Boys Basketball The Dimond High Basketball team is hungry after a last year state championship win. Eager to come out this year with a bang, they start this season off with a game against Colony. The team doesn’t have the height they did last season, but with the rising talent they should be able to be tough competition for the opposing schools. With three sophomores and two juniors, the chemistry within the team should become great throughout this year and the next year. Senior Stanson Afoa, who has been on the team for the past two years, said, “I think that we have a chance of repeating championships if we work on our handling skills.” He has high aspirations for the team the upcoming season. Tryouts were hard time for most juniors knowing that all of them got cut except three, one playing on junior varsity. Austin Osborne, who passed tryouts and made varsity, said, “With only two people taller than six foot and three inches, we need to be able to pass the ball well and attack the perimeters.” The team with not much height is still projected to go far in the future knowing that many of the competitors lost their highest talent to colleges. Dimond lost a total of six players last year when Bartlett lost almost all of their players. Dimond’s known for having a well rounded basketball coach. Rob Galosich, Coach G, has won three championships. Knowing that their team chemistry is still growing, their plan is to work on their ball skills, Osborne said.They have to work the perimeters since the other school have height on the new Dimond Varsity Team. Muhammad Cole, who is one of the few sophomores on the team, said, “We have been working hard on our endurance. I think that it may be hard to cooperate with the other players on the team that have been playing together for over six years.” Even though the six seniors on the team have been participating on the same basketball team since they were young, the other teammates have a good chance to learn and develop from the older players. They may not win the state championship this year, but this will be a good bonding moment for the team. Being able to practice every day, go to lunch and hang out after school will improve their chances of participating in the state tournament. Whether or not they win the tournament is not the big picture. The goal of this team is to create chemistry and set this year as a building block knowing that the other teams have height on their side.