The Analy “Backcourt Ballers” are in the midst of a dedicated off-season basketball program this summer, combining league and tournament play with one goal in mind: get better every day.
Under the watchful eye of veteran coach Brett Page, the Analy squad didn’t skip a beat after the North Coast Section playoffs in March, faring well in several spring AAU tournaments against top-flight competition.
“We had a great spring,” Page reported. “We won the Cagers AAU Tournament and played well in several other AAU tournaments against some very good teams.”
The action has continued unabated this summer, with participation in a series of tournaments that have included the Sonoma State/Team Camp Tournament, Golden Gate Shootout, the Reno Summer Classic, and most recently, the Windsor Shootout Tournament on July 16-17.
Summer highlights have featured a championship in the Reno Classic tourney, second place in the SSU tourney, and a 3-3 mark against elite teams in the Golden Gate Shootout. Last weekend, they went 3-2 with a short-handed squad in Windsor.
In addition to tournament action, the team has competed in both the El Cerrito and Santa Rosa Junior College leagues each week, squaring off with perennial playoff teams such as Sheldon, San Leandro, Acalanes, Pittsburg and El Cerrito, to name a few.
“It’s been a very successful summer and we’ve won much more than we’ve lost, but the focus is not on winning and losing, it’s on developing our players and the system that we’ll utilize in the upcoming season,” Page noted. “We try and take our basic foundation/overall philosophy and then mesh the system and the players we have together.”
Analy’s summer squad is led by incoming senior All-League veterans Dominic Tripodi, Aidan Toner-Rodgers, and Jordan Armstrong. Other seniors include; Joe Chanin-Meiers, Spencer Vogel, Eric Bendyk, Grant Schwall, Shaviv Lowitz-Hoffman, Connor Waldo and Jack Newman.
“All of these players have been significant contributors for two years in the program already, Page said. “We’re looking forward to their senior year.”
The summer team has also gotten great efforts from several other players, including Zach Binsfeld, DJ Tabor, Luke Bertling and “Super Soph” Quinn Vermeulen, along with others that are capable of making the varsity team next season.
“We have a solid group to work with and to pick from to form a team next season,” Page concluded. “It’s been an enjoyable summer and I look forward to working with the players in our program. Each year we lose great people and players, but every year we get a new group that is equally talented and yet so different.”
