The Greendale boy’s basketball practices have recently started and so far the teams think they are in a really good position to start the season now. The Panthers struggled last year in the regular season and got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs against South Milwaukee, so they are excited to get some revenge on teams they lost to.
This year the team will be very experienced with nine returning seniors and two returning juniors who all played varsity last year.
“I’m most excited about this year because it’s my last year and I believe we have a chance to go far in the playoffs. We also have 90 percent of our 2023-2024 roster coming back which means we will be a lot more experienced,” senior Luke Mattes said.
The Panthers boys basketball squad had tryouts last Monday and the squad is looking decent. The players tried out for three days in a row Monday-Wednesday Nov. 18-20. After Wednesday’s practice, the players found out if they made the team.
“Our basketball squad is looking pretty good. Tryouts went well for most people, but some looked like they wanted to be on the team and some didn’t,” junior Zavier Castillo said.
The team has some team goals that they want to accomplish even with a new assistant coach and new players. The team’s new assistant coach comes from playing at the University of Oshkosh. A lot of players want to see how they are going to do this season with some new expectations from head coach Ryan Johnson.
“I like the varsity feeling. So far I feel like I am going to do well coming off of JV,” junior Tyler Roche said.
The Panthers first game was a win vs Waukesha North 82-57. Senior Devin Isaj finished with 24 points to lead the Panthers with junior Brandon Harper Jr finishing with 12 points, Mattes with 11 points, Castillo with 10 points, senior Caden Meyer with 10 points, and senior Landon Lopez with 6 points.