The Box Elder boys’ basketball team has been having a season for the ages. The Bears are currently (23-0) and have won both the District 9C and Northern ‘C’ Divisional in dominating fashion. New Media Broadcasters talked with head coach Jeremy MacDonald and he shared what the identity of his team has been.
“Hopefully (, we) can create some turnovers and shoot some passing lanes,” MacDonald said. “That generates a lot of offense for us.”
“Help side coverage is huge for us,” MacDonald continued. “It’s hard to contain a basketball player one-on-one, so we focus as a team on providing good help and then rotating to other guys so we’re not giving up easy buckets.”
“If we bring our energy and intensity on defense, that’s a high priority for us,” MacDonald said.
Box Elder won two state championships, one in 2014 and then another two seasons later. Coach MacDonald said that sharing stories of his team’s past successes motivates today’s players.
“We bring up stories about what we accomplished in 2014 and 2016 and just try to emphasize how much hard work that took and how dialed in your team has to be to be playing at an elite level,” MacDonald said. “If we’re just focused on what we have to do, that’s all just taking care of the little details.”
MacDonald was asked about this upcoming State ‘C’ Tournament and he said what a key to playing in an arena that isn’t meant for basketball is like and said how his team will utilize the traveling party of fans the way they did for Northern ‘C’ action.
“Most high school gyms, you’ve got a wall behind the hoop,” MacDonald said. “At the Four Seasons, you’ve got a of open space. That can throw off a shooter’s depth perception. We try to get our boys focused on locking in on the rim.”
“We’re anticipating that the atmosphere is going to be pretty energetic,” MacDonald continued. “We’re hoping that we get a good crowd showing out and that our boys take that energy and channel it.”
The Box Elder boys (No. 1 seed out of the Northern ‘C’) will take on Harrison (17-7, No. 2 seed out of the Western ‘C’) in opening round action on Wednesday night around 7:30pm and you can listen to the Bears go through the State ‘C’ tournament on KPQX-92.5FM and HiLineToday.com.
