Hillcats hungry to impress

Hillsboro-Deering boys basketball coach Kurt McCandless hears the whispers.Miles Galloway
Every year since he arrived on the Hillcat bench, McCandless has been forced to listen to the list of reasons his team won’t succeed. He was told prior to last winter that a squad comprised primarily of inexperienced sophomores had no chance to compete on the Class M stage, a forecast that ultimately proved prophetic in a frustrating one-win season.
And on the dawn of the new campaign the talk is that the Hillcats, though improved and more seasoned, will again struggle for respectability in a deep and talented division.
The chatter can be difficult to ignore. Which is why McCandless has the Hillcats on a quest to shut everybody up.
“Class M is a tough division, but we’re looking to try to get a home playoff game and see where it goes,” McCandless said, admitting to the lofty goal despite last season’s struggles. “We are in a position where there’s no prediction on records, but we expect to be competitive in every single game. There are some opponents that are down, and if we just play our game, sooner or later we are going to break through. They just need a taste of it. The guys need to understand they can win games.”
The rest of the division may be scratching its head over McCandless’ confidence following a 1-17 season in which the Hillcats were overmatched on an almost nightly basis. But H-D loses only one player from last season’s rotation and adds the high scorer from the junior varsity squad to a lineup that could go 10-deep without much drop-off in talent or intensity.
Last year’s freshmen and sophomores – who combined to make up eight of 12 roster spots – are all a year older and a year wiser, and the experience of going through last winter’s struggles has steeled H-D’s resolve.
“Everybody’s back. We picked up right at the first day this fall with the 13 guys who were here all summer, and we started right from where we ended last year rather than from scratch,” McCandless said. “We have some guys that can put the ball in the hoop a little better. We’re going to have to gut stuff out and scratch and fight and claw, but we’re way better in terms of experience.”
And the players continue to improve due to day-to-day battles for position in practice. The Hillcats return seven players who have started a game and 10 guys competing for serious playing time, all of which may lead to a revolving door in the starting lineup.
Miles Galloway, Taylor Hallett, Mike Gallagher and Greg Wood are all competing for the backcourt spots, and McCandless said he envisions utilizing a four-guard rotation. Galloway spent the majority of last season as the starting point guard, while Hallett provided depth and aggressiveness before missing the end of the season due to injury. Gallagher was at times H-D’s most consistent guard last year, and Wood moves up from the JV after leading that team in scoring a season ago, earning McCandless’ praise as one of H-D’s “better offensively skilled” players.
There is similar competition in the frontcourt, where senior co-captains Dustin Chickering and Brandon Gillett provide the most experience. Junior Tucker Cutter was among H-D’s most potent weapons a year ago – posting a team season-high 24 points in the lone win over Newport – and he figures into the mix at the small forward position. Sophomore Brendan Norton and junior Hunter Tilley will push Chickering and Gillett for time at the power forward and center positions, as well, with Norton bringing advanced smarts for a second-year player and Tilley adding athleticism.
“It’s one of those things where it would be easier if I had five dominant players I knew were going to start. But if I don’t have five identifiable starters, I’ve got 10 guys that are fighting for a spot,” McCandless said. “I have a projected starting lineup, but who will be finishing games? I don’t know. So if you are one of the five to start a game, you’ve got to play, or someone else will take your spot. With the overall competition maybe all 10 will be better than they would have been otherwise.”
McCandless has noted an increased sense of toughness and scrappiness in the pre-season, though it was similar intensity that kept H-D in most of its games last year at the defensive end. The increased depth, particularly in the backcourt, this year will allow McCandless to stretch the defense and smother teams the full length of the floor.
“We’re really going to go after people,” McCandless said. “We’ll play the kind of defense I would like to play, which is pressure.”
Much of the pressure for the Hillcats is on an offense that was sloppy and inconsistent last year. H-D made significant improvement down the stretch when it began to limit turnover totals that at one time hovered nearly 30 a game, and the result was the lone win and a pair of narrow losses in the final minutes.
A year of experience figures to help in that regard, though McCandless said the Hillcats struggled early in their initial scrimmage this winter before settling down and working the offense. And not having a go-to scorer in crunch time makes taking care of the ball that much more critical.
“If we don’t pass and hit the open man, nobody is going to score in double figures,” McCandless said. “We need to take care of the basketball and play a fast pace at the same time, and that’s the challenge: Can you play hard and fast and not turn the ball over 25 times? We decreased the turnovers gradually last season to a point where at the end of the year we won a game and had a few close ones, and that was all about the turnovers going from near 30 to the low teens.”
H-D gets its first test Friday, when Newport – the only team the Hillcats beat last season – comes to Hillsborough. McCandless is hoping that contest is the first step toward the best season H-D has had in years, as with the deeper roster and veteran experience he thinks the Hillcats have a chance to sneak up on some people.
But it all starts in their own locker room.
“There’s a lot to overcome,” McCandless said, noting the team’s recent struggles. “But if they can keep their focus and do the things they need to do, good things are really going to happen. Because we have the pieces, we have the athletes to play now, now it’s just a question of their heads.”