Vermillion Tanagers: Season Outlook

<p><strong>Vermillion, SD</strong> - This squad has been to the Big Dance and they know what it takes to win in the big games. Vermillion is a title contender!</p> <h4><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Coach <em>Jay Drake</em> speaks on expectations heading into the season</strong></span>:</h4> <p style="font-weight: 400;">“<em>We are coming off a good year last year where we finished 23-2 and made the state tournament. We lost 4 senior starters and 5 seniors overall that were a big part of our basketball program the past few years so we will need to have guys step up and try to fill those shoes. We feel that if we can stay healthy and continue to improve as the year goes on and develop some depth with our young guys that we can be a competitive team as the season goes on.</em>”</p> <h4><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Strengths of the Tanagers from Coach <em>Drake</em></strong></span>:</h4> <p>“<em>We have good character guys in our program and guys that work hard and are very coachable and we feel we can build on that as a program and hopefully </em><em>use it as a backbone to what we are trying to accomplish as a team and program for all of our levels at the high school level.</em>”</p> <h3><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Top Players</strong></span></h3> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="968197" first="Jake" last="Jensen"] (2022) |6-3 GF| </strong>- 6.3 pg 4.4 rpg</p> <p><strong>Nick Sorensen (2022) |6-4 F|</strong> 2.9 ppg 3.7 rpg</p> <p><strong>Carter Mart (2022) |6-2 G-F|</strong> 2 ppg 1.5 rpg</p> <p><strong>TJ Tracy (2022) |6-2 F</strong>| 2.5 ppg 2 rpg</p> <p><strong>Charlie Ward (2022) |6-0 G| </strong>Coming back strong from an injury. </p> <h4><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Coach <em>Drake</em> on the excitement heading in the season</span></strong>: </h4> <p>“<em>We look forward to seeing how our guys grow and develop as the season goes on.  We will need some guys to fill into some new roles this year, but if we can do that and continue to defend well and take care of the basketball on a nightly basis then we feel we can give ourselves a chance in games this year and be a competitive ball team.</em>”</p> <h4><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Coach <em>Drake</em> team comments:</strong></span></h4> <p>“We lost a good group of seniors last year from our 23-2 team that went to the state tournament. We feel that we have a group of players that will work hard and we expect to improve as the year goes on and hope to be playing our best basketball of the year at the end of the season when the region<br /> the tournament comes along. We play in a very competitive conference (DAK 12) and region (Region 4A) and will see many of the better Class A teams throughout the year on our schedule so we will have to be a good defensive team, rebound the basketball well, and take care of the basketball to have a<br /> chance to compete with the teams we will play throughout the season.”</p> <h3><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Tanager Schedule</strong></span></h3> <p>December 10 @ <strong>Bon Homme</strong></p> <p>December 13 @ <strong>Canton</strong></p> <p>December 18 <strong>SCSC Classic </strong>vs <strong>Crofton (NE)</strong></p> <p>December 21 (home) vs <strong>Tri-Valley</strong></p> <p>January 4 (home) vs <strong>Tea Area</strong></p> <p>January 7 @ <strong>Parkston</strong></p> <p>January 14 @ <strong>Lennox</strong></p> <p>January 18 (home) vs <strong>ElkPoint-Jefferson</strong></p> <p>January 20 @ <strong>Sioux Falls Christian</strong></p> <p>January 21 (home) vs<strong> Garretson</strong></p> <p>January 25 @ <strong>West Central</strong></p> <p>January 27 @ <strong>Dell Rapids</strong></p> <p>January 29 <strong>DAK 12/NEC Clash </strong>vs <strong>TBD </strong>@ Madison</p> <p>February 1 (home) vs <strong>Beresford</strong></p> <p>February 8 @ <strong>Dakota Valley</strong></p> <p>February 11 (home) vs <strong>Irene-Wakonda</strong></p> <p>February 14 (home) vs <strong>Madison</strong></p> <p>February 15 @ <strong>Wagner</strong></p> <p>February 17 (home) vs <strong>Parker</strong></p> <p>February 21 (home) <strong>Flandreau Indian School</strong></p>