(photos by Jim Lindquist)
Farmington's school colors are orange and black but don't blame Tiger coach Shane Wyandt for trying to outfit his 2011-12 team in green jerseys for the early part of the season. Green...as in young and inexperienced.
"Consistency could be a problem early," Wyandt said. "We are extremely young and most of our older guys don't have a lot of varsity experience so in some ways we have to grow up fast.
"We see the ability there but we need to see it more consistently which we hope we do as the year moves on."
Four seniors head the list of 10 returnees: guards Austin Bassett (below) and Alec Hogstad; guard/forward Jacob Hanson and forward Grant Bloomster.
Other returning letterwinners from 2010-11 include juniors Darren Beenken (forward); Alex Chadwick (guard) and Tom Sell (forward/center) and sophomores Nick Varner (center); MacKinley Bassett (forward) and John Dittman (guard).
"We have some depth at guard this year," Wyandt said, "but it is young depth. We are looking at Johnny Dittman and Alex Chadwick to make an impact early while while some other guys develop at the junior varsity level.
"Nick Varner gained some much needed minutes last year as a freshman and we expect a big year from him. Jacob Hanson will provide some depth for us at multiple positions and that should help greatly."
Wyandt said his team doesn't have the size of some other teams in the Missota Conference but he hopes to make up for that with an amped-up, up-tempo style of play
"When we stay under control, we can be very fast and fun to watch," he said.
Wyandt picked Chanhassen to be a conference contender but noted as usual, the league will have no shortage of talent. Newcomer Lakeville North figures to be the odds-on favorite in Section 1.
"We would like to position ourselves to be in the top half of both the conference and the section," Wyandt said. "Hopefully we can play well enough to get a home playoff game. After that anything can happen."
Tharen Johnson returns as junior varsity coach with ex-Tiger Trevor Davis taking over the B-squad coaching duties. Robb Virgin and Roland Bradley will share the ninth-grade coaching chores.
The Tigers open their season Friday night (Dec. 2) in Rochester against John Marshall. They kick off their home season next Tuesday against Rochester Century.
