The Cardington-Lincoln Pirates boys basketball team is looking to first-year head coach Jason Rice to unite the crew and right the ship.
Following a 10-4 record in the Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference, and a 17-7 overall record in 2020-21, the Pirates fell to 3-20 and 1-11 in the KMAC last season, and Rice becomes C-L's fourth head coach in four years.
Rice takes over the reins at Cardington-Lincoln following stints at Shelby, Lexington and Ashland, where he sharpened his coaching perspective.
“I developed my coaching philosophy from the different coaches I have coached with in the past, through coaching with them and learning from them,” Rice said. “My coaching philosophy is to coach hard and be very detail-oriented, but also have the players understand we are always in an attacking mindset and to play loose and free and not worry about being taken out of the game for a mistake on the floor.”
With seven returning letter winners, the Pirates are limited in varsity experience.
This year’s roster features Merek McClure, Kalin Briggs, AJ Hall, Gavyn Crockett, Jason Bockbrader, Warren Garrison, Sam Wilson, AJ Brehm, Journey Williamson, Zay Nippert, Brayden Lackey, Ryan Clinger and Dalton Edwards.
“We’re expecting all of last year’s varsity players to take a major step this year after having their first year of varsity experience behind them,” Rice said. “ Also, there are several players from JV last year who have worked on their game relentlessly, and I am excited to see their potential grow once the season starts.”
Cardington's mantra for the season is "all in," and it is the focus on which the team has worked hard in preparation for the upcoming season.
“Overall, I am very pleased with how many players have dedicated themselves to the weight room, agilities and skill work this offseason,” Rice said. “We have been going 3-4 days a week since I took over the program in March, and they have consistently shown up and put in the work every time the gym has been open.”
Cardington hopes to use speed, strength, good shooting and depth off the bench to its advantage as the team looks to play with pace and speed in a run-and-gun offense.
On defense, the Pirates will be a ball-pressure, man-to-man team with gap defense designed to utilize their speed and overcome size and rebounding concerns.
Looking to capitalize on each possession and improve as the season goes along are what the coaching staff wants to see in this year’s team.
“We had many opportunities last year where we were close to getting a stop and missed a defensive assignment or didn’t box out and grab a rebound and would allow the other team to score,” Rice said. “This year, we want to finish those possessions and play with pace and spacing on offense and always be in attack mode.”
“Our expectation this year is to just get better every day in the gym and play our style on both sides of the ball,” Rice said. “Our biggest goal this year is to finish possessions and games the way we know how to and have been working on.”
Rice pointed to significant games in the season.
“Some big games we have on our schedule are of course the two rival games against Mount Gilead, but also a holiday showcase game against Highland at Highland on Dec. 28,” he said.
The Pirates opened the season at 2-0 with big wins over Delaware Christian and Ridgedale.
