PAYSON — Those leading the basketball teams at Payson High must feel like a parent whose oldest child just left home.
While it's difficult to see such an important part of your history move on to bigger pastures, it's still comfortable knowing that there's some quality youngsters left in the roost that have plenty of potential themselves. And now that some of the best to ever suit up in Payson Lions' basketball gear are gone, the Lions are hoping to build on the tradition of success they left behind.
While the Lions might not achieve the same success this season as they did last, both squads are still talented and capable of providing plenty of wins in Lion country. The basketball future in Payson continues to look bright, and a return to the kind of success the school experienced in 2004-05 might even come sooner than some expect.
BOYS: Coach Dan Lunt has one of those teams that coaches love, because it's comprised of players that give optimism for the current year and optimism for future years. Young, but experienced, is the best way to describe this Lions team.
"We're young, but we have a lot of kids who played a lot of minutes for us last season," he said.
Lunt has two returning seniors in Spencer Nielson and David DeGraffenried, and a move-in senior from Nevada in Stephen Broadbent. But the rest of his roster is made up of juniors and sophomores. Many of those — like Josh Peery, McKay Massey and Jordan Buys — were integral in last season's success. But the Lions did lose two superstars in Blake Francom and Tyler Newbold. But the guys stepping in are similar in value to Payson's program, just in a different way, Lunt sad.
"They might not be able to do all of the things that Blake and Tyler could do, but they can do a lot of different kinds of things that those two couldn't do — which should fill that void just fine," he said. "We have a lot of younger kids that I think are going to eventually be pretty good ball players who should be able to help us out this season."
The Lions are deep with athletic players who possess plenty of offensive skills. Lunt's team is loaded with pure shooters. To compete in one of the state's top regions, however, the Lions will have to become a good defensive and rebounding team.
"If our kids can buy into that philosophy and devote themselves to being good on those tools of the game, we should be a very good team because we have all of the other tools to play with anybody," Lunt said.
Payson's winning tradition should also go a long ways in instilling confidence in the young players. It also makes the new kids in the lineup hungry to compete.
"These kids want to play basketball and they want to play basketball early. Each year they get more and more excited about playing basketball," Lunt said.
GIRLS: With state championships come expectations. And that's exactly the pressure the Payson girls are feeling this season. Even though they lost much of last year's team, including all-everything Sandy Marvin, they're still expected to be one of the top teams in the state. Coaches around the region have plenty of respect for the youthful trophy-holders too, placing them as the team to beat in league action.
Though coach Dave Hiatt believes in his team and knows he has great athletes and a couple of returning players that should provide experience and leadership, he also knows the experience level dropped a great deal over the summer. Only two seniors don uniforms for the Lions this season, including the woman who must take charge every night, Aubrey Orton.
"She does anything we need. She's a leader; she's athletic; and she'll have to step up and do more ball handling this year," said Hiatt of his outstanding post player. He also acknowledges that Orton's done plenty of work over the summer and has more ability outside, including an extended shot.
But he's also counting on plenty of youth including starting freshman Brooke Hiatt, who is a great athlete, can shoot the 3, and knows how to drive to the hole. But she still has no experience on the varsity court and will have to learn as she goes.
Though his team is much less experienced this season, Hiatt still plans to run the same type of game, using the press and break to his team's athletic advantage. "But we won't press and break as much because we have different players, a different talent level."
Hiatt also knows something that most of the coaches in his league and in the state haven't seemed to have noticed. "We graduated six seniors. We still have athletic ability. We have targets on our backs, but I don't feel any extra pressure because this is a totally different bunch of girls than the team that took state last year."
Next: Timpview
Payson Lions: Boys basketball
Class: 4A
League: Region 7
Last season: 15-8, second in Region 6
Predicted 2005-06 region finish: Fourth
Head coach: Dan Lunt, 13th year
Assistant coaches: Jim Griffin, Jimmy DeGraffenried, Phil DeGraffenried, Kyle Francom
Key returning players: Spencer Nielson, 6-foot-1 guard, Sr.; Jordan Buys, 5-foot-7 guard, Jr.; McKay Massey, 6-foot-1 guard, Jr.; Josh Peery, 6-foot-6 center, Jr; David DeGraffenried, 6-foot-3 forward, Sr.
Newcomers: Stephen Broadbent, 6-foot-1 guard, Sr.; Seth Lovell, 6-foot-6 center, So.; Dustin Rowley, 6-foot-4 forward, Jr.
Schedule (home games in bold)
Nov. 22 — Payson 70, Wasatch 43
Dec. 1 — Star Valley at ICON Invitational
Dec. 2 — Mt. Crest at ICON Invitational
Dec. 3 — Elko at ICON Invitational
Dec. 5 — Weber at E-Center
Dec. 8 Woods Cross/Hillcrest at E-Center
Dec. 14 — Pleasant Grove
Dec. 16 — East
Dec. 20 — Timpanogos
Dec. 30 — Union
Jan. 4 — Mt. View
Jan. 13 — Provo
Jan. 20 — Springville
Jan. 24 — Timpview
Jan. 27 — Lehi
Jan. 31 — Orem
Feb. 3 — Provo
Feb. 7 — Springville
Feb. 10 — Timpview
Feb. 17 — Lehi
Feb. 21 — Orem
Payson Lions: Girls basketball
Class: 4A
League: Region 7
Last season: 24-1, First in Region 6, State champions
Predicted 2005-06 region finish: First
Head coach: Dave Hiatt, 4th year
Assistant coaches: Paul Barber, Melissa Bailey, Tona Graff
Key returning players: Aubrey Orton, 5-foot-11 forward, Sr.; Jannifer Bylund, 5-foot-5 guard, Sr.; Allie Lunt, 5-foot-5 guard, Jr.; Keera Crouch, 5-foot-9 forward, Jr.; Karlie Mangleson, 5-foot-11 center, So.
Newcomers: Brooke Hiatt, 5-foot-9 forward, Fr.
Schedule (home games in bold)
Nov. 22 — Layton 47 Payson 41
Nov. 29 — Spanish Fork 53 Payson 47 (OT)
Dec. 2 — Mountain Crest
Dec. 6 — Roy
Dec. 8 — TBA @ Skyview HS
Dec. 9 — TBA @ Skyview HS
Dec. 10 — TBA @ Skyview HS
Dec. 13 — West Jordan
Dec. 15 — Timpanogos
Dec. 20 — Murray
Dec. 30 — Delta
Jan. 10 — Orem
Jan. 13 — Provo
Jan. 20 — Springville
Jan. 24 — Timpview
Jan. 27 — Lehi
Jan. 31 — Orem
Feb. 3 — Provo
Feb. 7 — Springville
Feb. 10 — Timpview
Feb. 14 — Lehi