Winter Sports Preview: Madison Boys Basketball

Brimming with size and athleticism, the Madison High School boys basketball team is following up last season's 21-4 campaign with a 2010-11 squad that might actually have even more firepower.

Madison, returning all but one varsity starter and a versatile bench, and  fourth-year head coach William Librera, have lofty expectations.

"We've got a lot of returning starters back, four of us," senior tri-captain Matt McHale said. "And we've got five other guys who played varsity last year, so we should be pretty strong."

The Dodgers open the season Friday night by hosting Parsippany at 7 p.m.

This season Madison has the advantage of seeing its leaders in points, rebounds, assists and steals, Jake Meister and Aaron Fant, return to the court as seniors.

Meister, who led the Dodgers in points per game (13.1) and rebounds per game (6.9), is confident that the players' familiarity with each other will lead to quality basketball on the court.

"We all played [together] last year, so we know how to play with each other," the Dodger tri-captain and point guard said. "We definitely know that we're a really good team this year, we just have to know that once gametime comes, we've got to put it together. We have to come out and prove a point."

Fant, another tri-captain, led the Dodgers in assists (4.8) and steals (2.3), and echoed Meister's sentiments.

"I expect a successful basketball season," he said. "We have a lot of guys coming back, so there shouldn't be any reason why we don't compete for a county title or maybe a state title."

Another factor Madison will count on is its versatility. Not only is there a surplus of height, but the big men are quick and athletic enough to get up and down the court.

"We have a lot of kids of equal height," Librera said. "So, what we try to do is take advantage of that...we have a lot of versatile kids who can play a lot of positions on the floor. And they're just great athletes, so we do a lot of different things with them."

"We've got a lot of big guys that can definitely do everything," said senior forward Martin Horn. "We don't have one set big man that can just stay down low, we've got guys that can switch on and off positions and just be up and down the court. It gives match-up problems for other teams and we'll definitely take advantage of that."

The Madison roster is also blessed with depth, which means that Librera will have a lot of help coming off of the bench.

"I think we'll be good," senior guard Mike Haughey said. "We've got a lot of good combinations to have out on the floor and a lot of good things are coming from it."

Primed to wreak havoc within the county and possibly in the state playoffs, Libera wants to ensure that this year's Dodgers are well-tested. The solution is a tweaked  schedule, which now includes two tough teams, Morristown-Beard and Newark West Side, that the Dodgers would not normally face.

"We like to think that we're going to be a little better," the coach said. "Our schedule is a little harder this year, we went out and got some opponents that we know are going to be tough teams. But, in the end, we want to be a better product."

Librera has also made it a point to keep complacency from creeping into the Dodger locker room, aiding his teams' focus throughout the season.

"We're not thinking title, we're thinking better and better and better," Librera said. "I think all signs point to success, but we've got to earn it on the court because nobody is going to give us anything."