“Surprising” may be the word Green Boys’ Varsity Basketball Coach Mark Kinsley would use to describe his team this season. This is Coach Kinsley’s 25th year coaching basketball. Kinsley started his journey when he played forward in high school. He was the assistant coach at various local schools for 10 years. He then spent a year at Walsh and coached at Ravenna for three. The Boys’ Varsity basketball team lost an outstanding senior class, but loss doesn’t automatically elude to failure. With returning players such as the pairing of juniors Brady Rollyson and Jarrett Taylor, previous success can definitely be replicated. Also returning are lettering players Nikola Bundalo and Ben Pine which paired together should be able to make a big difference. Also coming into play will be all of the new talent that will now be able to showcase what they can do on a bigger scale.

A main goal this year is to retain all those strengths from last year’s team and, as stated previously, this will be the time for all the new players to shine and prove who they are as players. Though, basketball skill isn’t always the number one priority.

When asked if leadership was important to Green’s team in specific, Kinsley said, “I think it’s huge. And [the leader] doesn’t have to be that ‘rah rah’ yelling type of guy, but those guys that can lead by example… You can count on them. They’re consistent in not only their play, [but also] their demeanor.” He also explained that, currently, it’s an area that they have to work on.

This year’s team is one of the biggest that Green has had in years. Taking a look at that said team, it looks like Green has more athleticism on the wings which is something that wasn’t very present on last year’s roster. However, that doesn’t mean all attributes from last year’s team are gone.

“I feel we’ll be more balanced this year scoring wise… I see us more balanced with Jarrett, Brady, Nic, Antonio Martin having a bigger role this year… So I don’t think we’ll have one guy getting it for us, we’ll have more balance,” Kinsley said.

Green’s contention in the Federal League has been no short of impressive. Winning the federal league title last year, Green beat out the basketball powerhouse McKinley. The goal is always to win the league, but a league title this year could prove that last year wasn’t a one-off. Though as stated previously, McKinley is a basketball team to be reckoned with. They have the most players back from last season.

“McKinley is the favorite going in, they have the most guys back who’ve played. They probably have the top player back in the league this year…” Kinsley said about McKinley’s team. Though he said he doesn’t think it will be a problem because if Green can work on their chemistry and toughness, he thinks they have a shot.

The main theme this season will be growth. Everyone is focusing on losing a talented senior class, but they fail to look at the players coming back and new additions to the roster. To say that Green will fall off substantially is an overreaction.

Coach Kinsley states, “I think that [I’ve said that] Green expects to compete for the Federal League title, [and] just because we lost 5 seniors doesn’t mean that we’re going to take a step back. We wanna go out and win that title, [and that will] put you in the position to win a district title. Every year, those are our 1 and 2 goals: win the Federal League, and then to win a district title. This year it won’t be any different.”