Summer basketball leagues are usually about seeing improvement and then consequently evaluating talent for the winter season.
With play in leagues and tournaments starting to heat up with the summer temperatures, a few local teams have begun piecing together their potential lineups as well as deciding what offenses and defenses can be effective in the upcoming season.
Central Bucks West veteran head boys basketball coach Adam Sherman had his team playing in spring leagues at William Tennent and Plymouth Whitemarsh. The Bucks recently began play in the Dock Mennonite Summer League.
Sherman will look to returning starters Charlie Cashman, Matt Engle, Michael Fountain and Bowen Gugger to help improve the Bucks’ 5-14 overall mark from last season. He is already seeing some positives.
“We are showing improvement,” said Sherman. “I believe it will benefit us greatly in the upcoming season.
“I think if we stay healthy, we can be very competitive this upcoming season.”
Quakertown head boys basketball coach Tony DaCosta begins his third year at the helm, and he also is utilizing the summer to help build confidence and chemistry, experiment with different lineups and assess areas that need improvement. The Panthers were 6-16 last season.
DaCosta has his team in the Cedar Beach Summer League in Allentown, and they had an overall 4-4 mark to begin the week. Returnees Anthony Callan, Miles Longacre, Kyle Rosenberger, Ethan Tomlinson, and Sam and Ty Wilkin have been working to form the Panthers’ core for the winter.
“The summer league has taught us some valuable lessons to understand how we can be successful,” said DaCosta. “We can access areas that need additional work, and put our skill sessions into actual game action. It also has given our less experienced players an opportunity to get used to the speed of a varsity game, and help to provide defined roles for our players.
“It also helps to build familiarity with our offense and defense, and the competition is always good and has served us well.”
Karlee Krchnavi is the new head girls basketball coach at Palisades, and the school’s all-time leading scorer and former Binghamton University standout inherits a 2-19 squad from last season. Krchnavi was an assistant coach last season.
The Pirates will begin play in the Easton-area Forks Summer League this week, and Krchnavi sees the summer as a pivotal point in the rebuilding of the program.
“This summer is going to be huge,” she beamed. “The girls are all athletic because everyone is a multi-sport athlete.”
Cora Anderson, Grace McArdle, Chesney Mosher, Delia Pavlinsky, and Amelia Smith all are back and have made an impact. Incoming freshman Riley Alkhas has made her presence felt.
Krchnavi senses a feeling of commitment.
“We started open gyms two weeks ago, and the girls have been working to get better,” she said. “The girls have been asking for extra time, and it’s refreshing to see that. Our goal now is to establish a core foundation at all levels, and so far things are moving ahead in the right direction.”
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