High school basketball preview: Mulvane Wildcats (+video)
Schedule
December – 7-12, at Circle tournament; 15, at Collegiate; 18, Wellington.
January – 5, Circle; 8, at Clearwater; 12, Andale; 15, Winfield; 20-23, at Chaparral tournament (B); 25-30 Mulvane tournament (G).
February – 2, Augusta; 5, at El Dorado; 9, at Buhler; 12, Collegiate; 16, at Wellington; 19, at Circle; 23, Clearwater; 25, at Andale.
Boys
Coach: Mike Abasolo, first season
Last season: 4-17
Top players
Dalton Blaine, 5-10, jr., G
Jayden Price, 6-0, so., G
Abasolo’s tenure begins with him establishing a baseline for the program without a single returning senior and a roster full of underclassmen.
“It’s a total rewrite,” said Abasolo, an alumnus and previous assistant coach at Mulvane after playing and coaching at Newman University. “We’re going to have to crawl before we walk. We need to change the culture and put some building blocks in place.”
Only two players return with significant experience. Blaine and Price will lead the backcourt. The remaining spots and playing time are up for grabs in a system and program that will look brand new. Abasolo said the changes will even impact the middle-school level.
“We’re going down into seventh and eighth grade being a feeder system for us for the first time,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for everybody to learn something new.”
Abasolo’s vision for the program extends beyond this season, so success in Year 1 may be difficult to measure. He said he hopes to see the team improve and learn the system this year and, with one senior on the roster, start a foundation that will continue into the future.
Girls
Coach: Kadee Wheeler, first season
Last season: 5-18
Top players
Emma Chambers, 5-7, jr. G
Rylee Simon, 5-3, sr. G
Ashley Wilson, 5-10, so. F
Peyton Christian, 5-8, fr. G-F
A 19-member roster with two seniors will be looking for an identity as it starts the season. The program has a new coach with plans to change the culture.
“It’s a new system, a new everything,” Wheeler said. “We’re focusing on the little things. It’s a young group with not a lot of experience.”
Wheeler was an assistant coach with the program a year ago and takes over with a multi-year plan. Success will be measured in the laying of a foundation more than the accumulation of stats.
“We’re building commitment,” Wheeler said. “We have to change the attitudes as a whole to play team ball, to show up to practice early, to do the little things.”
The team will lean on Chambers as the primarily offensive threat. The junior guard is one of the few on this year’s team with significant varsity experience. Wilson will lead the scoring threats inside, while Christian has impressed Wheeler with her work ethic.
Billy Byler
This story was originally published November 28, 2015 at 7:54 AM with the headline "High school basketball preview: Mulvane Wildcats (+video)."