It is a quandary that stretches as far back as organized sports itself. Eventually good players get injured or old, graduate or otherwise move on. The issue of replacement then becomes a challenge to coach and team. After posting a
It is a quandary that stretches as far back as organized sports itself.
Eventually good players get injured or old, graduate or otherwise move on.
The issue of replacement then becomes a challenge to coach and
team.
After posting a 6-2 Kaua’i Interscholastic Federation record and
winning the championship in 1999, the Kaua’i Red Raiders face just such a
quandary. The team lost its leading scorer and all-around glue, Brad
Lum-Tucker, to graduation, as well as guards Brandon Ramos and Tyler
Kobayashi.
“Last year’s team was a more seasoned one,” Kaua’i head coach
Alex Pascual said. “We’ve got new people at new positions this year.”
One
of those is Pascual. After serving as an assistant for three years, the coach
has taken the reigns as the head honcho.
Unfortunately for him, his team’s
preseason progress has not unfolded precisely as planned.
“We were 2-4
during the preseason,” Pascual said. “I wasn’t really looking at records,
though. I would say that we are progressing somewhat slow right now. That’s our
biggest problem.”
For Pascual, the solution to that problem would be the
emergence of a three-headed scoring attack, led by senior shooting guard R-Jay
Pillos, and backed up by senior Jason Kashiwabara and junior Lionel Tomacder.
“We need a lot of shooting from our shooting guard position,” Pascual
said. “That, we hope, will open the game up for Jason and Lionel.
“Then, if
we can get some help off the bench, I think we’ll be okay.”
The reserves
seem to be one of Pascual’s major concerns. He said junior Jason Sahara will be
the fourth starter, along with the players mentioned above. But the coach is
unsure who will fill the fifth slot, or which guys will serve as reliable
substitutes.
“It would be nice if all 12 of our guys would step up,”
Pascual said. “Because we’re going to need help from our bench.”
As for the
starters, Kashiwabara has shown, during the preseason, a nice touch around the
basket. And Tomacder has proven he can score. But the 5-foot-7 athlete has had
to learn a new position this year. Last season, he pounded it out with forwards
on the low block. This year, he is being asked to run the team from the
point-guard slot.
“We would like Lionel to play with that point-forward
mentality,” Pascual said. “We’d like to see him play with that finesse out top,
and still be willing to bang in the post.”
As for a season outlook, Pascual
said his charges certainly will attack Kapa’a and Waimea with different styles.
The Warriors may get the Raiders’ bigger lineup, while the Menehunes might
require Kaua’i to put a quicker team on the floor.
“I think if we get it
together early in the season, we’ll be all right,” Pascual said. “We know that
we still have plenty to work on, though.”
