The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“I think we’re going to be fun to watch because we’re fast”
By Than Acuff
Turnover is the name of the game for the Crested Butte boys’ basketball team this year as they graduated four seniors last season and have only one returning to the varsity lineup this year.
That said, it’s actually quite an experienced crew under head coach Mike Bacani. While only in his second year as the high school head coach, Bacani has 11 years with Crested Butte basketball as the assistant coach for the high school team and leading the way at the middle school level, so he’s been with this particular crew of juniors since they started in seventh grade.
“I’ve had them since middle school so we’re all on the same page,” says Bacani. “They’ve been sitting behind upperclassmen for two years watching and it’s fun to see them leading the charge now.”
Bacani has his son Ethan who is a former Titan, former Titans Rob Holleran and Jovany Aguirre and Gene McAward as assistant coaches this year and their preseason workouts have been primarily, if not entirely, focused on defense.
“We’ve devoted a significant portion to defense and defensive assignments,” says Bacani. “We have to be hard to score against and hold teams to around 40 points per game.”
And while the Titans do still need to put some points up, Bacani believes that the work he has put in with this group of players over the years has built a solid offensive foundation.
“We maybe did a total of 15 minutes of offensive reps the first week of workouts, but they understand our offensive philosophy because they’ve been doing it since seventh grade,” explains Bacani.
The Titans opened their competitive season with a preseason scrimmage against Gunnison last weekend and while score is never kept during the preseason, he feels the team was on point for most of the game until Gunnison’s deeper bench played a part.
“I was pleased because we played as hard as we could for as long as we could,” says Bacani. “It felt pretty even through the first three quarters, we just had 10 players while Gunnison had around 20 to put out on the court.”
The Titans headed to Grand Junction earlier this week for additional varsity and JV scrimmages against Rangely and Plateau Valley and then must sit for a bit as the gym floor gets refinished during the Thanksgiving break. They get back together on Monday, December 1 and then open the season on the road against Salida on Tuesday, December 2.
The Titans then have five more non-league games after Salida with their first home game on Saturday, December 6, at 3 p.m. Following that, they enter Southern Peaks league play, one of the toughest 2A leagues in the state.
“That team down south in green (Sanford) is ranked second in preseason polls and the rest of the league looks pretty sturdy,” says Bacani. “It’s not going to be easy.”
But it could be exciting. With one senior, numerous juniors and some sophomores to pull from for varsity games, one thing is clear – the Titans are not the tallest team. So, Bacani has a plan to accommodate their lack of size.
“I think we’re going to be fun to watch because we’re fast,” says Bacani. “We’re a smaller team so we’re going to have to be faster, quicker and stronger.”
