City of Basketball Love

Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)

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(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2016-17 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed so far can be found here.)

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Central Bucks West is coming off an emotional high as a program. 

The Bucks won the Suburban One League tournament title over Abington, and advanced to the District 1 quarterfinals before falling to eventual champion and SOL rival Plymouth Whitemarsh on a last-second buzzer beater. They made some noise in the PIAA Class AAAA playoffs by hitting 11 3-pointers in their opening round win against Central York and nearly put together the winning formula to take down eventual champion Roman Catholic before succumbing to a 60-41 loss.

Overall, the Bucks won a school-record 24 games behind a senior class of Cal Reichwein (Lafayette), Erich Hohlenheitner, Billy Power, Luke Irons, Ben Reigel, Connor Lynch and Zach Paley.

For head coach Adam Sherman, the team will have to come down from its emotional high and back down to earth quickly as an almost entirely new roster looks to replace the void left by last year’s senior laden squad.

“It’s like changing programs almost because there are so many new pieces and personalities,” said Sherman, now in his 16th year at the helm of the Bucks. “We’ve tried to get [this year’s team] exposed to as many games as possible this summer. It’s going to take some time but we’re getting there.”

Central Bucks West (24-7, 12-2 SOL Continental) continually relied on its seniors last year especially during its postseason run. Reichwein scored ten points and Irons had nine against Roman, and Power had 13 against PW.

Sherman runs the Bucks’ program differently than most because he emphasizes having his players develop specific qualities to have success within his system.

“For us, it’s a little bit harder when you get new guys than most programs because we try to play a higher IQ of basketball. Sometimes the process of that is a little slower than other processes,” Sherman said. “It does take time but the great thing is our guys are dedicated.”

Luckily, Sherman does have a few players he can look to who will try and continue what last year’s senior class helped build. Junior forwards Jake Reichwein, Cal’s younger brother, and Collin MacAdams will be starters in the front court. Reichwein, who had 11 points vs PW in the D1 playoffs, was “the only regular rotation player [from] last year,” according to Sherman. Sherman feels Reichwein “makes everybody else’s job a little easier because he’s our biggest and strongest guy.”

MacAdams will take on the role Cal played where he will do a little bit of everything: play out on the perimeter, post up, bring the ball up the floor on occasion and be a go-to scorer. Sherman sees MacAdams as the key to opening up the Bucks offense.

“He has the ability to take it off the bounce, shoots the three really well, and has the ability to post up,” Sherman said. “He makes for a tough matchup for other teams, which is giving other guys opportunities.”

The 6-foot-4, 185-pound MacAdams said Cal was “a great player and role model,” and he’s “learned all of those skills” his former teammate utilized including the one he saw resonate with the entire senior class from a year ago.

“The composure. They always played together the same way [and] I learned a lot from that.” MacAdams said. “[We need to] never get upset [or] too excited.”

Joining MacAdams and Jake Reichwein in the front court will be junior Shane McCusker, who Sherman says has “a quick release and goes downhill to attack the rim” as well as “toughness to him that we definitely need.”

The backcourt will be run by seniors Jack Traina at point guard and Liam Cooney at shooting guard.  Traina “has natural leadership skills” and “we’re going to lean on him a lot,” according to Sherman. Traina and Cooney may be seniors but they have not had much playing time over their careers being behind that deep senior class. Sherman is hoping his new starting lineup can emulate the one he oversaw last season.

“We’ll see a guy who is similar to [another] guy that we’ve had. We try and talk to them about being that [previous] guy and stealing from them because their games are similar,” Sherman said. “If [a player] can steal something or a situation they did, they can learn from the past.”

Sherman is also hoping to have a few guys to go to off the bench to contribute. Sophomore Luke Benson is “about 6-3 or 6-4, over 200 lbs.” with “good size” and “he’s very strong,” Sherman says. Fellow sophomore Jack Mulhern is another player Sherman has “potential for to lean on for some bench minutes.”

Freshman Jack Neri broke his collarbone in the summer while playing for the football team but has been cleared to play and will look to find a role in his first season. Senior guard Augie Meyer and sophomore Matt Cooper will give the Bucks a deeper bench to use.

While Central Bucks West does have a “smaller and obviously younger” team as MacAdams sees it, he also feels they can have success as long as they’re constantly supporting each other on the court.

“[We’re] coming together as a team. If [Traina] makes a good shot, I’m saying, ‘Good job, Jack,’” MacAdams said. “[We need to] get [players] pumped up and keep [their] confidence up.”

Sherman understands it’s a process transitioning from a senior laden team to one with few seniors who have been battle-tested, but he’s prepared to work with each player individually to get the program back to that emotional high.

“Overall, we’re trying to chip away and have little accomplishments to get [them] better as players and as a team,” Sherman said. “They’re all different players and all have different challenges ahead of them.”