By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–There are several new pieces to the puzzle that is Union City boys’ basketball this year.
It’s up to veteran head coach Shane Sisco to put them all together.
The Tornadoes must replace all five starters from last year’s 21-win team that made it to the Class A sectionals and reached the 20-win mark for the 10th straight season.
Among those to have graduated include All-State guard Ben McMillan, ball-hawking defender Carter Walton, leading rebounder Neil Brown, and versatile swingman Taylan Tribble.
“That’s a lot of points, rebounds and assists, but more importantly, that’s a lot of minutes played,” said Sisco, the program’s all-time winningest coach with 521 victories entering his 23rd season at the Tornado helm. “When you figure in a handful of others who are no longer with our program in addition to the ones who graduated, we only have seven kids with any type varsity experience.”
But while many of the variables in this year’s UC hoop equation are unknown, there is some promise and reasons that the program’s longstanding high expectations that include five past state championships won’t change.
“We do have some pieces,” continued Sisco, whose teams won 1A titles in 2005 and went undefeated in ’08. “My job is to find where they all fit to give us the best chance to win a district championship and get back to the state tournament.
“Our ultimate goals haven’t and won’t change, and that’s to win at the highest level.”
The piecing-together process will center around backcourt players D.J. Robinson and Malaki Brooks, who’ll fuel an up-tempo style with lots of 3-pointers and full-court pressure defensively.
Both played in 29 games a year ago, averaging double-digit minutes, and each has improved their respective skill set.
Robinson (5-9, Jr.) will take on floor general duties this season after showing much-more aggression and good shooting in the offseason. Brooks (5-9, Soph.) has the potential to light it up from the perimeter and shares the “good on-ball defender” tag that his coach also gave Robinson.
“No doubt, leadership must come from those two because they are the ones who got significant playing time last year,” Sisco said. “They must be leaders on the floor, in practice and in the locker room.”
While unproven, there are other promising players who’ll make up the rotation of perimeter players, including Ben Kail (5-6, Fr.), Jackson Chism (5-10, Jr.), Skylar Mayes (5-8, Sr.), DeAngelo Monroe (5-7, Fr.) and Fin Frankum (5-7, Fr.). C.J. Davis (5-6, Soph.) and Trystan Smothers (5-10, Soph.) could also be part of the mix, at times.
Admittedly, Union City will be challenged size-wise this year with Jaylen Lewis (6-1, Jr.) and 6-4 sophomore Jack Tully filling the roles of post players close to the bucket. Joseph Lattus (6-0, Soph.) will get some time, too.
The trio will be expected to provide rebounding and defense, and have been lauded for their effort so far by Sisco.
“It’s really hard for me to say who’ll be on the court and how much right now because we don’t know exactly where everyone will fit in when we turn the lights and scoreboard on,” the UC skipper continued. “The offseason and scrimmages are different, that’s what we’ll find out in our first 15 or so games – what each of them can give us and how we fit their individual skills into what we want to be as a team.
“What we’re able to do offensively will be predicated on how we play defense. We have to trap and rotate and move well because of our overall lack of size. There could be times where we put five (players) on the court, and none of them are taller than 5-9. We can’t be still defensively or offensively, or people will pick us apart.”
The district landscape will be decidedly different, with a contingent of Westview, Milan, Huntingdon and Gibson County making up 12-AA in the state’s new four-classification lineup.
The eight-game home-and-home schedule means district play won’t begin until Jan. 11 – something that could benefit the Tornadoes.
“The flexibility schedule-wise will allow us to get tested against some really good competition until after the first of January,” Sisco concluded. “We should have a good idea of who we are and who can do what then.”
UC opens its 2021-22 campaign tonight with the first of two Hall of Champions games at Trenton against Peabody. The Twister boys will play at Gleason Saturday night at 7 in another HOC contest before opening the home portion of their schedule Nov. 23 against Trinity Christian Academy.