Even though he’s in his second season as Carson High’s boys basketball coach, Jordan Glover said it really feels like a fresh start in a way.
“It’s almost like a whole new start,” he said.
Part of the reason is the Senators return just three players from last year’s squad. But Glover is also more comfortable with the Senator program after getting his feet wet last season.
“We’re going to be very varsity inexperienced,” Glover said. “But I feel we’re more athletic than we were last year. We are more versatile as a team than last year.”
While Glover said his team will be guard heavy, he added “we have some size.” The depth of this year’s team should also be solid, so this year’s team shouldn’t run into the matchup problems it did last season.
“Most anybody can guard everybody,” said Glover about his players this year. “We can almost guard every position.”
Among the leaders will be 6-4 Jackson Sayre.
“He’s very athletic,” Glover said, “He can play all positions. He will be our most versatile player.”
Other players with size for Carson include 6-5 sophomore Kaleb Berryman, 6-2 freshman Parsa Hadjizhasemy, 6-5 Colton Schafer and 6-4 Lucas Vanbrow.
The three returning players for Carson this year are Schafer, Hunter Rauh — fresh off an outstanding cross country season — and Vanbrow, although none received considerable playing time last year.
Carson will rely on a sophomore point guard in Joey Summers.
“He has a good basketball I.Q.,” Glover said.
Summers will be joined in the backcourt in the starting lineup by junior Nathan Smothers. The starting frontcourt will be made up of Sayre, Schafer and Hadjizhasemy.
“He shoots the ball really well,” said Glover about Hadjizhasemy.
Along with Rauh and Vanbrow another player who figures to provide significant depth for Carson is star baseball player Kahle Good.
“He’s going to be the energizer,” said Glover about Good who he describes as a player who takes charges and dives on the floor. “We call him the garbage player who does everything hard.”
Rounding out the squad are sophomore Gage Mills, Randy Herrera and Danny Escalante. Junior Seth Griffith was also set to play this season but won’t be able to due to a season-ending knee injury in football.
“We’ll be up-tempo, pushing the pace,” Glover said. “Defensively, we’ll have a lot of ball pressure.”
Glover added his team will mix in some full-court pressure as well.
The obvious goal for Carson this year is to make the Northern 4A playoffs after missing the postseason last year. Glover said he believes the top three teams in the North this year are Manogue, Spanish Springs and Reed.
“I’m here to build a program for the long term,” he said, “We’re on the right track. We’ve got a great group of kids.”
Carson will open the season on Nov. 29 against Sutter in the Gold Dust Tournament in Placerville, California.