Media Day: Woodward Boys

The Boomers are back and ready to unload their veteran talent against 4A’s finest.

Thursday, July 28th 2011, 5:56 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Nov 19, 2010 2:36 PM CDT

Layna Dewell
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY—The Woodward Boomers are back and as ready as ever to make a run at the 4A State Title.

Head coach Corey Miller, who enters his ninth year with the Boomers, returns seven of the top eight players on the team from last year including four starters.

Woodward doesn’t have a state championship in boys basketball, yet. CoachesAid.com ranks Woodward second in the 4A Preseason Top 20.

Last year the squad made a great run to the playoffs before losing in the quarterfinals to eventual state champion Douglass. The Boomers gave Douglass their toughest game during their road to the gold ball, and finished 23-5 overall last season.

“Expectations are pretty high, but I’ve been preaching to these kids from day one that what we did last year has no effect on what we do this year, we’ve got to go back out and work hard and get in the gym and continue to get better each and every day at practice,” said Miller.

The Bombers will rely on the veteran play from a handful of seniors that have started since they were sophomores.

Coach Miller says this experienced court play is what sets them apart because those seniors have been to the playoffs and know what it’s like to be one of the eight teams fighting for the gold ball.

“You go from the hunters to the hunted really fast, now people have got an ‘x’ around Woodward on their schedule so every night in and night out people are wanting to beat us and are going to give us their best effort,” said Coach Miller.

Coach also says his team is focused on improving their defense saying “We stress it a lot we don’t have a guy over 6’3 in our lineup so defense is a key, we’ve got to do a good job limiting teams to one and one on the offensive end.”

While the Boomers stress defense, one thing their opponents must defend is the three point shot.

Woodward is not afraid to fire from behind the arc. Last season the Boomers shot about 50 more three-pointers than they field goals.

One of those downtown shooters is senior Seth Heckart. The six-foot-starter averaged 21.4 points and 5.6 rebounds last season and hit over 41 percent from three-point range.

Heckart is joined by fellow senior Casey Covalt make for two greatly explosive players. Covalt averaged 14 points per game last season and is an added threat behind the arc.

Class 4A is one of the toughest classes in the state, and Woodward has big competition against Douglass who is one of the best teams in any class.

Keep an eye on the Boomers, as they will be making some noise in Class 4A.