Men's Basketball Preview: An Interview With Coach McLeod

As the days become shorter and the nights become colder, fall comes to an end and the winter season begins. With this, basketball season officially begins at Casady. The men’s basketball team is coming off a heartbreaking season--just one game away from qualifying for the SPC tournament. This year, second year Head Coach Matt McLeod, returning seniors, and a lot of new Casady students are bound to make a run for the SPC Championship.Despite that heartbreaking season, Coach McLeod learned a lot from his first year at Casady. The 2017-2018 basketball team was a much different team, player-wise, than the few years before it, which was “sort of a reset,” as Coach McLeod stated. However, he believes it was a great year one for him. Coach McLeod fully understands the SPC schedule which is different from most high school basketball schedules. In the SPC, counters are played back-to-back, Friday and Saturday, whereas in many other schools, the counters are usually Tuesday and Friday. Despite high expectations buzzing around Casady, Coach McLeod is taking everything day- by-day. The team has a “daily expectation to get better [...] just to get better, whether that is on the court, or in the weight room.” Coach McLeod has installed a hard work culture throughout the team. This new culture is vital to the team he believes and will pay dividends throughout the season. I decided to ask Coach McLeod the golden question about his chance to win the SPC tournament. He believes they have a real chance to bring home the trophy: "We have a great shot to be competitive.  It just comes down to that one weekend in February.” The Cyclones look forward to getting better everyday and hopefully earning the title of SPC champions.