In high school basketball, every season presents challenges. From wide-eyed players replacing graduates, to the quick turnaround from fall to winter, and to settling new players into the system, there’s always adjustments to be made.
Name any challenge, and Peabody’s boys basketball coach Thad Broughton is looking forward to it.
“We lost some key pieces last year, but that happens every year in high school basketball,” Broughton said, referring to some challenges he faced for this upcoming season.
Some of those ‘key pieces’ are three starters from last year’s team, one that finished 13-7 in the regular season and ended with Peabody failing to edge Cambridge Rindge & Latin in the playoffs.
Though Peabody is losing three starters, Broughton is confident the returning players can take the next step in development.
“Our top returners are our two captains: senior forward Shea Lynch, and senior guard Danny Barrett,” Broughton said.
In addition to the captains returning, the Tanners are returning their top scorer in junior guard Anthony Forte.
Players who will have more responsibility this year are senior guard Nathan Braz, and junior guard Raphel Laurent Broughton. Broughton has expressed confidence in the pair.
“We will rely on them to step into the roles that were vacated from last year,” Broughton said.
To overcome the lack of size, Broughton is coaching his team to push the pace and be relentless on the defensive end. The belief is that they are quick enough to force the opposition to play the fast pace the Tanners prefer.
“From game one, we are going to try and get out on the fast break and hopefully cause some turnovers on the defensive end,” Broughton said.
Along with their speed, another strength for the Tanners is their team chemistry. Broughton believes he has a tight-knit group, and their togetherness will show when they take the court.
“One of our strengths this year will be our team chemistry. These guys have played together for a long time [and] are tight off the court,” Broughton said.
When asked about last season’s road record (6-5), Broughton acknowledges that playing away from home presents its challenges. However, he believes his team truly wants to improve.
“That’s something we need to get better at this season – go on the road and get wins at tough places to play,” Broughton said. “Basketball is basketball, so wherever it is played, you have to go out and perform your best. I think that our guys are ready for that challenge.”
Notwithstanding the quick turnaround from tryouts to game day, Broughton believes that having a squad containing multi-sport athletes is beneficial at the start of early practices and for the start of the season. To Broughton, the competitiveness those athletes bring is advantageous.
“The multisport athletes are competitive guys – no matter what sport they are playing, they want to win. Our team chemistry and competitiveness [will] hopefully offset some of the areas that we need to improve on,” Broughton said.
Broughton admits that every team aims to win the state championship, but the goals that he is specifically looking for this season are “to qualify for the state tournament [and] compete for the Northeastern conference championship.”
The season is almost here, and coach Broughton and his squad are looking forward to building on the success they had last season.
Mark Aboyoun can be reached at [email protected]
