By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
On the heels of another successful 19-4 season and a trip to the 4A state tournament, the Abilene boys basketball team is ready to reload and run it back in 2024-25.
Kyle Taylor, who has been with Abilene for the last seven years, takes the reigns from Erik Graefe who stepped down after a successful four-year tenure.
Despite graduating four big seniors, Abilene returns four key players from last year’s team and should be a real threat in Class 4A once again.
That core is led by a trio of seniors in Weston Rock, Ian Crump, and Tyler Holloway, and a junior in Taygan Funston.
While the fifth starting spot is still up for grabs, Abilene will look for key minutes either in a starting capacity, or off the bench, from seniors Jackson Green and Thomas Keener, junior Levi Evans and freshman Kolt Becker.
Before the start of the new season we had a chance to visit with coach Taylor and get his thoughts on this year’s Cowboys.
Q: What is your hope for the culture of boy’s basketball at Abilene?
A: I’ve been a part of the program for quite a while now, even before I was an assistant. I want to continue the tradition of hard work and maximum effort. We’ve developed the core values of the “Cowboy Way,” which are to be respectful, be grateful, play hard, play smart and play together. We really want to focus on our effort and attitude this year.
Q: What feels like the strength of this team ahead of the first game?
A: We have a good balance of inside-out play. Tyler Holloway led our conference in field goal percentage, so we know we can rely on him inside. Ian Crump has been solid on the perimeter and we have guys that can push the ball in transition. There are a lot of things our guys are used to that we can continue to do.”
Q: What are the biggest question marks you still have about this team?
A: Finding our roles and seeing how we gel together will be a big question mark. We lost four pretty good seniors last year and we’ll have to fill those minutes as guys step up in those spots. We’ll also need some guys to play more of a leadership role on this team.”
Q: What goals or expectations has this team laid out for itself ahead of the new year?
A: We’ve talked a lot about competing at a high level. We want to contend for a league title and be in the mix to host a few sub-state games again this year to give ourselves a chance to make it back to Salina. Ultimately, we want to grow, develop and give ourselves a chance to compete for a few championship,s whether that’s in the SIT, sub-state or at state.
Abilene will open its season in Towanda when the Cowboys battle the Circle Thunderbirds on Friday night.