The following is a paper that TJ Cotterill wrote about the Winter Sports Teams Expectations for the 2008-09 seasons.  It was written for his Journalism 101 Class on 11/24/2008.

Winter Sports Expectations

 

            Expectations are high for the Trojan men’s basketball team that will look to run-and-gun their way through the NWAAC North Division this season.

            The Trojans averaged nearly one hundred points per game on their home court last season and finished 10-1 at home, but will be without their top scorer from last season Jon Moe (22.5 ppg).

            Other key players like Dirk Snell (12.2 ppg) and Shawn Wolter (10.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg) have also left the team, but first team north division point guard Chris Grounds will look to lead the new look Trojans.

            “We had a lot more individual talent last year,” Grounds said, “I think this team is much more team oriented.” Grounds expects the Trojans to be more positive with each other this season while playing better as a team and passing the ball more.

            The Trojans will not be shy from the three-point line with guards like co-captain Kegan Bone, Rob Dhillon, and Teagan Dooley, while also feeding the big men down low with returning players like 6 foot 8 inch Stephen Waltman and 6 foot 5 inch Nate Holthenrichs.

            Coach Larry Walker was impressed with the improvement of some of his returning players over the off-season like Holthenrichs who has become an all-around player who can post on the block, then step out for the three-point shot.

            When asked about the possibility of an NWAAC championship this season Grounds said, “We have thirty-two teams whose goal is to be NWAAC champs,” he said, “I think ours (goal) is more realistic than others, I think we really do have a chance.”

            Meanwhile, the women’s basketball team will go for a three-peat performance as NWAAC North Division champs after coming off of a 20-7 season.

            The Trojan women will bring in a talented group of freshmen to go along with their returning players in guards Keena Hopkins and Brooke Russell and forward Ashley Larson.

            One of those talented freshmen is Sultan High School graduate Morgan Thomas, who led the Cascade Conference in scoring her senior year while breaking the record for most three-point shots made in a single season.

            Although for Thomas and the other eight freshmen on the Trojan roster, the transition could be challenging. “Everybody is good,” Thomas said, “every team has girls that are on scholarship, and you know they are going to be tough.”

            The Trojan women will look to play to their strengths in a quick, fast break game while playing lockdown defense in their highly anticipated first league game against Belleview Community College, which they refer to as D-day.

            Twenty wins this season will give the Trojan women three years in a row with twenty wins or more and possibly a third straight NWAAC North Division title which was described best by Thomas saying, “You better watch out”.