Douglas High boys' freshman basketball coach Rollin Smokey challenged his team at the beginning of the year to better the record the freshman squad had posted the previous season.
Considering last year's squad went 25-1 overall, that was going to be a pretty difficult task.
Add to it that the top four freshmen at the school were pulled up to the junior varsity squad after tryouts and it became an even steeper challenge.
So standing in the locker room last Friday after his team had beaten Carson 65-46 to wrap up a perfect 27-0 season, Smokey wasn't too surprised at the response when he reminded them of that preseason goal.
"I asked them how many of them though we could've done it and not one person raised their hand," Smokey said with a laugh. "I'd thrown it out there at the first practice of the season because I knew this was a good group. Coach (Mike) Rechs does a good job with them at Carson Valley Middle School and I knew coach (Andy) Hughes spent a lot of time with them during the offseason. Just with the type of program that Douglas basketball has become, I thought we'd be pretty good, even without the top four guys."
Pretty good indeed. It is believed to be the first time in Douglas High's 99-year history that a boys' basketball team at any level has completed a perfect season.
"I was pretty amazed," Smokey said. "It was a learning process all year. Our four best guys were at the JV level, so we were in a situation where a lot of the guys on the roster were trying to switch from being role-players to play-makers.
"They didn't have the instinct to go out and take over games, but that developed over time."
Smokey said a good portion of Douglas' success was the team's ability to win the battle off the glass.
"That was the biggest thing that seperated us all year," Smokey said. "We weren't the best team in terms of taking the first shot, but we were the best in getting the rebounds and getting second, third and fourth chances.
"We dominated the rebounds inside. The kids would go inside and make things happen. We weren't a very tall team, but the kids were very intense and they pushed themselves to get to the ball before the other guy."
With an unbeaten slate, one might expect that the Tigers were blowing their opponents out all year.
"That wasn't really the case," Smokey, who was a star point guard for the Tiger varsity squad the last time Douglas won a league title in 1997, said. "Last year, we'd mostly blow teams out and we had two or three close games.
"This year, we'd kind of let teams hang around. It was a weird thing. We had a lot of tough games, which could help them out down the road in their careers because they will be more familiar with playing in that environment.
"We had a lot of 10-point wins or less. There were a lot of tough finishes, but it seemed like they always found a way to take care of business and finish the job."
Three times, in fact, the Tigers trailed by more than 15 points in a game and still found a way to come back for the win.
"They were very mentally tough," Smokey said. "They were able to make quick adjustments when we asked them to and we were able to come back and win each one of those games."
Smokey noted his top two post players, James TenBroeck and Trevor Shaffer, as the biggest keys to success.
"We called them the twin towers," Smokey said. "They had decent height, but they were very strong. There were taller players out there, but those two guys were unbelieveably strong and they won those battles down there. That's where we won our games, was on the interior with those two."
TenBroeck was named the tournament MVP of the Donnelly Sports Classic at Hug High and Shaffer earned the same honor at the State Farm Holiday Classic.
Adrian Duenas was the team's starting point guard, a player Smokey called the team's captain on the floor.
"He knew where to get the ball, he was really good with assists and he was very strong on defense," Smokey said.
Steven Werth and Noah Thew were the teams other starters, both of whom possessed natural leadership qualities.
"Noah was kind of our universal player," Smokey said. "He did a lot of work on the inside but he could score from the outside. He brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the floor, which is rare to see in a freshman. He was also a really
good defender.
"Steven was more of a lead-by-example kind of guy. He went out there, did his job and did the little things right. He was really the heart of our team."
Smokey said K.C. Green and Brandon Crawford improved as the year progressed.
"Both of those guys really helped us out down the stretch," Smokey said.
Also on the roster for the Douglas freshmen were Cody Begovich, Tim Denson, Ben Khomgkhatithan, Logan Shaffer and Caleb Vasquez. Cody Pete, who also played for the 1997 league title squad, was an assistant coach for the team.
