Veteran coach Bruce Valleroy and the St. Vincent boys basketball team are looking to build on last season’s 13-12 record and make a strong push for conference and district titles along the way.
“Our goals every year are pretty well the same,” Valleroy said. “We want to win the conference, of course, win our district, and we want to be playing our best basketball at the end of the year.”
This season, that may prove to be a challenge. This season’s squad is very young and not very deep, with only one senior on the 13-man roster.
“We’re definitely young,” Valleroy said. “We only have one senior, two juniors, five sophomores and five freshmen in the program.”
That said, he is excited about the group's potential.
“We like what we’ve got,” Valleroy said. “We feel like we’ve got 13 kids out and 13 basketball players.”
Leading the way will be the team’s lone senior, Max Wheeler — fresh off a strong season as a wide receiver on the Indians’ football team. Valleroy said he expects Wheeler to provide strong leadership, calling him “a basketball guy, a basketball junkie.”
“He’s played a lot of varsity basketball for us,” Valleroy said. “He’s scored 1,000 points so far in his varsity career.”
Last season, Wheeler was named the Jefferson County Athletic Association’s Conference Player of the Year.
“He is our leader, and we are expecting great things out of him, and he has done nothing to disappoint us,” said Valleroy, who has coached basketball for the past 39 years, 33 as head coach of the Indians.
St. Vincent’s two junior starters, Colden Prost and Case Huber, are also expected to be key contributors.
Valleroy called Prost “kind of an assistant coach out on the floor for us.”
“He can see things,” Valleroy said. “He knows the game real well, and he kind of knows what we expect. When we need something, we kind of look at him to help us out.”
Valleroy called Huber “probably one of our better outside shooters,” saying he is expecting great things out of him this year after some hard work in the offseason to improve.
The Indians lost a few athletes who were expected to play this season to football injuries, but Valleroy is pleased with the team’s chemistry and work ethic so far.
“The first thing I like is our community,” Valleroy said. “How we get along with each other, and how we play together, on and off the court. I just kind of like how we’re all friends, we all get along with each other.”
The Indians opened their season last week at the Crystal City Tournament, coming away with a 2-1 record after beating Herculaneum 62- 54, losing to St. Clair 60-55 and then defeating Saxony Lutheran 57-35. Their next game is scheduled for Dec. 12, when they will host Oak Ridge.
Valleroy said he was pleased with the team’s performance in the Crystal City Tournament, particularly the underclassmen, saying, “They played very well for their first varsity experience.”
Overall, Valleroy said he’s optimistic about the season ahead.
“We feel like we’re off to a great start and that’s because of the work ethic of our kids,” Valleroy said. “We’re looking forward to a great year, and we hope everyone will come out and watch us.”
