By: Alec Olson
SEATTLE-The O’Dea basketball team had a strong season filled with mountains that they have climbed and overcome. Going 14-2 in state, and a rough 1-3 record in a tournament in California over Winter break.
After losing Miles Goodman Penn state commit center to Southern California Academy, a breeding ground for D1 basketball. As well as center Miles Clark to the Air Force.
Although losing two big presences in the paint, senior Malcom Clark, an Air Force commit that has taken a huge step up this year by playing many more minutes and holding his own in Metro.
Sophomore Brian Webster has also taken a big step up this year, by being a leader in starting and distributing the ball and leading the team in points as a sophomore.
The Irish take on Rainer Beach on Wednesday night the 7th of February. The Irish lost their first meeting to the Vikings, but in their second encounter the Irish shut down the Beach and won by a whopping 31 points.
The Irish lost their Metro League championship game to Garfield High school with a score of 52-56. The Irish will play against Rainer Beach again on Tuesday the 13th of February at Sammamish High School.
But that dose not mean that the Irish are out, O’Dea can still go on and even win state. They will play in districts against Rainer Beach to decide who goes to state. The Irish could even have a rematch of last years state championship against Garfield, but the rosters will be looking a lot different for both sides.
In an interview with start sophomore Brain Webster who recently made second team all-metro, Brian talks about how they are preparing for the rest of Districts and eventually State.
“We are watching film every day and running through their plays every practice and getting used to what they will be doing and what schemes they will run against us and how we will stack up to them.” Webster says on how they are continuing to prepare for the upcoming games.
At the start of the season with the Irish's big loss, losing starting point guard and senior Noel Davis to a ACL tear, more younger players have had to step up and fill in the roles that would be vacant with Noels injury. And Older players had to take a step up.
After being asked how practices have changed for playoffs Brian states. "Practice has been a lot shorter recently with all these big games coming up, giving us time to rest our bodies and to really mentally lock in for the next couple of games.”
The Irish's roster will be looking very different this post season but none the less scarier the matchup. We will all be watching as the Irish try to bring another banner in the gym.
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