By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
All the hard labor put in by the Ell-Saline boy's basketball team finally bore fruit in 2022-23, as the Cardinals exploded to a 13-9 finish, and collected their first postseason win in recent memory.
This turnaround has been orchestrated by head coach Marty Wendel, who returns to lead the Cardinals for a fourth year.
Ell-Saline returns a deep rotation of veterans with varsity experience, seven of whom are still battling it out for a spot in the starting lineup.
- Joe Hiechel (Sr)
- Marshall Johnson (Sr)
- Brogan Rowley (Jr)
- Garrison Zerger (Jr)
- Kas Kramer (So)
- Reese Krone (So)
- Trey Williams (So)
The Cardinals will also look to the bench for big minutes out of a trio of juniors in Melvin Lutes, Jake Tillberg, and Tayton Williams.
Ahead of the 2023-24 campaign, we had a chance to catch up with Coach Wendel and get his thoughts on this year’s squad.
Q: When you had a chance to look back on it, what were your overall thoughts on last season?
A: The amount of success we saw last season was incredible after only winning 3 games the year before and 0 games the year before that. We didn't have a bad loss all season and even beat a couple of teams that on paper that we shouldn't have, so last season was a huge success for us and one I hope we can continue to build on.
Q: Entering this year, what would you say are the biggest known strengths of your team?
A: Our biggest strength is the amount we return from a 13-win team last season. Once we’re completely healthy we have 10 guys that can step on the floor and impact a Varsity game. Our practices are extremely competitive because of that and that is huge for us to continue to improve.
Q: What are the biggest looming questions or challenges that you’ll look to sort out in these first few weeks?
A: I think the biggest question mark will be in how consistent we can be as a whole. Last season we would look really good against teams we knew we were better than but would struggle against teams we knew were really good. We have to continue to learn that being good and beating really good teams isn't easy. We are going to have to work our butts off on both ends of the floor to win those games and we just couldn't do that consistently last season. We have changed some things up on both sides to hopefully help as well but just the consistency in effort would help immensely.
Q: What are the biggest goals and expectations for this group heading into the new season?
A: The biggest goal is always to find ways to improve ourselves from year to year. As far as final season goals we want to be in the top 4 of the HOA and make it to the sub-state finals with a chance to get to state.
The Cardinals open their season in Herington with a road game against the Railers this Friday.