Cats replace most of roster

CLOVIS - Jaden Isler has never had a squad quite this inexperienced.

The 2008 Clovis High grad, beginning his fourth season as the CHS boys basketball coach after leading the Elida girls to the last four of their eight consecutive small-school state championships, lost virtually everyone from last spring's 5-6 squad. Six have graduated, and four others have moved out of the area.

Only three players with any varsity experience return, and just one - 5-foot-10 senior guard Juan Hernandez - started any games at all (three).

Others with limited varsity experience are 6-6 senior forward Andrew Hall and 6-foot junior forward/guard R.J. Nora.

"By far," Isler said when asked if this is his least-experienced squad. "You don't normally see this many sophomores and first-year (varsity) players moving into such big roles.

"It's definitely a challenge as far as our youth and inexperience. There is going to be a lot of learning on the fly."

The Wildcats open the season with a pair of home games - Saturday against Volcano Vista and Dec. 7 against Lovington.

"I think with how young we are, we have the potential to do great things," said Nora, who is a standout for the Cats in track and football as well. "We just have to play as a team, stay together and execute."

Isler said the Cats have talent in their sophomore class. It's just that he would prefer not having to throw them into the fire.

"They're going to have to play real minutes," he said. "The last time we had a full season (2019-20), they were eighth-graders.

"It's a big jump. It makes it even tougher because they didn't get much (action) last year (due to the COVID-19 pandemic)."

Behind Hernandez, Hall and Nora, other starting contenders are seniors Grady Anthony, Luciano Webster and Kairyl Dickson and juniors Brian Weiss and Jaydon Levenshown. Webster, Weiss and Levenshon played on the JV squad last year, while Anthony missed the season due to eligibility issues and Dickson sat out with a knee injury.

"I think our lineup is going to be pretty fluid this year," Isler said. "I think I see a lot of different lineups for us this year, depending on who's playing well at the time."

Nora expects to step into more of a leadership role for the team.

"My main job is to help my teammates get used to (the varsity level)," he said. "I feel like we can have a really good year."

Isler said that with a relative lack of size, the Cats will look to play at a faster pace.

"We'll probably be more up-tempo than we've been the last few years," he said. "We've played a little slower (in that time) to try to play through our big kids."

District 4-5A play, which also includes Carlsbad, Hobbs and Roswell High, begins in late January and Isler said the Cats will be tested.

"I know Carlsbad has a really good group of kids coming through," Isler said. "They're going to have some young guys who are going to be there for at least two years.

"Hobbs has the best player (in the district) over the last couple of years back (in senior Jalen Goar). Roswell is one I don't know what they'll look like, but they did lose their best player to graduation."