New Isler era set to begin at Clovis

CLOVIS — For Jaden Isler, it seems right coaching boys basketball at Clovis High.

Not that Isler didn’t enjoy his time coaching the Elida girls team. What coach wouldn’t like inheriting a team that had won four consecutive state championships, then guiding them to four more in a row?

But, Clovis boys basketball owns a special, unique place in Isler’s heart.

His father J.D., who has since passed away, coached boys basketball at Clovis for years. And Jaden Isler played there when the Wildcats were state title contenders.

Who wouldn’t want to return and coach at a place where both of the above had been the case?

“It feels great to be back. Clovis has always been my home,” Isler said during Thursday afternoon’s practice at Rock Staubus Gymnasium. “Even during my time at Elida I still lived here. So Clovis is a special place for me, it’s where I got to grow up and have my playing career, and obviously got to play under my father. So it’s fun to be back in a place where he was also the head coach. I’m not really trying to fill his shoes, but it feels really good to be back here, and it also makes me feel a little closer to him to be back in a place like this where he coached.”

The team Isler inherits from Scott Robinson — like most situations — has its upside and its challenges. On one hand, the Wildcats are young, with a contingent of sophomores and juniors. On the other hand, they were fairly young last season too, and most of the players on this season’s roster saw quality playing time last winter.

On one hand, that 2017-18 team had its struggles, losing its first nine District 2-6A games. On the other hand, Clovis was in most of those games, and the current players likely learned and evolved from that experience as they prepare to forge into District 4-5A this season.

As of Thursday, Isler was still trying to evaluate what he had.

“It’s hard to tell,” he said. “We had a good scrimmage up at Alamogordo and played some good games there. We did some things better than I thought we would and we also struggled in some areas that I thought we would.

“But I think we just need to get into some real games and we need to get hit in the mouth once to see how we’re going to react. We’ve been talking about adversity and toughness the whole offseason, so I’m ready to see what happens when our kids get hit in the mouth a little bit.”

Clovis lost guards Jakeem Wynn — District 2-6A’s Player of the Year in 2016-17 — and Brandon Romero, along with guard-forward David Rosemond, to graduation. Everyone else is back, including now-senior guard Dominick Urioste, who lost much of his sophomore season to a torn ACL before returning nicely last year and giving Clovis some outside scoring pop.

Senior Jacob Moon is another quick guard with shooting ability, and can play solid defense on the other end.

Juniors Dewayne Dawson and Josiah Lombrana are guards who should be integral parts of any success Clovis has this season. With shooting and ballhandling skills, both seem able to play the one- or two-guard positions.

The biggest frontcourt presence size-wise is 6’5” junior Bryce Cabeldue. Though it’s spelled a little differently, Cabeldue’s last name sounds like something you’d see on one of your bills, and at times last season he made opponents pay inside. He should be a big factor for Clovis this winter.

Junior Ro Morgan, fresh off football season, is 6’3” and should provide inside scoring and rebounding, along with Cabeldue. Rounding out the list of key returners is 6’1” junior Mason Figueroa, who shot well from the foul line last season.

Even with some of the taller players, Clovis is a mostly small, quick team that will likely revolve around solid guard play. Which is fine with Isler.

“We’re really built to play the style of play I want to play,” he said, “which is fast and aggressive, because our bigs can run and our guards are fast. ... We’re deep at the guard position and that helps toward playing that style; that’s another thing that gives us an advantage if we’re going to play that way. So, that’s why I think this team is going to be a good up-tempo team for a couple of years.

“When teams try to slow it down, we can play in the half-court. That’s the other good thing about the way we’re built — we have some skilled guards and we have some good bigs that can play inside. So this team’s going to be able to go both ways.”

The potential seems to be there. Clovis will start seeing just how things are falling in Tuesday’s season opener against Canyon, Texas, with tipoff scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Mountain Time.

It will perhaps be the Wildcats’ first chance to “get hit in the mouth” and see how they respond to that adversity, see how prepared they might be for the district schedule later in the season. Isler is optimistic.

“I absolutely think we can be contenders,” he said. “Our district’s kind of open right now. I think Carlsbad’s been picked to win our district, and Carlsbad was a 12-win team last year. They were young, so they’ve got quite a few returning. ... Hobbs is going to be Hobbs, they’re going to play their style. And Shelby Reeves — their new coach — is a longtime Hobbs guy and has been in that system, so I don’t expect them to do a whole lot of changing. But they’ve got a first-year head coach; we’ve got a new team with a first-year head coach. And then Roswell High’s having to move up a class into our district; it’s the first time they’ll play a true all-5-A season.

“So I think our district’s absolutely winnable for any of these teams right now, just because it’s brand new again and all the teams have changed a little bit, the dynamics have changed.”

Into the Eagles’ nest

Clovis will venture into a different time zone when opening its season Tuesday night at Canyon, and hopes to return to Mountain Time with a 1-0 record.

The Eagles, though, won’t be pushovers.

“They’re tough, they’re really tough,” Isler said. “I’ve scouted them on film and they get after you. They’re going to play an up-tempo style, they’re going to press the entire time. So I expect it to be a really up-tempo-style game and a high-intensity game.

“The thing they’ve got going for them is they’ll probably have played five, six games by then. They’ll be a little bit more seasoned than we will ... but I expect our kids to come out and compete hard. And that’s what you’ve got to do at the beginning of the season, until you get the rust off.”