Team Preview:
Written by: Vince Trimboli
For about 12 years the Emmett Huskies we’re the smallest school in the 4A Southern Idaho Conference, but with the student number dropping below 700 now the Huskies find themselves in a juxtaposition as the largest school in the 3A Snake River Valley conference.
“It helps the confidence and not having to play schools double your size,” boys’ basketball coach and 1994 Emmett graduate Greg Daniels said about the schools drop in classification. “We didn’t have any margin of error to get wins. We had some leads late and couldn’t hang on (in 4A SIC)… This puts us on a more level playing field.”
Even if they were still in 4A the Huskies probably would have been competitive this year. They return several starters and contributors from last year’s 9-12 squad. Leading the way is 6-foot-1 sophomore guard Luc Overton. A good defender and rebounder, Daniels said Overton is “almost impossible to guard in the open court” and the Huskies will work to get him the ball in transition.
Up front Emmett will rely on physical and athletic senior post Luke Hyde (6-foot-4) to be a force inside and control the boards. Daniels said junior shooting guard Yancy Hyde has a big body, can jump and stretch the defense with his three-point shot.
Senior forward Lafe Korrel is expected to do the dirty work. While senior point guard Trent Walker will handle the ball and senior guard Wyatt Smith adds depth and experience.
With so much speed, experience and athleticism, the Huskies will be up tempo and push ball up the floor. “If we don’t get a look off transition,” said Daniels, “we’ll try and work it and make teams play defense.”
With several returning players from a team that was competitive last year (9-12), coaches in the 3A SRV all said they expect the Huskies to compete right away. The addition of Emmett could bring about one of the most competitive seasons in league history. Homedale returns enough talent from a team that was second-place at state last year. Both Parma and Fruitland are full of returning talent.
Coach Daniels is tempering optimism, but he has lofty goals for a school that has already tasted success as the SRV regular season football champions.
“It’s not going to be any walk in the park playing these guys. But we have a chance,” Daniels said. “We want to get better in practice every day. We want to compete for conference title and get ourselves in a good position at the district tournament.”
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