The boys basketball team at Camp Verde High School has its work cut out for it this season.
With its five starters gone — four due to graduation and one due to a transfer — the Cowboys will be in a rebuilding year.
“The boys team have the biggest road to hoe, so to speak,” said Mark Showers, CVHS athletic director. “They have some talent, so we will see if they can get that talent to the level they need to.”
A tough schedule doesn’t help the team out very much either. With the new Arizona Interscholastic Association changes, CVHS is one of the smallest schools in Division III basketball. Eight of Camp Verde’s 18 games are against schools like Mingus Union, Prescott, Bradshaw Mountain, Coco-nino and Northwest Christian. Camp Verde has four back-to-back games against three of the biggest schools and will play Mingus Union back-to-back in January.
Yet, Head Coach Dan Wall has a game plan to counteract the lack of equity of competition.
“The nice thing about basketball is if you can defend, you can compete,” Wall said. “We will be working on our defensive skills a lot to give us a chance against those bigger schools.”
Wall is the new head coach for the varsity team this season, although he was the junior varsity coach for two years and the freshman coach at Scottsdale Christian for three years before that.
“He’s definitely got us in shape,” senior captain Cezar Cuevas said. “He makes sure we’re doing things right.”
Alongside Wall is junior varsity coach Eric Evans.
“Eric is extremely organized and teaches the sport very efficiently,” Wall said. “He develops the players’ fundamental skills as they come up [to the varsity level]. He’s very effective in doing that.”
The boys have been preparing for the season since the summer. They participated in a summer basketball league, went to basketball camps, attended open gym and played well in three tournaments.
“We went 5-1 in a tourney, beating teams from Phoenix,” senior captain Mitch Latham said. “If we can beat teams from Phoenix before the season started, we have a shot.”
The team has a number of
For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Nov. 21, issue of the Camp Verde Journal.
