Douglas High boys basketball
Chris Smalley rises up for a shot during his sophomore season on the Douglas High boys' basketball team. Smalley, a senior, will be one of many highly talented pieces on the Tigers team this winter.
Photo by Ron Harpin.
Douglas High boys basketball head coach Corey Thacker did his best to be modest about where his expectations were for the Tiger team this winter.
However, with the size, athleticism and depth of his team it’s easy to see why Thacker’s expectations are building coming into a new campaign.
“We had 70 practices to get to this point. I’m so excited for these guys,” said Thacker. “It’s a good group that’s leaning to want to do well.”
The brand of basketball won’t be too different under the longtime head coach, being that the Tigers will stick to their identity and run a motion offense throughout the year.
Douglas will want to get out in transition and run, but also has the option to mix-and-match lineups to create a size mismatch.
“We have some choices and matchups to give people trouble and hopefully we can take advantage of it,” said Thacker.
Defensively, Douglas will throw zone looks at teams over the course of the season, but plans on playing more man-to-man.
Thacker says his biggest emphasis is making sure the Tigers can lock up defensively in the half court.
Running through the lineup
It’s a heavy upperclassmen roster this year for the Tigers.
Douglas will feature seven seniors along with six more juniors and a single freshman.
Kasen Boggs has already started to put Northern Nevada on notice with a 32-point outing in his first game.
Boggs, a senior guard, followed that with 17 more in a loss to Jesuit (CA) Thursday.
“Kasen can fill the bucket for us. He can find open guys. He is a guy who is very active all the time,” said Thacker.
Dakota Jones and Connor Ward will accompany Boggs at guard as well this season for Douglas.
Thacker likes the flexibility of his team as JC Reid and Thomas McDowell can play any position on the floor.
Chris Smalley expects to be cleared to return to action in the next two weeks, meaning the Tigers will be getting a major interior presence back into the lineup.
Ben Schinzing, Theo Reid and Jack Tolbert are all 6-foot-5 or taller for Douglas, which will give the Tigers a chance to truly outsize most opponents in the North.
“It’s nice to have those bigs. They are fighting to be on the floor wherever we can put them,” said Thacker.
Thacker expects Carson Hill, Aden Flory and Zach Vasser to be effective role players on the squad this season, also.
Christopher Myers is a senior forward, who can space the floor with his range as well.
“We also have Chris Myers, who can stretch it out. He’s really good at 15 feet and he can knock it down from the three-point line,” said Thacker.
The one freshman will be the coaches son in Caden Thacker, who can shoot from just about anywhere on the floor.
“He’s a solid defender and he can shoot it. He will come off the bench … As a freshman it’s pretty cool to see,” Thacker added.
Thacker feels with the depth of the team, if five players are struggling, he can rotate in an entirely new lineup without seeing a drop in competitiveness.
In December, the Tigers play a number of non-league contests with some league games sprinkled in against Damonte Ranch and Reed.
Once league play hits 100 percent in January, the Tigers are fully expecting to make some noise in Minden.
