With the graduation of last year’s stars, 2014 alumni Ramana Keerthi and Aditya Raju, came a hole in the MVHS boys basketball squad. People doubted and continue to doubt their ability to perform with the same excellence as last season. But little do they know of the heart and determination of this undersized squad, which contains many who have defied the odds, winning the junior varsity league championship in 2012.

The Matadors look to pick up where they left off last year, finishing 11-14 overall and 6-6 in the El Camino league. It was their highest number of league wins as well as their first CCS berth since 2010. Despite the loss of six senior players, MVHS looks to make strides this season through intensity, synergy and versatility.

Weaker competition

Seniors Casey Parsay and Aunoy Poddar are confident in the new team’s ability to improve its record and possibly even advance in the CCS tournament.

“We have a great schedule lined up for us, a weak league and a solid group of people who are ready to play,” Poddar said.

Parsay, Poddar and head coach Clay Stiver all agree that their competition has decreased in talent, size and strength compared to last year’s, as former league favorites, Wilcox High School and Fremont High School moved up to the De Anza League. Two teams that struggled in the upper league, Saratoga High School and Mountain View High School, have moved down to the Matadors’ El Camino League. Although many would pick either the Mountain View Spartans or the Saratoga Falcons as favorites to win the league, Poddar says that neither team has adequate players to fill in for the talent they lost when last year’s seniors graduated

Key players

Many seniors, including Robert Lee, had to play big roles on the team last season. Lee started almost every game at guard and was considered a defensive powerhouse. He also won “Most Improved Player” along with senior Ashish Keshan. Other current seniors who had crucial impacts last season were Poddar, Parsay and senior Andy Wang, all of whom are guards who started several games each. In spite of the surplus of experience at the guard position, the team has few post players with varsity level experience. However, Stiver says that this problem will be resolved by the height of many of the juniors who moved up from junior varsity, including juniors Andrew Ding, Mark Geha, Ashween Manimaran and Abhinav Balaji.

Manimaran served as the junior varsity captain last year. This year, he looks to build upon his basketball experience by playing for the varsity team.

“It’s a little bit more challenging,” Manimaran said. “But, it’s a lot more fun because you get to experience new things.”

As the “Most Valuable Player” of last year’s junior varsity team, Manimaran believes he can be one of the varsity team’s primary scorers. Parsay, Poddar and Stiver all mutually agree that Manimaran is the team’s best one-on-one offensive player. They also agree that with improvements in his defense, he can become a focal point of the team’s success in the future.

New game plan

Last year, the team’s strategy was fairly simple: Feed the ball to Keerthi and let the offense flow from there. But this year, Stiver says that the team does not have any standout players and will instead focus on spreading the ball out to each and every player. Though the team is looking strong, there are always improvements and adjustments, whether it is developing a strong defensive core or increasing ball movement. Due to the speed this team brings to the game, Stiver has had to make adjustments to the game plan.

“We want to speed it up,” Stiver said. “We’re a better shooting team this year than last year, so I want us to shoot.”

The team’s primary goals, according to Stiver, are to finish in the top three in their league and then make CCS. And while teams will constantly be underestimating them, as they do every year, the team’s talent and potential makes for a promising season up ahead.

The Matadors’ first home game will be against San Lorenzo Valley High School on Dec. 4  at 6:30 pm.

This story was reported on by Pranav Iyer and Aditya Pimplaskar.