by Ryan James
bassgemrj@hotmail.com
The Simley Spartans are off to a 2-3 start this season. Relying on several guards this year, the Spartans are shorter on size but still big on heart.
Last year Simley was section runner-up but the players leaving the program were center John Hutchins and power forward Brandon Jonker. Add in Ray James transferring the year before to St. Paul Harding and you have the 2007 senior class of frontcourt players moving on (James to St. Kates and eventually Augsburg for football or basketball, Jonker to Augsburg for football, and Hutchins to Wyoming for football) with little to replace it.
Coach Ben Bushaw entered practices this year with a plethora of returning backcourt players and little up front. Bushaw does have his second leading scorer back from last year in as the 6-foot-0 senior guard returns after averaging 11.4 points per game last season.
“Practice has gone very well,” said Saindon. “All the guys are really excited about our team this year. I am pretty confident entering the year because we have a tight-knit and confident group. I have grown to become very good friends with both our Varsity coach (Ben Bushaw) and B-squad coach (Mike Verway), actually everyone on the team has. Our coaches allow us to have a lot of input in how we play the game which has helped me become a better leader on the court.”
Along with area nemesis St. Thomas Academy, the Simley Spartans moved into a new section this year. Its section 1AAA and it includes the two southeast metro schools as well as teams throughout southeastern Minnesota. The Spartans and Cadets looked like the teams to beat this year in section but right now New Prague and Red Wing are both 8-0 on the year and New Prague has been dominating the competition. Although the Cadets are 4-3, their losses are to Cretin-Derham Hall, Hopkins, and Armstrong.
So the section will be competitive but Saindon likes his team’s chances. “This season I have high hopes for our team,” Kaleb explained. “The ultimate goal is to make it to the Target Center. But personally I hope to be a strong defensive stopper and to produce more rebounds and assists than previous years.
“We have plenty of scorers this year in Solomon Luate and Jordan Roue and I completely trust their abilities to finish plays. Without Hutch (John Hutchins) down low, we have to, of course, play a lot different. We play a five out which works perfectly for us for the players we have. Our coach tells us to shoot 30 threes a game, but the five out actually gives us more room to penetrate. Everyone on our team has adjusted very well.” In addition to Roue, Luate, and Saindon, Simley is going to get scoring from senior Alex Ewing and junior Thomas Sims.
It has been a few years since a Spartan player went on to play college basketball. Hutchins could have played college basketball had he not chosen division one football and you may see Ray James surface at Augsburg on their team in the future. Despite some decent players in the program last few years it’s been several seasons since a Simley player went on to play college hoops.
Saindon is looking to change that, as he wants to continue playing basketball at some level at the next level. “For college I plan on attending a school with a good basketball program and coach, as well as a good engineering program,” Kaleb explained. “Milwaukee School of Engineering has shown interest in me. I visited their school and their head coach will be coming to a game to watch me play. Other than that I hope to see more college interested in me by my play this year.” |
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