GFS boys basketball hopes to repeat last season’s success

Posted 11/24/15

GFS basketball head coach Shawn Werdt instructs his team during a pre-season practice. (Photo by Jonathan Vander Lugt) by Jonathan Vander Lugt The Germantown Friends School Tigers are coming off of …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

GFS boys basketball hopes to repeat last season’s success

Posted
GFS basketball head coach Shawn Werdt instructs his team during a pre-season practice. (Photo by Jonathan Vander Lugt) GFS basketball head coach Shawn Werdt instructs his team during a pre-season practice. (Photo by Jonathan Vander Lugt)

by Jonathan Vander Lugt

The Germantown Friends School Tigers are coming off of one of their best boys basketball seasons ever.

The 2014-15 slate ended with a 21-5 regular season record and a deep run in the PAISAA playoff, so it's reasonable to think that a season like that would have laid some building blocks for another go-around the Friends League this year.

That would be case if last year's foundation of four seniors, all who played heavy minutes, hadn't graduated, leaving the Tigs with just one player with starting varsity experience.

“It's been a process,” said Mike Buckmire, the team's junior captain and only returning starter. “But it's been good. We've been working since the summer. We're just trying to get these younger guys up to speed and get them at a varsity level.”

“We're doing a lot of skill work,” Buckmire said. “Compared to JV, varsity is a different game.”

This year's starters will likely be Buckmire, senior Charlie Dolgenos, junior Sam Istvan, sophomore Pietro Berghella, and sophomore Isaac Myran. Dolgenos has a bit of varsity experience, as a sixth-man on last year's squad. Needless to say though, the rest of the team is pretty green.

In fact, most of the team is so fresh that head coach Shawn Werdt had to press pause and work through, step-by-step, how to play zone or man-to-man defense, rather than running a more fluid practice.

“Compared to where we were last year at this time, we're centuries behind,” Werdt said. “Every single dribble is a teachable moment with these kids. There's a lot of instructing and starts-and-stops.”

“But,” he went on, “if we don't do that stuff now, we're going to have bad habits the rest of the year.”

Absent some of the athleticism GFS has had in years past, he's also re-geared the team's offense to a scheme more suited to his shooting-oriented team.

“We do have kids that can shoot the basketball,” Werdt said. “We've flipped our offensive philosophy on its head, and it's slowed the kids down—but I'm hoping that we're going to see dividends down the line.”

It doesn't help that Berghella and Myran are currently tied up with the GFS soccer squad's playoff run, further delaying Werdt a chance to see his full team work together.

“That's going to be a major challenge,” he said about getting his team all on the same page once they're able to practice with a full roster. He's even had to call in some local alumni to have enough players in their practices early last week.

That's a tough spot for a coach, but he has found a silver lining.

“This last week and a half has been most valuable for the kids who are probably going to be reserves,” he said. The logic here is that, with a couple of main pieces on the team gone, younger guys are able to get heavy reps that they might not get otherwise.

“In the past, we've had some issues with putting subs into games where they're not quite sure where they're going or what they're doing,” Werdt said. “But I'm hoping that these practices will really help us with our depth.”

“That way, we can put a kid in and the wheel will keep spinning,” he went on. “Rather than just putting him in a corner and hoping the ball doesn't get to him.”

Buckmire and Dolgenos are the captains this year, and Werdt is going to have to lean on those guys— they're far and away the team's most seasoned varsity talent—if the team is going to hope to approach the heights they reached last year.

“Mike Buckmire's been a starter since his freshman year,” Werdt said. “He's been a part of some good teams here, and played in some big games. He was usually our third or fourth option last year, and now the ball will be in his hands a lot.”

He went on, and waxed further poetic about his senior guard in Dolgenos.

“Another kid I'm excited for is Charlie Dolgenos,” Werdt said. “He's one of those program guys that's really waited his turn. He was a really valuable reserve last year. He'll have a big-time, extended role going from a bench piece to a captain and a leader.”

When it comes to how they feel about how the team's progressing, the pair have generally been pleased with what the rest of the squad has done so far.

“We've gotten a lot better,” Dolgenos said. “Even though we've only been practicing once a week, I could point to each person and tell you one thing that they've gotten better at.”

“Everyone's improving every day,” he went on. “I love what I'm seeing.”

sports