The UC High Varsity Basketball Team’s new Division Two position establishes new excitement for this year’s team and their future performances. With a previous record of 19-11, and a passionate group of both fresh and returning players, the team is looking to dominate its competition this season. 

   Senior Jalen Lefear hopes to support the team and his goal to go to CIF by addressing the team’s shortcomings. “We are going to work on playing as a team throughout the whole game and not just passing it to one person and hoping they can do everything,” Lefear explained. “This season, I would like to see us grow together as brothers and be able to rely on one another during the game,” he continued.

   Lefear hopes to improve on last year’s record, and believes that the preseason practices have been beneficial to the team’s chemistry. “Our team’s chemistry is getting a lot better since we are playing with one other [in the off season], and we now know each other’s spots and where we like to get the ball,” Lefear said.

   La Jolla High has proved to be a challenging adversary to UC High’s Basketball Team, but the team remains confident and anticipates their game during this upcoming season. “One of our big cross town rivals is La Jolla High,” Lefear stated. “They lost a lot of seniors, but they have a lot of good upcoming talent, so we just have to play hard, play smart, and play together,” he added.

   Senior Luke Minnick has many goals for the upcoming Varsity Team, and believes that the future of this team has a lot of potential. “My goal is to win CIF and win the League,” Minnick stated, “I think our biggest problem last year was taking our games for granted since we fooled around during practice.”

   Due to the team’s debut in a new League, the team is guaranteed to face some obstacles, but they have plenty of motivation to keep themselves working hard. “I feel like we have a tough schedule this year playing high ranked teams like Westview and Foothills Christian,” Minnick said. He continued, “However, I think we have a good chance to win a lot of games.”

   There is a lot of brewing hope for the future of the team, and Minnick believes the team is confident enough to jump start a strong record. “My hopes are to lose no more than five games and beat at least one Division One team,” Minnick explained. “Since we were one game away from winning League last year, I think our team is very determined to win.”

   There are a lot of returning players that are guaranteed to bring a lot of potential to the team. “Juniors Hansen Lee and Wesley Clarkson both bring good energy and defense to the team,” Minnick said. Senior Jalen Lefear also believes that the team has more potential due to the introduction of a new teammate. “One big asset that we got was a transfer named Franky,” Lefear stated. “He is six-foot seven, and very agile so he can make a big impact coming into the season,” Lefear concluded.

   According to MaxPreps, the 2018-2019 season for  UC High’s Varsity Basketball Team served to be a good. With an overall record of 19-11 and a League record of 9-3, the varsity potential isn’t showing any signs of slowing down (maxpreps.com).