ALTON - Alton's boys basketball team entered the 2016-17 season coming off a berth in the IHSA Class 4A Collinsville Sectional, where they fell to East Moline United in the final, capping off a 16-11 season that saw them finish 9-5 in the Southwestern Conference.
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Much of how the Redbirds fare this season may depend on their guard play, that of Maurice Edwards, Kevin Caldwell and Ty'ohn Trimble. “Our guard play is probably going to be our biggest strength,” said Redbird coach Eric Smith. “We've got three kids who have had varsity experience and played quite a bit last year who are back, so that will be one of the things that helps us out.
“We'll have to see; we have a lot of kids who need some experience, we've got some kids who are young and we have some kids who have put in a lot of time and effort in and are waiting for their opportunity. We'll see how some of that stuff shakes out.”
Edwards returns his 15.8 points per game average from last year for his senior year; Caldwell averaged eight points a game and Trimble 4.9 PPG.
And that guard play is important if the Redbirds are to get back to the Round of 16 this season. “The most important thing for teams in high school is guard play, Smith said. “We've got some pretty good guards; we've got some kids who have the ability to play. We've got an expectation of how those other kids are going to step up and help us out; we can't get there with just two or three kids.
“If we get those contributions and we get some of those other kids to pitch in and the kids we expect to play well play well, we'll have a chance.”
The Southwestern Conference will be a tough league to play in, Smith said. “There's 5-6-7 teams that are pretty formidable. In my short time here, this is probably as deep or as competitive as the conference will be from top to bottom. It'll be good basketball, a war every night. The kids have to come to be ready to play,” Smith said.
Following the Redbird tournament, Alton begins SWC play at the Dec. 3 SWC @ The E event at SIU-Edwardsville's Vadalebene Center; the Redbirds have the honor of opening the event by taking on Granite City at 3:30 p.m. Other key SWC games include the home-and-home with Edwardsville Jan. 13 in Alton and in Edwardsville Feb. 17, while the Redbirds host East St. Louis Dec. 9 and visit East St. Louis Jan. 10.
In-season tournaments include the Centralia Holiday Tournament Dec. 28-30 and the Belleville East Chic-Fil-A Tournament Jan. 17-21; Alton will be at the Jan. 28 Galesburg BSN Shootout in Galesburg, where the Redbirds will meet St. Charles (Ill.) East.
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