Pine City Pioneer
Boys basketball believes every season is a lifetime
Coming into every season, the focus is usually pretty similar, believing every season is a lifetime.
With that context, every year the Pine City boys basketball team starts building, focusing on the process and the little things. They go back to their principles and concepts that they believe in and preach in the program, ensuring that they are understood and able to be performed by all players.
The Dragon boys program starts with tryouts, for seventh through 12th graders, to ensure players are placed on an appropriate team where they have the best opportunity to succeed, both individually and as productive players within the program. As teams form, the identities of the teams will begin to form. The coaching staff will then focus on team and player roles, re-implementing their system, and starting to prep for game one.
“The prep work that goes into this is astronomical. I am lucky to have a phenomenal and supportive staff and friends of the program that help ease the burden of all we do,” said coach Kyle Allen. “We work our hardest to be both purposeful and transparent as we try to over-communicate what we do to the players, their families and the community.”
Pine City’s expectations are high coming into this season. The Dragons return with a great core of athletes that have a lot of varsity experience. Under coach Allen’s guidance, this program has moved past the rebuilding phases and into the reloading phases with a talented group of boys ready for varsity now, and more coming up in future seasons behind them.
The Dragons play in a very competitive section. Last season, with a total of 21 wins, Pine City is only seeded eighth. This shows how many talented teams are competing in this section and the depth of their programs. This season the Dragons drive to win the conference, earn a home playoff spot and make a run at State.
The Dragons are looking to seniors Jake Adams and Nick Hansmann, along with juniors Seth Logan and Konnor Jusczak, to lead the team. Adams is coming back with a lot of experience and worked hard, having a phenomenal offseason. He was unstoppable at times this summer when playing other competition. He is really going to turn some heads around the state, having turned into a complete basketball player. Hansmann has been the longest up on varsity. He is one of the best shooters in the state; however, as elite a shooter as he is, his greatest trait is still his talking, energy and communication on the court. The more Dragon players that try to emulate him in practice and in the games, the better Pine City will be. Logan has played in some big moments over the last two seasons. He has really grown into himself as a player and within the team’s system. His skill set coupled with his size makes him a mismatch nightmare for every team the Dragons play. Jusczak has received a ton of great experience last season as a sophomore player. He is a natural leader and has developed and will be crucial to the team. He is a hard and dedicated player who will be exciting to watch as he reaches his full potential.
Last season Pine City finished first in state history for made three point shots. They now hold the first, second and third positions for highest three pointers made in a season records in state history. Last season’s numbers also had them finish 10th all time nationally. While focusing and putting a lot of emphasis on shooting, the Dragons expect to be elite on the defensive end of the court as well.
Champions act like champions long before they are champions. This season the Dragons are trying something new to raise funds. The athletes are going to invite families, fans and friends to sponsor volunteer hours that the players do this year. They have many volunteer opportunities including working youth camps, youth tournaments, Knights of Columbus free throw competition, spending time at a local nursing home, helping at youth basketball practices, and many others. Players will be selecting people and asking them to sponsor them. If anyone is interested in sponsoring a player, please contact coach Allen at kallen2@isd578.org.
Pine City’s home opener is Dec. 11 at 7:15 p.m. when they host Onamia.
