Virtually every high school basketball team that advances far in the playoffs or wins championships have one thing in common: they stay busy during the summer league season.
Los Gatos boys coach Nick Ward made sure to put the team in a position to succeed by packing everything he could during the summer league prep season which runs in June and July. In that span, Los Gatos played a whopping 44 games which has prepared them for the 2022-2023 season.
“It was wild,” Ward said. “You get to do whatever you want for seven to eight weeks and we didn’t take a day off for 19 straight days at one point. We played tournaments every weekend and just wanted to get the guys experience because we knew we had a lot of returners and guys who would compete this year moving up from the frosh-soph team.
“It’s one thing to scrimmage in practice; it’s another to play an opponent of another school. We scheduled heavy and it was a good evaluation period for us, a good time to play a ton and get that experience. Nobody played every game, but we consistently had 24-25 guys at every game. The commitment level was phenomenal over the summer.”
The Wildcats (0-1), who play Prospect in the Westmont Tournament on Nov. 30, are coming off a season in which they went 9-3 to earn a share of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division championship.
In the SCVAL postseason meeting, the coaches voted unanimously to move Los Gatos up to the tougher De Anza Division for this season, knowing what the team had coming back. Headlining the list of returnees is senior point guard Max Houghton, who was a first team El Camino Division selection and makes everything go.
“We’re really fortunate to have Max back this year,” Ward said. “He’s kind of our floor general and one of our team captains, and a lot of our success will be run through him.”
Fellow senior captain and power forward Victor Josifovski has improved in every phase of the game. That dynamic has shown early in the season as he scored a team-high 15 points in a season-opening loss to Oaks Christian on Nov. 25 and also played well in the sportsmanship game against an always tough Valley Christian team.
Nolan Koch, a 6-foot-4 junior post, has also made dramatic strides in his game and can bang with the best of them and dominate the glass at times. However, Koch possesses a potent 3-point shot now that he’s more assured of his ability to hit from the outside.
“Over the last year, Nolan has developed the confidence to shoot the 3-pointer in games,” Ward said. “He’s always practiced it, but last year he was more hesitant being an underclassmen on varsity and getting a feel for guys around him. Whereas this year he’s got a full year under his belt and is a lot more confident in his ability to shoot and score for us. He’s a rebounding force and a big strong kid who can do it all.”
Senior wing Trent Splaine is another top returner who possesses a versatile skill set that allows him to play an inside-outside game to go along with tough defense.
“He’ll also rotate in that forward position probably a little more this year as Tommy Ankenbrandt works his way back from injury,” Ward said. “Trent is playing a hybrid small power forward as we get started, and he’s a big, strong kid who moves really well.”
At 6-6 and 215 pounds, Ankenbrandt is the team’s tallest player and contributed a lot to the team when he was healthy last season. Dominick Nguyen rounds out the returning senior class, and even though he didn’t play a ton of minutes last year, Nguyen provides intangibles that every team needs to reach its potential.
“Dominick is more vocal than a year ago and is really trying to teach the junior guards what the expectations are in terms of the level of play and the physicality,” Ward said. “He does a really good job for us and his experience helps us a lot.”
Sophomore Osha Moloney showed flashes of dazzling play when he was called up to the varsity team halfway through last season. Moloney can flat-out shoot it and no doubt will be heavily guarded beyond the 3-point line which should free up space for his fellow teammates everywhere on the floor.
As far as sharpshooters go, Ward said junior Joey Rabitz is “probably the best shooter on the team” and a player who will be counted upon to provide instant offense off the bench.
“There are days in practice when Joey makes one [shot] and you can tell the ball gets around to him the next two, three, four possessions in a row, and they’re all going in,” Ward said. “He comes in with a mentality to shoot, to score, and it’s nice to have a guy come off the bench who’s already got a hot hand.”
Another top newcomer is sophomore Scotty Brennan, who was the frosh-soph El Camino Division MVP last year. An athletic 6-3 wing, Brennan can drive, shoot, crash the boards, is aggressive and is expected to contribute immediately, Ward said.
Max Brin provides depth at point guard and is one of nine juniors on a 16-man roster. Ward said players are pushing each other to improve and that’s exactly what’s needed if the Wildcats are to compete for a top-three spot in the De Anza Division this season.
“We’re back up with all the big dogs and the guys are confident in our ability to compete,” Ward said. “The El Camino was the best El Camino I’ve ever seen last year, but when you put names out there like Palo Alto, the De Anza is a different animal. There’s no bad teams up there and no nights you get to take off.”
Sports editor Emanuel Lee can be reached at el**@we*****.com
