What 2021 holds for Boys Varsity Basketball

The Milford Boys Varsity Basketball team has high expectations for the upcoming season. Despite the boys coming off a tough season, they’ve been working extremely hard over the past year to rebuild. With the help of incoming freshmen and new varsity players, will the team have the persistence to pull off more wins?

Last year, the team had an overall record of 5-14. The boys started the season off playing Waterford Kettering. In spite of the loss, the team played extremely well. The athletes fought hard but lost, 56-69. This trend of games continued, with many of them unfortunately resulting in losses. The team also endured losses against Lakeland, Waterford Mott, Walled Lake Western, Walled Lake Northern, Walled Lake Central, South Lyon, and South Lyon East. However, the team played and defeated Walled Lake Central, Walled Lake Western and South Lyon East the second time around. The boys also had an extremely close win against Birmingham Seaholm, 50-47.

As of right now, tryouts are postponed to a later date. If COVID cases decrease, the team will strive for tryouts on the 9th of December. Many players are hopeful to return to the varsity team this year. The team anticipates having at least 10 seniors on the team. Their determination and past experience on varsity will help direct the team to victory. Players, coaches and other staff members are all looking forward to what the season holds.

Seniors Trevor Leigh and Eric Elizondo have been on the varsity team for three years. While this is not how they envisioned their senior season, they have no choice but to learn and adapt to the situation. “I think that the masks will affect us in the beginning of the season, but we will get used to it, and I think we should be better than last year,”  said Leigh. “We have a good group of teammates that have played together for a long time and we should be better and more competitive.” Since the team has as many as ten players from the Class of 2021, they’ve spent four years working, playing and learning from each other.  Elizondo had similar thoughts on how the season is going to play out. “This year, I think we’ll be much better because of our chemistry over the years with our different players with different skill sets,” said Elizondo. “However, masks will be very annoying, but it’s worth it if we get to play.” Since basketball is such a high intensity sport with lots of running, it makes it harder for players to catch their breath and quickly move to the next play. 

Head Coach David Gilbert mentioned that the team is required to wear masks, but the boys have already learned and adapted to this new way of playing. “We’ve already been practicing and conditioning with them on,” he said.

He claimed that the new varsity roster is already looking pretty strong this year. Heis not expecting any incoming freshmen to make the varsity, but they’re looking to bring up sophomore Sam Lewis. Although the team has to wear masks and socially distance as much as possible, Gilbert thinks they have a real chance of success. “I think it will be an interesting dynamic, and I think the new guys will help tremendously,” said Gilbert. Lewis had a major role in leading the JV team last year. He is one of the only sophomores that has the opportunity to play on varsity this season. “After the first few games, I think we’ll adjust and see a major improvement in our game play, especially with the help of the many seniors on the team,” he shared.

There has been no official updates on whether or not the team is going to have a regular season. However, they are still hopeful to play in a few upcoming games happening in December. The team expects to play Seaholm HS on December 11th, Walled Lake Northern HS on December 17th, and Hartland HS on December 22nd. The rest of the season will take place in 2021. Some of the other games the Mavs look forward to is the first home game on February 5th, against Waterford Kettering, and the home game against our rival school Lakeland, on February 8th.

Overall, the team has high hopes for the season. With online school put into place and social distancing in order, they’re wishing for the opportunity to play in all 19 games. MHSAA will soon announce any changes made to winter sports, but as of today, the season is on!