them being the top scorers on the team.
Westside finished the last season with a 20-5 record, one of the best in the school’s history and this new team has a lot to live up to. The Warriors are the preseason’s number five team in the state. The biggest players returning for the Warriors are Morningside University commit Tyson Odvody and the best returning scoring threat Carson Healy. Odvody and Healy are the only two players returning who played all 25 games last season.
“Carson and Tyson are the guys who have had a bit more varsity experience,” head coach Jim Simons said. “But we are fortunate enough to have a lot of guys who have waited their turn on JV and are ready to step into a bigger role on varsity.”
This team is a very tall team with five players being 6 ‘6 or taller which should help with both rebounding and defense. These were some of Westside’s biggest strengths last season.
“This is definitely the longest team I have ever had as a coach,” Simons said. “We haven’t had teams that had people taller than 6 ‘4 so we are going to take advantage of our size and physicality.”
With the departure of a talented senior class last season brings some opportunities for some players who waited their turn and many should get playing time with a very deep roster this year for the Warriors. Westside has lots of promising talent brewing, especially for the bigs. Odvody will lead the charge down low along with Emre Gedik and Will Preston who will provide great depth for a big position for Westside.
Along with the post players the guards are also very promising for the Warriors with Healy, Donnie Barfield, Montae Brown, Trell Snoddy, and Freshman Lee Robinson who may all be splitting starts throughout the season. Robinson, though only a freshman, has lots of potential and could be the catalyst for this Westside team to make a deep run at the state title. Robinson has already received a division one offer from Cal State Northridge in Los Angeles which can become bigger and better division one offers down the road from the promising freshman.
“Lee has played a lot of high school basketball through the summer,” Simons said. “He has a high basketball IQ, he picks up things quickly and doesn’t let the game speed him up.”
Westside already had a scrimmage against the Elkhorn Antlers so they are coming into the season with a little playing time under their belt. Westside won decisively by a score of 79-49. Gedik led the way in the exhibition win with 17 points and three other Warriors had double digits points in the game.
“It’s good to play someone other than ourselves,” Simons said. “It’s different the first time to put on uniforms, have a scoreboard, referees and people in the stands but from a coaches perspective it’s good to get that scrimmage before the season.”
Westside is looking to make a deep run once again like in years past. It will be interesting to see how the season plays out with a lot of newcomers to bigger roles and having a team as long as Westside, it will be interesting to see how they use it to their advantage. The Warriors kicked off the season against the Bellevue East Chieftains on December 5th to begin their quest for the second state championship in school history.
