By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
After a lackluster 6-15 season, the Salina Central boy’s basketball team is under new management and will look to lay the groundwork for a program rebuild in 2024-25.
Chris Fear, who led Centrals girls to a 125-58 record, winning more games than any other girl’s coach in program history, slides over to the boy's side after the one-year tenure of Billy Graf.
This year’s Mustangs will feature a strong group of upperclassmen and with a strong interior, could pose mismatches for opponents.
Central’s starting five will feature a trio of seniors in Kamryn Jones, Finley Waltman, and Tate Gary, and a pair of juniors in Kaden Snyder and Noah Peck.
Off the bench, the Mustangs will look for big minutes out of senior Christian Carter, juniors Gannon Cole and Greyson Jones, and a pair of impact freshmen in Kaeden Nienke and Grant Ostmeyer.
Before the start of the 2024-25 season we had a chance to visit with Coach Fear and get his thoughts on this year’s squad.
Q: What is your hope for the culture of boy's basketball here at Central?
A: We have to establish what our culture is going to be, for me, that’s priority number one. We want to do everything we can to win basketball games but we need to establish how we go about our business on a daily basis, how hard we play, and the emphasis on being great teammates and being accountable. That has to be where we start but once you establish that with the talent we have the winning will come.
Q: What feels like the biggest known strength of this team?
A: We have a lot of size. A few of those kids haven’t played a ton at the varsity level but we have a chance to put some good size on the floor, score around the basket, and hopefully rebound well. Hopefully, we can score it in the post and make it difficult for opponents around the basket.
Q: What are some of the biggest question marks you still have ahead of these first few games?
A: Our biggest question mark is in our perimeter shooting. We have some guys that are capable of making threes because in today’s game, if you can make perimeter shots you can make up for a lot of other issues. We’ll see how that goes for us, I think we’re going to get open looks but I think that’s probably my biggest concern.
Q: What are the goals and expectations that Central has laid out for itself this year?
A: The guys are excited for something new and I think things are a little more organized than they were a season ago. I feel for our players; they’ve had three coaches in three years now, and that’s really hard, but it’s my hope that we can establish ourselves and this group is going to be the one that starts what we build. Our guys are excited about that, but our team is pretty open-ended about goals. Christmas will be a great time for us to evaluate where we’re at, and we can set goals for the second half from there.
The Mustangs begin their season this Friday when they travel to Andover Central for a showdown with the Jaguars.