This year St. Thomas basketball returns with 8 seniors, 2 juniors. After coming off of one of the best seasons in school history, much of the team has changed. After coming off of one of the best seasons in St. Thomas history, the basketball team returns with eight seniors and two juniors.
Last year 10 out of the 13 players were seniors. Eagle Basketball is returning with a whole new team including two returning varsity players, Senior EYBL guard, Aron Valentine, and Junior NY2LA guard, Evan Levy. This team is full of talented players including Junior Caleb Kimball, and Seniors Ethan Wheeler, Peter Lorino, Cooper Drinkard, James Ulm, Jack Brown, Kyle Scheffler, and Thomas Robertson. Some new changes to the coaching staff were also made with a new high caliber coach, Jerome Llorens.
Head coach Jerome Llorens coached Junior Varsity last year and had an amazing season with only 2 losses, and is looking forward to accomplishing big goals this year.
“His energetic coaching and love for the game really brings the best out of us” Ethan Wheeler ’24 said.
Some new players to look forward to seeing this year are Caleb Kimball, Ethan Wheeler, and Cooper Drinkard. To start, Caleb is a dual sport varsity player who grew 4 inches over the summer and has become more athletic than ever. Last year he led the Junior Varsity team in blocks and in assists. His ability to play multiple positions is a key necessity to the success of this team.
Another talented player to keep your eyes open to is Ethan Wheeler. Over the summer he has been in the weight room and has improved tremendously on offense. His defense has always been impeccable and he is able to defend all positions from the point guard to center without missing a beat. Besides all these outstanding qualities, his most notable quality is his competitiveness.
“I am looking forward to guarding the best player on any team. To be honest, I want all the competition”, Wheeler said.
The last upcoming Eagle player to touch upon is Cooper Drinkard. His shooting ability is flawless. Last year he led the team in 3 pointers and displays the ability to fully visualize the entire court on fast break offense.
“His strong leadership qualities are unlike anything we have seen before”, teammate Peter Lorino said.
There has been concern about this new team’s ability to be able to guard teams with lots of height. However, the Junior Varsity players from last year have no concern over that.
“I’m not really worried about the height disadvantage in the team this year. Last season, Coach Llorens was able to coach around this disadvantage and we were fine throughout the year”, senior Jack Brown said.
Though Eagle Basketball has made some significant changes this year, the coaching staff and players are more ready than ever to compete for a championship.
