MORGANTOWN — By design, the University boys basketball team has what head coach Joe Schmidle calls an “unbelievably hard” schedule.
The Hawks open Friday against East Fairmont and also face Bridgeport and Morgantown in December. Later this month, the team travels to Charleston for the Par Mar Stores Holiday Classic and closes out 2021 in Winston-Salem, N.C., to play in the Big Shots Winter Jam Fest.
It’s almost like Schmidle is taking a page out of the John Calipari handbook.
“You look at Kentucky last year and what happened to them,” Schmidle says, referring to the Wildcats who opened the year with a 1-6 record with losses to Richmond, Kansas, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, North Carolina and Louisville.
“Things went bad and stayed bad for them all year,” Schmidle said. “You just have to stay focused and prepared. There’s so many outcomes that can happen over the course of a season and you just don’t want to head down the wrong road. You got to be careful not to get any negative energy. We have to win some or most of those games to keep things going in a positive direction.”
Last year’s University team won a sectional title against Buckhannon-Upshur and a regional title against Wheeling Park. The Hawks fell in the state quarterfinals to Huntington. There at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center, Schmidle was presented with the 2019 NFHS West Virginia Coach of the Year award.
The Hawks lose three key members off last year’s team — TT Brooks and second-team all-state honoree Ryan Niceler were graduating seniors, while Blake Barkley departed to play for prestigious Scotland Campus in Pennsylvania.
UHS was 12-2 last year with just one regular-season loss to cross-town rival Morgantown and the state tournament game to Huntington. They were state champions in 2019.
Two veteran players will lead UHS and they just might be two of the best post players in the state in Aaron Forbes and Garrison Kisner. Both stand around 6-foot-7 and both have a knack for scoring.
Forbes averaged 6.7 points per game with 4.8 rebounds per game last year, while Kisner poured in 8.7 points per game and grabbed 4.2 rebounds per game.
“Forbes is a pretty big kid, he’s really a handful down there,” Schmidle said. “He’s got great feet and finishes well with either hand. He’s over 200 pounds and he’s a really hard matchup for anyone guarding him.
“Kisner is a little thinner but he jumps out of the gym. He’s super athletic and he’s increased his range and he’s a threat to shoot the 3 now. He really has improved a lot from last year because he’s worked so hard in the offseason. Those two guys are going to be real solid for us. They both pass the ball well, too.”
Guard play could be a question mark but Schmidle ensures fans just because you may not know who they are yet, doesn’t mean they don’t want to make a name for themselves.
One familiar face will be Elija Jackson, who helped the UHS football team go 10-0 in the regular season. He was the Hawks’ leading receiver and he will be counted on to shoot the 3 and drive the lane for the basketball team. Greg Cavalier is another guard and Diego Reyes is the point guard.
“They’ve all really improved,” Schmidle said. “I was worried about our production at guard this year but those guys have really made some great strides over the last few months and they’re ready to play. I think they’ll be able to hold their own.
“They know what the expectations are. We’ve had the level of success that we’ve had over the years because we’ve had a good group of guys who are confident in what we’re doing. I’m sure these guys don’t want to have anything slip away from what we’ve been able to do the last few years. Nobody wants to have a letdown.”
University has already scrimmaged Southern in Harwood, Md., as well as Fairmont Senior. Schmidle said he was pleased with what he saw in the warm-up contests.
“We’re going to be OK,” Schmidle said. “I think we have an opportunity to get to Charleston again. I think we’ll get better as the season continues. We might not have the best record in the world come midseason because of how hard those first 10-12 games will be, but we will be a much better team by then.”
By MATTHEW PEASLEE
