Willmar Cardinals 2007-08 Boys Basketball preview

COACH

Steve Grove (seventh year)

ASSISTANT COACHES

Dave Ostercamp, junior varsity; Dale Becker, sophomores; Matt Williams, Freshmen A; Mike Buer, Freshmen B

LAST SEASON

The Cardinals finished 13-4 in the Central Lakes Conference (third place) and went 21-6 overall with half of those losses to Rocori, the last 58-55 at Alexandria in the Section 8AAA championship game.

KEY DATES

Season/home: New Ulm, 7:30 p.m. today

Central Lakes Conference: Sauk Rapids at Willmar, Thursday

Holiday Tournament: Bremer Bank Classic Dec. 26-27 at Willmar with New London-Spicer, Dassel-Cokato and Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop.

Section 2AAA: March 11 (at high seed); March 13, 18 (St Peter)

ROSTER BREAKDOWN

(Returning letterwinners in bold)

SENIORS

Zachary Coquyt, 5-11 guard

Ryan DeGree, 6-3 forward

Michael Dunham, 6-1 guard, 8.4 ppg, 52 3-point, 82 assists, 40 steals

Jarod Hennen, 6-0 guard

Adam Lindblad, 6-0 guard

Casey Sussenguth, 6-4 forward, 7.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 18 blocks

JUNIORS

Logan Birkland, 6-0 guard

Ryan Filipek, 6-5 center

Jimmer Neis, 5-11 guard

Alec Saunders, 6-0 guard

Jordan Smith, 6-3 forward, 4.3 ppg, 15 3-point, 27 assists, 3.1 rpg

Isaiah Streed, 6-0 forward

SOPHOMORES

Andrew Bangen, 5-10 guard

Mark Dunham, 6-0 guard

Sam Esboldt, 6-3 forward

Taylor Filipek, 6-4 forward

Kyle Hilding, 6-1 guard

FRESHMEN

Brian Reeves, 6-3 center

OUTLOOK

Ten letterwinners are back for the second year in a row. Guard Mike Dunham is a third-year starter. Center Casey Sussenguth saw abundant action off the bench, especially second half of the season and playoffs. Though he seldom started, forward Jordan Smith was the equivalent of a full-time player. Forward Ryan DeGree, guard Adam Lindblad, forward Taylor Filipeck, guard Alec Saunders and forward Isaiah Streed should be more than ready to step in. In addition, Jarod Hennen, beset by injuries much of his high school years, is back and apparently in good health after missing football and much of last winter's schedule. The Cardinals move from 8AAA to 2AAA, their section home as recently as 2002-03.

FROM THE COACH

Steve Grove: "We've got a lot of depth and we'll use that to our advantage, We're 10 deep, we think. I'm really unsure (as of Sunday) who we'll start after Mike Dunham, Casey Sussenguth and Jordan Smith. Adam Lindblad is a good shooter, Zach Coquyt handles the ball really well and Ryan DeGree can be a good scorer and can also be used as a defender in the post. Taylor Filipek gives us some more size underneath and I'd be comfortable with him bringing the ball up, too. Jarod Hennen is strong and will help us in a lot of ways. Except for Osseo, which had us outmanned, we held our own in the scrimmages up at St. Cloud. We expect to be a contender in the conference. It appears (St. Cloud) Tech and Apollo, Sartell and Rocori will be the teams to beat."