Prior to the season, the Mountain View High School football team dreamt about a state championship. A few months later, the Buffalos turned their dream into a reality. The Mountain View boys’ basketball team is hoping to do the same.
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MOUNTAIN VIEW — Prior to the season, the Mountain View High School football team dreamt about a state championship.
A few months later, the Buffalos turned their dream into a reality.
The Mountain View boys’ basketball team is hoping to do the same.
“We expect the same thing we did in football — to win a state championship,” senior Jason Stoddard said. “If you’re not expecting to finish on top, you’re not going to get there. Not even close. If you shoot for the stars and miss, you’re going to land on the moon. We’re going for it all.”
Stoddard is the only player returning who logged significant minutes at the varsity level from last year’s team that went 9-18 – 1-5 in the 3A West-South – and lost to Torrington in the consolation championship at the state tournament.
“I feel like it’s a whole new program,” head coach Dustin Rees said. “Everything is different. It’s exciting for me and it’s exciting for them, because they all know they have an opportunity to prove themselves in a different way.”
Rees enters his first season at the helm for the boys’ team, but he is hardly a stranger to Mountain View after spending five years as the junior varsity boys’ coach and the last 10 as the varsity girls’ coach.
Rees will be putting together an entirely new starting lineup after Mountain View graduated eight seniors from last year’s team in Kolbe Weber, Wyatt Hallam, Skyler Phillips, Spencer Madsen, Caden Bolken, Keagan Genzer, Dane Covington and Jon Cromer.
Cromer earned All-Conference honors after leading the Buffalos in points (11.1) and rebounds (5.4). Hallam was the team’s No. 2 scorer with 7.3 ppg, and Bolken came in at No. 3 with 6.7 ppg.
“Our expectations are high,” Rees said. “We feel like we can compete and be in every single game with all of our opponents. We know it’s going to be tough, but like I told all those kids, ‘being young is not an excuse. We’re here to play basketball and we’re here to win.’”
Stoddard played in all 27 games for the Buffalos last season, while Trenton Well and Brandon Vitt also saw some playing time at the varsity level.
Colby Rees, a junior, along with sophomores Kimball Madsen, Braeden Walk, and Briggin Bluemel will look to make an immediate impact for the Buffalos this season.
“Those are the seven guys that played varsity this summer,” Dustin Rees said. “Obviously that doesn’t mean that other guys won’t work their way up into that varsity rotation.”
