By Riley Morrison ’16
THE ROUNDUP

Varsity basketball kicked off the season with tryouts Nov. 4 and a team retreat the following weekend.

According to head coach Mr. Tony Fuller, who has been coaching at Brophy for eight years, “tryouts were very competitive.”

The team has five returning players including sophomore Bo Brunkhorst ’16 “a very good player,” according to team captain Conor Triplett ’14.

Other players to look out for are Mason Zwillinger ’15 and Matt Stark ’15, Triplett said.

“They have been playing really well lately I think they’re going to be a huge help to us” he said.  “And we have guys like Freddy Erlandson’15 who bring a new level of physicality so look out for that.”

Last year, Brophy lost in the playoffs to Sunnyside.

“We have the state’s toughest schedule,” Mr. Fuller said when asked about the teams expected playoff future.  “My goal is for us to be as good as we can be.  To reach our potential.”

The team lost a few key seniors such as Tim Kempton ’13.

However, the players think this might give them a chance to play better basketball as a whole.

“I think we’ve improved a lot,” Triplett said.  “We’re a lot more fundamentally sound and we’re starting to play more team oriented basketball in comparison to last year when we had such a dominant player like [Tim.]”

Players said the community aspect of the team is important to them.

“With Brophy,” Triplett said.  “You’re around these guys two or three hours every day for four months and you really come to love the guys and be a family.”

The teams first game is set for Dec. 3 at Fairfax high school.

“We always have one goal and that’s to win our next game,” Triplett said. “We’re trying not to look to far ahead.  I think we’re going to have a very competitive team this year and we’re going to surprise a lot of people.”