6th grade boys basketball preview

The lone St. Mary's team to win a championship, the 6th grade, will begin their title defense Saturday morning in Half Moon Bay.

Like all championship and most playoff teams from the year before, the 6th grade will ascend a division where the competition will be better than the teams they faced last year.

Most of the games they played weren't close, but they weren't blowouts either. But all their games had one common theme, they won.

But that was then, and this is not then - this is now.

With a new head coach in place, the expectations of success are remain the same.

John Wang says his expectations are high and making the playoffs is the first goal.

To do so, they are going to have to really improve on both ends of the court. Their last two tournament games were perfect examples of how they are going to need to elevate their level of play.

They will be without Willard, one of the team's top scorer's from last season. So someone on the team is going to have to step up to make up for the lost points.

At the helm is Raymond who has been the most consistent scorer since 3rd grade.

This team can score on the fast break a lot easier than in the half court so they will need to generate some turnovers instead of playing station to station.

The twins, Joseph and Thomas, with a year of experience under their belts should be even better than last year, as both are good players down low on defense.

Offensively they'll need to shoot the ball better not only inside but from outside. This is not a very good shooting team so their ability to get lay-ups and control the rebounds is very important.

"We have the talent and size to win games," John said. "So the team needs to play smarter and more organized. That will be my main responsibility."