As with any new coach, David Kaplansky is laying the foundation
for what he hopes will be a title-contending team.
As with any new coach, David Kaplansky is laying the foundation for what he hopes will be a title-contending team.
Two years removed from his previous stint as a Haybaler basketball coach, Kaplansky will head the San Benito girls team after coaching the varsity boys from 2001-2005 and the junior varsity squad for the 1999-2000 season.
This year, he’ll try to turn the Lady ‘Balers around, a team that went 8-15 overall last season and haven’t finished above .500 in two years.
“It’s a big learning curve, from one coach to the next. It’s always going to be different,” Kaplansky said. “A lot of the expectations we want them to understand are different from coach to coach. Now we’re scaffolding. We’re building each day and turning the page in the text book.”
But last year’s squad battled youth, as they had only one senior in Morgan O’Laughlin, and growing pains may have been the issue in close games.
Despite going 4-4 in games decided by two points or less last year, San Benito started their league season with three consecutive losses by a combined six points.
With each of those three losses coming to opponents that finished higher than San Benito in the Tri-County Athletic League standings, Kaplansky said it’s those close games that separate good teams from great teams. And the head coach is trying to instill the importance of every offensive possession into his players.
Offensively, the Lady ‘Balers will be running an up-tempo attack based on their transition game. Kaplansky commented on three offensive philosophies based around spacing, screens and offensive rebounding that he’s stressing to his squad.
“Lots of screens. Lots of perimeter shooting,” he said. “We have a lot of perimeter shooters with a good balance of interior players.”
Returning to this year’s team is Vanessa Farias, Elena Fata and Megan Halstead, San Benito’s three leading scorers from last season. And with only one senior last year, the Lady ‘Balers will have five senior leaders on the squad this season, including Fata, Katie O’Brien, Bri Romero, Brittany Soza and Shireen Zamani.
“Our goal is to be competitive in each and every game,” Kaplansky said. “We want to be competing and to be in the hunt for the league title in the last two weeks of the season.”
Defensively, with a focus on ball pressure, rotation and rebounding, Kaplansky plans on mixing things up and using multiple looks, trying to keep opposing teams out of sync and second-guessing.
And San Benito will try to keep Soledad out of sync today, as they will host the Aztecs in their season-opener. While Soledad may be a weaker team (they lost to Monterey 51-14 Tuesday), they’re the first building block in San Benito’s foundation.
“It’s a good game for the girls to get repetition and confidence,” Kaplansky said. “Our girls are hungry. They want to play someone else.”
While the league season won’t commence until Jan. 4, 2008, San Benito is expected to be battling Salinas, Notre Dame and defending TCAL champion North Salinas this year.
“They have a lot of experience and a lot of success,” Kaplansky said. “The important part of the preseason is to get the girls to understand that they can compete and beat good teams.”
