With the upcoming basketball season on its way, the Cardinals are ready to attack the season despite the loss of Michael Woods from the championship team last year.
Head Coach Ronald St. John is looking forward to the season. Some of the returning players include explosive guard Jaron Williams and passing-savvy point guard Du’Quan Lawson. Going into his 27th season of coaching the Cardinals, St. John is excited about the potential of this current squad.
“With the players that we have returning I am confident that we are going to have a solid team,” said St. John. “With Jaron returning it gives me some confidence that we will have a well-balanced and exciting team.”
St. John also spoke about the recruiting that he and his coaching staff have done during the off-season. He is excited about the acquisition of six players coming into this team.
“I am excited with the six recruited players that we have coming in, four of them are transfers from junior colleges and look like they will fit in well,” said St. John.
St. John feels the excitement of this season after their championship run last year. One of the biggest reasons that he is excited about this team is the new addition of CJ Reed, an explosive 6’-4” power-forward who is transferring to the team.
“Man I love this guy, he is a monster, the way he attacks rim and everything. I think he is going to be really good,” said St. John. “I’ll take him over anyone at that spot, I understand that he is small but he is extremely talented.”
A couple of players were eager to get into the season and see how far they can go. Team Forward James Wolf is excited for the new season and is looking forward to the opportunity of getting more playing time.
“We look good and I just want to contribute as much as I possibly can,” said Wolf.
Team captain has not been determined and that the position is up for grabs. With the return of Williams, he is in the front running for the position. St. John was very hesitant to speak about it.
“We will deal with that when its necessary,” said St. John. “For now we are just focusing on the tryouts and making everything fit.”
Going into the season the team will miss the presence of senior guard Michael Woods. Last year Woods averaged 28.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.7 assists. Woods was awarded the Eastern College Athletic Conference Metro Player of the Year according to the York Athletics website. Without his scoring, the team will need to be more efficient offensively. St. John gave an interesting response on the absences of Woods this season.
“He was a good player but we don’t have him as an option anymore,” said St. John. “It will take a necessary step-up from everyone.”
Assistant Coach Jessica Cherry gave a similar answer when asked about the absence of Woods.
“He was a big part of the team, now we have to do what’s best for the team and try to keep winning,” said Cherry.
The Cardinals still have some question marks to address in regards to the roster. The biggest question mark is how they will replace the production of Woods and will that hurt their chances of repeating as champs. St. John was very quick to pump the brakes on early assumptions.
“We still have a lot to do, to think about all that is a lot right now,” said St. John. “Let’s get through tryouts and finalize our roster then we will take it one game at a time.”
The team’s first game of the season will be on Nov. 15 in the Penn State-Harrisburg Tournament.
