Utah County prep basketball preview: Springville looks to improve

Both the girls and boys teams finished in the cellar of Region 6 and won a combined three games. The boys team has won four games the past two seasons. The girls team was winless last year until it squeaked out a two-point victory in the season finale.

But when you're at the bottom, there's only one way to go, and that's up. Both coaches feel this is the year things will change direction. Several players on this year's teams experienced last season and don't want to taste that again. Also, last year's teams were very young. This year's teams are still young but more experienced.

"The girls are really upbeat this year and have a good attitude," girls coach David Knudsen said. "They are expecting a lot more out of themselves."

Because the Red Devils play in such a strong basketball league, however, the leap this season might not be a big one.

"We play in a really good league, so if we're going to compete we need to play better defense and make it tougher for the other teams to score," said boys coach Brent Knapp.

The boys team has a solid junior class that gives the Red Devils more depth this year and probably more quality shooters. They also have three seniors who saw significant playing time last season who will carry a big portion of the load. Add move-in Cody Sorenson, at 6-foot-8, and the boys team has the potential for improvement.

"We don't have any all-stars or standouts, but we do have a lot of good athletes, so our key is to play together as a team," Knapp said.

In the offseason the Red Devil players worked on improving their defensive skills, a weakness of last year's team. Offensively, look for the Red Devils to run.

"With our size we'd like to push it up the floor a little bit, but if we have to slow it down to be effective we will," Knapp said.

The girls team is heavy on quality guards, and most are underclassmen who will only get better as the season progresses.

"I think we'll shoot the ball well from outside," Knudsen said.

Opposing teams flustered the girls team last year with a press. Ball handling, avoiding turnovers and getting the ball across halfcourt when pressured will be a key to a successful girls' season.

"We've worked on that a lot during the offseason, and hopefully when we start facing backcourt pressure in games we'll be able to handle it," Knudsen said.

Monday: Spanish Fork Dons

E-mail: jimr@desnews.com

Comments

Add your comment