Youthful Waltham High boys basketball team excited to tip off season

Traditionally a program led by upperclassmen, a Waltham High School boys basketball team seldom sees so many freshman and sophomores.

However, the Hawks will be bucking that trend this winter, and it could lead to an exciting brand of basketball for a unit that is looking to improve on last year’s 8-12 record. WHS brings plenty of potential to the floor with four freshmen and three sophomores making the varsity roster.

“We had a senior-heavy team last year,” head coach Mike Wilder said. “Now we have a lot of youth. This is the first time in my career that I have had four freshmen on the varsity team. It’s unheard of in Waltham. Nine of my rostered players are young. We are going to build, but we can compete at the same time. That is the goal. The six seniors have done a really good job as well.”

The crew of freshmen includes three players who contributed throughout the Hawks football season, Ryan Ranucci, Julius Genece and J.J. Wilder, plus phenom point guard Junior Jean-Philippe.

“I knew that the freshmen coming in were talented because my brother coached the group in travel basketball,” Wilder said. “I expected them to compete in tryouts and knew they were skilled. But I thought the size and physicality would be bothersome to them. They made it obvious that it wasn’t. They really stepped up. So far in our scrimmages they are making some mistakes, but they are pushing the older kids and making it interesting in terms of playing time. We are getting closer to understanding where everyone fits.”

Jean-Philippe has been a standout performer for the Middlesex Magic basketball program in recent years and even earned captain honors heading into his inaugural campaign with the Hawks. He is expected to be a focal point of Waltham’s approach heading into the year.

“Junior will definitely play,” Wilder said. “He is going to be our starting point guard. I knew that he was physically ready just from watching the offseason stuff.”

The Hawks prepared for their upcoming season opener with a five-quarter scrimmage against Belmont High School. WHS held its own, but the Hawks learned they must put in extra effort rebounding the ball to make up for their lack of size.

“Teaching people to rebound is hard when your team is small,” Wilder said. “Trying to figure out the the rebounding will be a big thing for us. I like our offense and the way we can move the ball. I also like our initial defense before that first shot goes up. When the shot goes up, that is when we have had some problems. I might try to press a little bit or play some zone to see who can rebound better in a zone.”

Waltham expects to be in the middle of the pack in the Dual County League but should be in play to be a postseason threat.

“We can compete with a large majority of the league,” Wilder said. “If we can go .500 in the league, that will be a big accomplishment for us. We set up our non-league schedule in a way that we play teams that are comparable to us. Knowing that we have young kids, we tried to make the non-league schedule work. If we can go .500 in the league and outside of the league, that can get us to 10 wins. All I really want is to compete.”

The Hawks get the season started at Wayland High School on Dec. 16 before taking on Westford Academy on Friday night.