Live Oak is hoping being bumped to a higher division is going to spark a resurgence in the team.
Following a 10-14 overall season last year, including going 5-9 in the West Valley Division, the Acorns find themselves in the higher Santa Teresa Division and facing an opportunity.
“Competition is going to be really strong in that division. In that division, you have to be ready to play every night. There’s some darn good schools in that divisions,” Coach Brett Paolucci said. “But we’re excited to be up in that division. It’s a new challenge for us and hopefully, we can go up there and compete every night.”
Paolucci said he’s happy to move up because he wants the higher quality opponents to bring out the best in his players.
“I just hope the competitiveness in that division brings out the competitiveness in this team,” Paolucci said. “(Hopefully) not only will it be generated this year, but next year as well.”
The new division will mean Live Oak will play cross town rival Sobrato twice this year.
“It’s a rivalry game, and that’s awesome. Instead of just playing them once a year, we play at their place first and then the last game of the season, which will be our senior night, we’ll be here.”
The Acorns’ attack will be spearheaded by last year’s points leader Luke Laguna. As a junior, Laguna led the team with 15 points per game.
But Live Oak will be down two players who complemented Laguna, including last year’s leading rebounder.
Paolucci, however, isn’t worried about losing the two players.
“This is the most depth that I’ve had in the last couple of years. There’s not a great fall off from the guys who are the starting five all the way down to the guys at the bottom.”
Paolucci said because of the depth, he is hoping to mix up his rotations and give teams multiple looks during the course of a game.
Ryan Rupp is returning at guard, followed by Tanner Howard, who Paolucci said really stepped up this summer and offseason.
“Emerging as a leader on the team,” he said.
They are also joined by Kaleb Bergstrom, who is a two-year varsity player and last year’s second leading rebounder.
Rounding out the ranks is Josh Carvalho, a junior coming up from the Frosh/Soph team from last year.
“There’s a lot of people that I’m excited about that can contribute. Everybody’s got to be ready to play and compete.”
Live Oak’s leading rebounder from last year Eddie Plascencia graduated, but Paolucci has a bit of height on his side this year. Just two guys on the team are well below 6 feet tall, both are guards. Of the remaining 13, Live Oak has one guy at 5-10, three at 5-11 and the rest are past the two-yard mark.
Still, Paolucci is making sure his boys understand that the opposing offenses should only be allowed one opportunity to score and it is up to everyone on the court to stick to the basics of defense to minimize second chance points.
“One of the things we preach in practice is boxing out and attacking the ball,” Paolucci said. “Nothing is ever going to be a given. No matter how tall you are, the fundamentals of rebounding are very important.”
Then on offense, he said the boys need to play smart and take advantage of how defenses are playing rather than trying to force something.
“It’s just a matter of us reading the defense, reacting to how the defense is playing us and so forth. It’s all about playing basketball. See what they are giving you night in and night out.”
Live Oak will have a month to get in shape for the new division and work on those things Paolucci is talking about.
He said in the non-league schedule, the team needs to play competitively each night and enter league with a winning record.
“What we’re going to have to do right off the bat is compete in the preseason. We’re going to have a tough preseason schedule as well,” Paolucci said. “Like I said before, it’s taking one game at a time, one opponent at a time. There’s no way we can get ahead of ourselves at all.”
The Acorns’ first game was Tuesday. Their next game is 7 p.m. tonight at Gonzalez. They return home Monday to face Andrew Hill at 7 p.m.
