With the State Tournament right around the corner, basketball teams all over the state are anxiously awaiting their tournament ranking. One team that has anxiously been awaiting the tournament is our very own Braintree Boys Basketball team, as it is the first time in several years our boys are going to make states.
The boys have worked very hard to turn the last few years around. Coach Bob Crook, last week, told us that the boys needed “to win 1 more game to technically qualify for the State Tournament.” They got that win on Monday as they beat Milton 43-33 improving their record to 11-7. With two games remaining in their regular season, they hope to improve their ranking and potentially get a home game in the first round of the tournament.
“It’s been 3 years, since COVID, we had gone a long stretch, I started 34 years ago as a head coach, and we went 18 years in a row of making the tournament, through the 90s and early 2000s, and then once we didn’t make the tournament one year then we made it again 12 out of the next 13 leading up to right around COVID, and it’s been since that point that we haven’t qualified. So this would be a big thing for us,” Coach Crook expressed.
The boys of BHS have also hit yet another accomplishment; they are ranked 27th in Division 1.
“Well I think it’s the best ranking we’ve had in a few years, certainly. I think our league prepares us really well for when we get into the state tournament,” Coach Crook explained.
What has brought them to this good ranking? Hard practices and mental toughness has prepared these boys and made them into the tough team they’ve become. Coach Crook tells us that “practices after losses I always think are important.” His strategy is to “say as little in those practices as possible and have them push themselves in those practices” in order to bring the boys closer together, and teach them to work through their own kinks.
However, these practices alone have not made this team successful, the players’ performances have helped as well. Crook expressed that no one person alone has made this team successful, everything is in a way, equal. “We’ve had several games this year where we’ve won where we haven’t had any double figure scorers and we’re very balanced that way” and balanced they really have been, Crook says that he doesn’t believe any of his guys are averaging double digits. Crook pointed out a few players that have been playing well, but don’t score an insane amount of points.
“I think our leading scorer might be Theo Moore, but Theo’s had a lot of games where he’s deferred and he’s the guy passing the ball.” Crook also says Jared Coughlin, Ethan Elie, Calum McClorey and others on the team have had good performances, but it’s not just about one guy, they way they’ve played “it’s not like one or two guys are going to get the ball all the time it’s more who the open guy is, and do your job.”
The boys definitely do their job on and off the court. On the court, like Crook said, they get the job done, they do their part; off the court, the team enjoys time together, and bonds often. Senior Captain Owen Daiute says “We just play well, we talk to each other, tell each other what we need to do, and we just get better everyday.” Along with talking to each other, the boys go to pasta parties, where they enjoy each other’s company, they do a lot of “talking, shouting across tables, [they] just got like inside jokes and what not, anything like that” (Daiute). All teams do bonding like this, but the Wamps, do it better, Daiute tells us that the boys go to extremes, like “ helping [to] bring the right environment, making sure we’re not getting down on each other, making sure everyone’s on the right track, and not being mean to other teammates.”
A majority of the team has also played together for a very long time, something that previous teams never had the luxury of. Junior Captain Calum McClorey says that some of their success has come from them knowing how to play together from such a young age: “A lot of us have been playing together since we were in 2nd grade, or whenever travel basketball started, so I think there’s a lot more chemistry and we get along better.” Calum’s travel basketball team was coached by Crook, as he was coaching his son Cam. Crook said “I have been coaching them since they were a younger group, since like 3rd Grade Travel and all the way up, so they have a much better understanding than most younger guys on our Varsity Team of you know our system because I put them in part of it back to like 3rd or 4th grade travel.” This is different from other years as he now has guys he has worked with for ten plus years, as opposed to his other players who have only had the chance to be coached by him in high school.
According to the Patriot Ledger, the boys were 5-9 around this time last year. It is very clear that this group of boys is making strides towards a better future. The relationships within the team, specifically the ones between the boys, and the one between the coaches, have all contributed to this new and improved team. One player on the team, who preferred to be anonymous, gave his thoughts, saying, “I would say everyone on the team gets along really well, there isn’t one ego on the team, and overall just a great group of guys who want to win for each other.” No one could have said it better, the team stays together, all while staying separate. Like Daiute had said, “everyone’s got their own certain role, and everyone plays into it well.”
But will this success so far carry on into next year’s season? Calum McClorey is very confident it will as he says, “I think we will be right back here next year, if not, then better.”
