Short-handed as they may be, the 2022-23 basketball campaign tips off for second-year head coach Will Parker’s Brownwood Lions at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday with a trip to his old stomping grounds to challenge Class 3A Dublin.
The Lions are coming off a 24-10 record and bi-district championship a year ago, but several of those faces have moved on with graduation.
As the 2022-23 campaign begins, Parker is counting on several new faces to gain valuable on-court experience while awaiting the arrival of more than a half-dozen football players to fill out the varsity roster.
“We should be extremely athletic,” Parker said in regard to what sticks out to him most about this year’s squad. “The athleticism we have would have any coach really excited. The ability to run, the ability to rebound and the ability to get teams playing the kind of tempo we want to play is really exciting. We’ll be able to have some success as soon as we can get everyone acclimated to the basketball court whenever that times comes.”
Early on this season, the Lions will be relying on Luke Gray inside, point guard Caleb Clawson, and Sam Bruton and Ryder Lancaster will also play key roles. A group of sophomores – Gage Sparks, Austin Pittman, Casey Friebel, Noah Pyle, and Easton Judkins – may or may not return to the JV level later this year, based on their early performances.
“A lot of younger guys, freshmen and sophomores, are going to get to play in varsity and JV games to really up the competition level and bring their game up quicker than normal,” Parker said. “Luke Gray will be our inside presence early and his cross country success should help him stay on the floor longer. Caleb Clawson is going to be our point guard this year and Sam and Ryder are upperclassmen that we’ll watch for.”
Once football season concludes, Parker is expecting the additions of Ike Hall, Tristan Salinas, and Thad Hinds – key contributors last season – along with Hayden Noe, Trent Loftin, Jason Jackson, and Morsello Hooker. Jamariera Harlman could find a spot on the varsity roster as well.
Regarding the goals for the pre-district campaign, Parker said, “I want us to get back to playing the type of game we played last year – up tempo, full-court press, and hitting some threes would be nice. Our focus has to be on rebounding. How we rebound in the system we’re in is the big question mark for me. Graduating Luke Moss and Christian Kinzler, that’s over 800 rebounds for us last year, so that’s the challenge I’ve posed to these guys. We need to crash the boards and give ourselves second and third chances, and on the other end limit teams to one. To me that’s going to be the tale of the tape when it comes to how successful we are this year.”
The District 6-4A slate this year will consist of Glen Rose, Stephenville, Mineral Wells and Graham – with the last two schools replacing Lampasas and Gatesville from the previous two seasons.
“On paper the district may be a little weaker but it’s still early,” Parker said. “Mineral Wells and Graham are the two schools we added and the last couple of years they have not had a lot of success. Graham has some good, young players and Mineral Wells has two very good post players. Glen Rose is the favorite, they return the most including a really good guard and post player. Stephenville will be really athletic and physical and I expect games with them to look a lot like they did last year. But the biggest question mark to me is how will Graham and Mineral Wells look.”
As for how good the 2022-23 Lions could be, Parker said, “I don’t think there should be any reason why we can’t compete for a district championship, and if we can finish No. 1 or No. 2 in our districts we have a chance to go a few rounds deep. In order for us to get there, rebounding will be a key, along with how physical we can be on defense. I changed some stuff up defensively in our approach to having teams shoot the shots we want them to, not giving up drives and things like that. Those are things we’ll work on early to try and get better at.”
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BROWNWOOD LIONS 2022-23 VARSITY BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
| Nov. 15 | at Dublin | 7:30 p.m. |
| Nov. 21 | at Brady | 2 p.m. |
| Nov. 29 | Jim Ned | 8 p.m. |
| Dec. 1-3 | at Dublin tournament | TBA |
| Dec. 6 | San Angelo Lake View | 7 p.m. |
| Dec. 8-10 | at Brady tournament | TBA |
| Dec. 13 | at Abilene Cooper | 6:30 p.m. |
| Dec. 16 | Abilene High | 4:30 p.m. |
| Dec. 20 | Snyder | 12:30 p.m. |
| Dec. 28-30 | TexasBank Holiday Classic | TBA |
| Jan. 3 | at Coleman | 6:30 p.m. |
| Jan. 6 | at Gatesville | 7:30 p.m. |
| Jan. 10 | at Jayton | 5:15 p.m. |
| Jan. 13 | Graham* | 7:15 p.m. |
| Jan. 17 | at Stephenville* | 7:15 p.m. |
| Jan. 20 | OPEN | |
| Jan. 24 | at Glen Rose* | 7:15 p.m. |
| Jan. 27 | Mineral Wells* | 7:15 p.m. |
| Jan. 31 | at Graham* | 7:30 p.m. |
| Feb. 3 | Stephenville* | 7:30 p.m. |
| Feb. 7 | OPEN | |
| Feb. 10 | Glen Rose* | 7:15 p.m. |
| Feb. 14 | at Mineral Wells* | 7:30 p.m. |
* District 6-4A Game