(Brock Laue)
FORT COLLINS — In an era when fans, and even players, are often obsessed with highlight-reel plays, jaw-dropping dunks and amazing crossovers, the boys basketball team at Fossil Ridge is old fashioned.
The Sabercats never play one-on-one basketball, they never force wild shots in the hope that they can entertain a crowd or get noticed by recruiters. Instead they play old-school team basketball. Fossil Ridge is a well-oiled machine, a cohesive unit that is patient in their offense and confident in their defense.
These traits were on display Tuesday night in a game that saw the Sabercats overcome poor shooting and a tough Fort Collins zone to handle the rival Lambkins 47-31.
“We don’t have the athletes, we don’t have the players to fall back on and just carry us,” Fossil Ridge coach Matt Johannsen said after the game. “We’ve got to do a good job of playing together, we’ve got to do a good job of sharing the basketball, and I think you saw it tonight. We’ve got to do a good job of defending as a team.”
Fossil Ridge, ranked No. 1 in this week’s CHSAANow.com 5A poll — the first week in the past two seasons that Denver East is not No. 1 — starts five seniors and is an experienced squad that has played together in Johannsen’s system for years.
“That experience really shows on the court, there’s just so many guys that know what we are doing, they know what we need to do to execute,” Johannsen said.
Fossil Ridge has a point guard in Evan Smith who is a floor general with a high basketball IQ. He is strong with the ball and is a good scorer with shooting range. This is Smith’s third season starting for Johannsen.
“Evan is the man,” Johannsen said. “He gets us where we need to be, he coordinates us. He’s been doing that for three years. He’s really level-headed and everybody knows they tune in to him. The experience that he has on the floor is invaluable.”
Smith (11.5 points per game), Brandon Bodnar (12.2), and Alex Semadeni (12.1) are the leading scorers for the Sabercats. Semadeni and Smith clearly have great chemistry on the court as Smith always seems to find Semadeni for open jumpers.
Semadeni, who is very effective at working off the ball, is an athletic 6-foot-4 small forward, a good catch and pop shooter. He is also one of several Sabercats with height and length. This length helps shut down passing lanes for opposing offenses and disrupts their rhythm.
Fossil Ridge may be old fashioned in their emphasis on team over individual highlights, but they are new school in the defenses they run.
“I was looking at it today and we were joking about it as a staff, I think we have 12 or 13 different defensive calls, half are zone and half are man. Each one gives us a little bit different look,” Johannsen said. “We will be in zone maybe five possessions, but it might be three different zones that we are in during those five possessions.
“We are trying to not make them comfortable on the offensive end, which is what a defense is supposed to do, and we’ve got the group to be able to switch between defenses like that because they’re so smart.”
Fossil Ridge has taken advantage of their many defenses, excellent ball movement, senior leadership, and shot makers to start 11-0 with wins over Highlands Ranch, Grandview, and Eaglecrest. This group can lay claim to probably their best team in school history.
The Sabercats, coming off a Sweet 16 appearance last season, have never reached the Final Four but did make the Elite Eight during the 2010-11 season. They have traditionally been one of the top teams in the Front Range Conference since the school opened in 2004 and have compiled lofty records under Johannsen. That success has not always translated to the playoffs, but Johannsen is unconcerned about tournament time yet.
“The thing we have to do is continue to maintain our focus on what were about and that’s showing up every day and getting better,” the coach said. “These guys came up with that, I didn’t come up with that, they are buying into that mantra about every day let’s just get a little better.
“From there we want to let the chips fall where they may. We have not projected out any long term goals that we want to make it to this round of state, we want this in conference, we don’t talk about that. The only thing we can control is our effort on a daily basis in practice.”
Fossil Ridge may not have any long term goals for the state tournament, but if they keep playing as an old-fashioned “team” with a new-school style, they may find themselves playing on the last weekend of the season.