By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After finishing 9-12 in 2019-2020 the Central Mustangs boys basketball team will be looking to improve with several key returners heading into this season.
Mustang head coach Ryan Modin will return for a second season at the helm after being promoted from his assistant role a year ago.
When Central opens their season with Haysville Campus on Friday, several key returners will be in the starting lineup, which will look something like this.
PG: Logan Losey (Jr, 5-9)
G: Micah Moore (Jr, 6-0)
G: Nolan Puckett (Jr, 6-2)
F: Reed Mchenry (Sr, 6-3, led in scoring and rebounds in 19-20)
C: Caden Kickhaefer (Sr, 6-5)
The Mustangs will also be expecting big things from Parker Kavanagh, Kenyon McMillan and Hayden Vidricksen off the bench.
We had a chance to speak with Coach Modin to talk about his team heading into the new season.
Q: What have been your biggest points of focus in growing the basketball culture here at Central during your first few seasons?
A: The biggest thing I feel like I’ve prioritized is the continuity of what’s made our program successful over the years. I was an assistant before and our mentality has always been built on toughness, discipline and man-to-man defense. We don’t want to do 20 things okay, we want to really focus on doing a few things really well.
What was your overall takeaway from your first year last season?
As a coach, I was disappointed in myself that we didn’t get the kids to a more successful season, but I was really proud of how the kids competed and did everything we asked. We lost close games early on before we started playing our best basketball at the end of the season.
Heading into 2020-2021, what would you say is this teams biggest strength?
We have more scorers than we had a year ago, our entire starting five can put the ball in the hole and we’re not one dimensional. Caden gives us a height factor and him and Reed are both tough matchups, especially with juniors around them that can shoot.
And your biggest weakness?
The concern for us is establishing depth. You’d like to be able to say “these are our nine guys” but right now we’re more established with seven and we’re trying to find those back end guys so depth is our biggest question mark.
Who are one or two guys that Mustang fans should really keep an eye on in 2020-21?
I have to go to my Seniors. I think you’re going to see a lot of energy from Reed and Caden, you’ll see that from all of them but I think those two will really stand out.
What are your expectations for your team this season?
I think we could have a really successful season. I think if we can get over the hump and win some of the close kinds of games that we lost last year the experience will pay off. We want to get back to being a successful program that’s competing for league and state titles. 5A is really good, we start off with one of the toughest teams in the state from a year ago but we anticipate being a really good team that can compete with anybody.
That tough team is Haysville Campus, who finished last season with a perfect 24-0 record. The boys game will tip off from Central High School immediately following the girls game on Friday.