Senior Tripp Branch is Caldwell's top returning scorer.
Caldwell County graduated six seniors off of last year’s 16-16 squad and had another potential starter transfer to another school in the offseason.
However, the Tigers still think they will be competitive in the 2nd Region All A Classic in January and in the 7th District tournament in March.
“We’ve got two guys coming back that have played a significant amount of varsity minutes,” said Tiger head coach Daniel Kukahiko, who begins his ninth season at Caldwell. “Tripp Branch will be a senior and Jabrion Spikes will be a junior. Those two guys have proven themselves over the last couple of years. So we’re looking forward to seeing what they can do. Then we’ve got lots of new faces that are coming in that are going to be asked to contribute at an early age.”
Branch, a 6-foot-3 guard, is the top returning scorer from last season. Branch was second on the team at 12.7 points a game in 2019-20 and, with 662 career points, has a shot to become the 19th Tiger to reach 1,000.
Branch shot 39.7 percent from 3-point land last season and will be counted on to be a big part of the offense this season.
Branch has signed to play college football at Centre College next year.
Spikes, a 6-1 guard, is the only other returning player with any starting experience. Spikes connected on 37.3 percent of his shots from behind the arc and tallied 5.9 points a game last year.
Like Branch, the Tigers expect Spikes’ point production to increase this season.
Newcomer Tate VanHooser will provide some strength inside. VanHooser, a 6-foot senior, has starred on the Caldwell baseball and football teams but is on the varsity basketball roster for the first time. He will play college baseball at Rend Lake College.
Several players figure to battle for the remaining starting spots and to be the first players off the bench.
Sophomore Zavy Bumphus, freshman Carter Whittington and junior Blake Vivrette will see time in the Caldwell backcourt. Vivrette is playing his third sport this school year after starting on the Tiger soccer team and kicking for the football squad.
Up front, 6-2 junior Giovante Riley and 6-foot freshman Demaurius Thompson will battle for playing time.
Collin Whittington, a 5-10 eighth grader, could also figure into the mix at either a guard or forward spot.
Senior Michael Hall and junior Isaiah Joyner provide depth in the backcourt along with freshman Jack Englebright.
The Whittingtons, Thompson and Englebright were all members of Caldwell’s undefeated eighth grade team last season that compiled a 24-0 record.
However, one key member of that squad did not return this season. JaSean Riley, who played in 20 varsity games last year in addition to the eighth grade slate, transferred to Christian County in the offseason. He played as a freshman on the Colonels’ football team this fall.
The 2020-21 Tigers will open the regular season on Monday, Jan. 4, with a trip to Webster County.
It’s part of a challenging first week for Caldwell, which will also host defending 2nd Region champion Madisonville-North Hopkins on Friday, Jan. 8.
The regional All A Classic tournament is the following week.
“Obviously, you want to compete for a district championship, you want to compete for a regional championship. Those are two things that are always on your radar,” Kukahiko added. “But our goal is compete every single night. Over the course of the season — January, February and March — we want to be competitive every single night. And I think we have the squad right now that will enable us to overcome hopefully some of those bad nights. If one or two guys have an off night, we can absorb that on our team.”
