As the Saint Ignatius varsity basketball team begins their season, expectations are higher than those from any season in recent memory, and there are plenty of reasons for this. The Wildcats return three starters, seniors Derek Sloan, Alec Papesch, and Francisco Santiago, from last year’s team that went 16-6. This trio of Sloan (13 points per game and 8.8 rebounds last season), Papesch (12 ppg with 7.5 rpg), and Santiago (10 ppg) includes the top three scorers and top two rebounders from the 2011-12 squad. Six other returning lettermen, a very deep collection of underclassmen, and the aforementioned trio comprise Coach Sean O’Toole’s team.
“I would say this is definitely one of the deepest, if not the deepest, teams I have ever coached,” said O’Toole. “The competition in practice has been very good…and depth creates competitive practices which makes your team better and I’m excited, it’s definitely one of the attributes of our team is our depth.”
Typical high school teams utilize an 8-10 man rotation. Look for this team to have 12 players making significant contributions throughout the year. Junior Danny Bova and senior Bryan Fisher and will handle the point guard responsibilities. Joining them in the backcourt and on the wings will be Santiago, senior Austin Sterpka, and juniors Kyle Berger and Isaiah Barbra. Sloan, Papesch, senior Matt Gawlik, juniors David Black and Eric Black, and sophomore Jaylin McDonald form one of the tallest and most skilled group of big men around. The Wildcats are looking to take advantage of their offensive depth by playing more of an up-tempo style, but defense is still their main focus.
All of this depth and experience is a legitimate cause for optimism. Being #2 in The Plain Dealer’s Top 25 preseason poll and owning top ten rankings in multiple state-wide preseason polls, quantify the hype and expectations that surround this year’s team. Another demanding and well-balanced schedule will also challenge this team to keep improving.
A 79-63 opening-night victory against a solid John Hay team helped get the ‘Cats off to a good start. Through the winter, Saint Ignatius will face off with seven teams from the top 15 of the Plain Dealer’s Preseason Poll in Saint Edward (#3), Villa Angela-St. Joseph (#4), St. Vincent-St. Mary (#6), Cleveland Central Catholic (#9), John Hay (#12), Cleveland Heights (#13), and Benedictine (#14). The Wildcats will also face off with several other premier teams outside of northeast Ohio like Canton McKinley, Columbus Northland, St. Clairsville, University of Detroit Jesuit (MI), and Our Savior (NY). The newly-expanded 22-game schedule contains 10 contests at Sullivan Gymnasium, 5 neutral site games, and 7 road trips. Like past years, the schedule should more than prepare the Wildcats for postseason play.
As Coach O’Toole put it, “We feel we play in the toughest district in the state of Ohio and you never know who you’re going to play…so the variety [of opponents] is what you want so that once you get to tournament time there’s nothing anyone’s going to do to you that you haven’t already played against, reviewed film against, and prepared scouting reports against. Now you’re ready to go up against anyone in the tournament.” Few would dispute the difficulty of that Solon District that, besides Saint Ignatius, contains Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights, Garfield Heights, and several other high-quality teams. Last season the Wildcats, who earned the district’s #4 seed with a 15-5 regular season record, faced a 20-1 Kenston team in their first playoff game.
Right now, though, the Wildcats are just looking to face each challenge as it comes along and get better each time they take the floor. “We’re not worried about where we’re ranked now … we’re not going to put pressure on ourselves”, O’Toole emphasized. “We’re going to play one game at a time and make sure we get better so that when we get to the tournament we’re playing our best basketball and make a run at this thing.”
Catch Wildcat basketball all season long on the SIBN at www.ignatius.edu/sibn. I’ll bring you the play-by-play action with color commentator John Fanta ’13.
