Brian Radabaugh enters his 11th year as the head coach of Utica High School’s boys basketball, hoping he has built a good foundation for a winning team this year.
Utica is coming off a 6-15 season overall and 2-9 in league play, returning a team that has a good mix of experienced seniors and juniors. A productive summer session has led to plenty of optimism heading into the season.
“We feel like we have a really good mix of kids that can do multiple things,” Radabaugh said. “We have guys we have trust in that can make some plays for us and knock down some shots.”
Radabaugh will rely on a strong group of seniors for leadership, including Seth Cooper, a 6-3, 185-pound swingman, and Beau Dunlap, a 5-9, 130-pound guard.
“They’ve been through varsity basketball seasons before,” Radabaugh said. “They can tell the new guys what to expect.”
Jordan Riley, a 6-1, 187-pound senior, will add an emotional lift when he turns to basketball once his football season is over.
“He’s a fiery kid who leads by example,” Radabaugh said.
Utica has increased its win output three straight years and is restocked with solid talent coming up from junior varsity.
“We’ve started to build a foundation to where our kids expect to have success now,” Radabaugh said, “and we’re continuing to build on that.”
Utica’s strength figures to be an aggressive offense that applies constant pressure on a defense. An up-tempo offense will compensate for a lack of size that could be exploited in a half-court game.
“We want to spread the ball around to multiple guys who are a threat to score,” Radabaugh said. “Hopefully, that makes us tough to defend. We’re going to have to make up for our lack of size with toughness and scrappiness.”
The season unofficially gets under way with scrimmages against Centerburg on Nov. 6 and Danville on Nov. 12.
“We’re going to give kids the opportunity to see what they can do and slide into roles,” Radabaugh said. “We want to build a rhythm and some momentum heading into the season.”
