Season Preview: Blue Valley North
At times, it seems that Ryan Phifer can grab five kids out of the student body and contend for an Eastern Kansas League title.
While Phifer, in his 10th season at Blue Valley North, won’t have to go to those extremes, the Mustangs will be a little short-handed before the holidays. BV North (14-8 overall, 9-5 in the EKL in 2014-15) return two starters from last year’s third-place team in the league in Colby Bullock and Joey Dolan. However, Dolan, a 6-foot-1 senior guard, broke his hand at quarterback during the Class 6A football playoff game against Olathe North and will be out until January.
Bullock, a 6-foot junior point guard, averaged 6.7 ppg and five assists while shooting 39% from three-point range and a BV North school-record 89.7% from the free-throw stripe. Junior guard Keilon Hunter joins the duo as returning letterwinners, with senior Clint Standridge also seeing time in the backcourt.
“The makeup of this team is much different than in years past,” stated Phifer, 119-83 at BVN. “With a more guard-oriented club, it will lead to some changes on both ends of the floor. With some changes will come some growing pains, but I like the potential of this team to be right there in the mix for the top of the EKL and the area by the end of the season.”
Up front, the Mustangs will have senior Alex Blake, a 6-foot-3 forward who netted 5.5 ppg and three boards. He’ll join 6-foot-4 senior Daekwon Gross and 6-foot-4 sophomore Miles Emery on the front line.
“We have a good mixture of experience and youth with this team,” Phifer said. “We will have to replace a lot of inside scoring with the loss of Cooper Cook and we will need to develop some offensive balance this season.”
