Yorktown ran away with the Liberty District last year, going 11-1 in-district and finishing three games ahead of second place Marshall. But the Liberty has always been a somewhat unpredictable place come tourney time, and last year was no different as McLean, 5-7 in the district during the regular season, made a memorable run in the Liberty Tournament to win it. It’s going to be like that again this year come late February, with more than a few teams capable of tournament glory.
You would think the Yorktown Patriots wouldn’t be in the mix after losing a memorable senior class of eight that included all-district performers like Jack Rubin, Brennan Pilot, and Austin Barbieri from their 20-win team. However, they could still very well be the favorites with the potential to match or better last year’s Northern Region Semifinal appearance. Why is that? For starters, the Patriots return the Liberty Player of the Year in senior point guard Jake Coulam.
“It always helps having Jake,” says Yorktown Head Coach Joe Keimig. “What’s great is he doesn’t force it, he just does whatever it takes to win.”
Coulam is adept at getting into the lane, and while he may not force many shots, he’ll definitely have to take more of them this year if the Patriots are to flourish. While a point guard by trade, Coulam may also find himself playing more off-ball this year as Keimig seeks to utilize his scoring ability. The next-level prospect can fill a lot of roles, but scoring may be his most important one early as the young Patriots seek to find their footing.
The talent is there, though, with a good mix of ball-handling, defense, and size to surround Coulam. Keimig is excited about 6’5″ junior center James Davis, who started to come on at the end of last year with a 15-point game vs. Wakefield. Another returnee on last year’s varsity is junior Sam Roosa, a bigger guard at around 6’3″ or so. He can help Coulam with the ball-handling, and shows potential as a double-digit scorer. As does Walton Butler, yet another junior who has looked good in the offseason.
Those guys alone plus Coulam would be enough to make Yorktown dangerous, but Keimig also will get reinforced from a JV team that won almost all of its games last year. There was size on that JV team, plus yet another capable point guard in Leo Sandoli. The Patriots again have to potential to be good on the boards, with lots of players capable of pushing the ball down the court.
“It will be fun,” says Keimig when asked about his team’s chances in the Liberty. “We’re young but expect to be a big factor by February. There’s no clear favorite in the Liberty, though.”
Want a dark horse to make some noise? How about the Washington-Liberty Generals? Last year Bobby Dobson played pretty much everybody, keeping 16 kids on the roster and only four seniors. Dobson’s substitution patterns sometimes resembled hockey line changes, and the Generals finished last in the district. But, they were also surprisingly competitive in a lot of games and got production from a lot of different sources.
A massive rarity in public school basketball, Dobson often started freshman bigs Luke Jones and Jack Cameron last year, who held up pretty well and showed solid potential. They flash some next level skills and can get up-and-down the court well, and now as sophomores they’re battle-tested. Dobson also returns all-district performers in forward Carmichael Williams and guard Gabe Smith.
The Generals have looked solid in the Fall. They’ll have to be far more consistent than they were last year, but Dobson returns a lot of guys who now have valuable experience.
Somebody has to be the dark horse, because the McLean Highlanders can’t be the dark horse anymore. That’s because everybody now expects McLean to just be dangerous, at least by the Liberty Tournament. While stalwarts like Max Mullen, Rece Bowser, and Avery Higgins are now graduated, the Highlanders only lost six seniors off a 14-person roster.
Senior guard Nick Karageorgos and guard-forward Jacob (Jake) Bell figure to handle a lot of the scoring load for the Highlanders. Bell has a pretty shot that extends well past the arc, and Coach Mike O’Brien may run a lot of sets trying to get him his looks. O’Brien also expects his teams to play tough and smart defense, and Karageorgos will be expected to be a leader in that regard.
The question is, who else steps up? Higgins did a lot of defensive dirty work down low last season, can senior returnees Aidan Iftoni and Mannix Bullen and junior Mati Skrzek replace a good portion of what Higgins provided? Can intelligent and tenacious guards like sophomore Lucas Van Order and seniors Logan Baldrate and James Riggins up their production on both sides of the ball?
This is fairly deep roster and expect O’Brien to get the most out of it. McLean will sneak up on nobody, however.
It would surprise absolutely no one if the Marshall Statesmen won the regular season race, the tournament, or both. The Statesmen will miss their rock in the middle, Anderson Krisko, but return two very talented all-district selections in senior guard Shreyas Vaidya and junior forward Trey Lonardo. On offense, that can be a very effective inside-outside combination, as Vaidya can fill in up from beyond the arc and Lonardo is an efficient scorer inside.
While fans are aware of those two standouts, other players got valuable experience on the varsity last year–Coach Jerry Lin kept four sophomores in addition to Lonardo last season. It’s a standout junior class with breakout potential before 2027. Big man Wes Ochsendorf should make the loss of Krisko at least somewhat more palatable, and Almon Dirth, Jackson Fraser, and Jonas Rohde are ready to go. Fraser in particular will be in a key role as a distributor, but he’s already proven he’s a fantastic passer who can rack up assist totals at the varsity level.
Other key players are back to provide stability, like senior guard Rishab Saravanan. While the Liberty is wide-open, if you’re looking for the safe pick to win the Liberty, it’s probably Marshall. You know Lin will have his team playing defense, and the firepower on offense is there.
The Liberty threat people might be overlooking are the Langley Saxons. Like Washington-Liberty, the Saxons kept only four seniors last year, and also finished tied for fourth in the regular season. While one of those seniors was the sometimes-dominant Cade Girolamo, a lot of significant talent is back for fourth-year coach Dave Conrow.
It’s going to be hard for teams to match the size and strength of 6’5″ Saxon big man Josh Tyner down low. He’s gonna get a ton of double-doubles this year. Conrow can go big with Tyner and fellow senior forward Austin Conver, or he can go small. One big reason for that is 6’4″ junior guard-forward Tyler Kim, who Conrow can use as a stretch 4 if he desires. Kim often led the Saxons in scoring last year when Girolamo didn’t. He can hit the three and score, plus provide some ball-handling and help from the weakside defending the rim. Kim has the potential to be regarded as one of the region’s better players after this season.
Langley also has a good player in senior guard Beckett Brown, who we feel is one of the more underrated guards in the area. Six-foot senior guard Lee Evans occasionally delivered some significant scoring off the bench last season, and could produce more this year. Guard Campbell Tyler made the varsity as a freshman last year and was a significant contributor, while junior Jameel Baig is yet another forward who can hit from long-range.
The Saxons have size and shooting, in our view they are a very serious threat in the Liberty if their younger perimeter players, most importantly Kim, are ready to step up in key end-of-game situations.
The Wakefield Warriors have perhaps the most storied basketball program in the district under Coach Tony Bentley. Last year they were very solid, finishing third in the Liberty and .500 overall. Well-coached and capable, the Warriors nevertheless lacked the star power to seriously compete against some of the better teams in Northern Virginia.
It’ll be tough to challenge the best again after losing a capable eight-senior class. Still, Bentley has one of the better guards in the Northern Region in Jeremiah Poole, a dynamic 5’10” playmaker who was first team all-district last season. He’s cat-quick and a capable ball-handler who can distribute, but he’s also a pretty safe bet to provide the Warriors double-digit scoring night in and night out. If he’s on from long-range, he can dominate.
Two other rotation players return, and they absolutely must step up their production. Dyson Beaty is a smaller guard, but is fully capable of consistently attacking the rim and helping Poole with the ball-handling. 6’4″ senior Zak Amadou will play a key role in the frontcourt with bigs Kooper Odar and Gabe Henneman graduated. He’s got long arms and solid bounce, and absolutely has to make an impact defensively and on the boards.
He can also run the floor, which Wakefield figures to do more of this year without their graduated bigs. Senior guard Tre’Sean Evans should help in that regard as will promising sophomore point guard Tyson Ordenes. A big wild card is sophomore forward Jose Oliva Salazar, who shows enormous inside-outside potential on offense. Bentley will get him minutes if his all-around game is ready.
If not, Bentley does have a fairly deep roster with other options. There’s ingredients here to push tempo and play defense, if the Warriors can rebound adequately.
The Herndon Hornets have a new coach in 2011 Hornets graduate Austin Hamilton. Hamilton went on to play college ball after HS, and now he’ll be tasked with getting the Hornets back to contending status. While Hamilton should bring some energy the program needs, it may be a tough assignment, as Herndon has not boasted much program depth in recent years.
Only four seniors graduated from last year’s sixth-place squad, but one of those was all-Liberty first teamer and do-everything Toby Haire. Hamilton has a good building block in the athletic Charlie Morgan, a forward who can score on the drive, from outside, and is incredibly tenacious on the boards. Morgan can man either forward spot.
After that, who knows? Hamilton has lots of candidates to contribute though, and this year’s senior class includes Morgan and seven other guys that were on the team last year. Of the younger players, junior guard Ryan Joseph Buenaventura now has ample varsity experience, and he has the potential to be an impact player.
–Chris Jollay
Please correct the spelling of Leo’s last name it should be Sandoli.