It’s that time of the year again. The Holidays are just around the corner and you know what that means? Yes, basketball.
The WHB Hurricanes have started the season off 0-3 in non-league games against East Hampton, John Glenn and Shoreham Wading River, but their slow start does not truly show this team’s potential for this season. They’re learning a brand new system that new head coach, John Baumiller is trying to implement and are getting better with each game.
The Hurricanes are led by senior captains Matt Raynor and Elan Assayag. Raynor has created a defensive presence that the team has worked off so far this season as he is averaging a block and a steal a game to go with his 5 rebounds.
Elan Assayag has made himself feel at home on the free throw line this season with an out of this world percentage of 92. The starting five is finished out with three juniors, Mike Frangeskos, Luke Dyer and Ryan Burke, who have all started the season out very good. Ryan Burke has been a warrior all season long, and lives off the boards; he has recently come off a 9 rebound performance against John Glenn. If his offensive game can come along, he could potentially be a big player for this team in the future.
Luke Dyer has had a slow start to the season but watching him a lot during the summer, I know first hand, when he gets his shot going, he can hit it from anywhere on the court. Expect big offensive games from him as the season continues.
Probably the biggest surprise of the season so far has been the performance of Mike Frangeskos, making a name for himself around Suffolk County. So far this season Frangeskos has averaged about 16 points a game, which is good enough to make him a top 20 scorer throughout Suffolk county along with a little under 6 rebounds a game. He is fresh off a 19 point performance against Shoreham Wading River.
Although the bench looks strong, only John Frangeskos has played real minutes so far. It has been a very odd and unorthodox rotation pattern to date but I believe that the bench is certainly strong enough to create an effective fatigue-based substitution method. Mike Frangeskos unknowingly played through a pulled groin against SWR not realizing it was that serious of an injury. On Sunday night, he found out that he must sit out for at least this week and limit his walking.
After speaking with Mike he said, “Two games max. I wont let myself sit out longer than that. The doctor said a week and that’s how long I will sit out for.” The Hurricanes have two games this week. One at home against Mattituck and a league game at home as well against Kings Park.
There are a few missing pieces to this team; a big one being court leadership, as there has yet to be a player separate themselves from everyone else as the leader of this team. Having said that, I love the direction coach Baumiller is leading this team and the potential is sky high. If everyone can buy in to Baumiller’s new system, expect big things from the Hurricanes in the future.
