Tick, tick, tick … time is running out on the Wauwatosa East boys basketball team.
The Red Raiders finished the Greater Metro Conference season this year with a 12-2 record, losing twice to league champion Marquette (13-1). Their overall record is 17-4, an .810 winning percentage, something most programs would kill for.
But Wauwatosa East is not 'most programs.'
The Red Raiders are the defending state champions and came into this season with totally unfair expectations. Everywhere Tosa East coach Tim Arndorfer turned, people said to him, "We're going back to state, coach."
It wasn't a question.
Arndorfer has said often that top to bottom, this team could be more talented than last year's. But he understood it would be difficult to replace the talent and more importantly, the leadership, of seniors Brice Powell, Jake Barnett, D.J. Cupertino and Tony Walls.
Late last season, that quartet 'willed' the Red Raiders to victory. They would not be denied. With the clock running down, one of those four players was sure to have the ball in their hands, likely Powell and Barnett.
Eric Williams, Keondre Gholston and Fraizier Reiland gave the Red Raiders a bench that made others envious.
This season has been different. This Red Raiders have struggled, at times, even in victory.
When the Red Raiders meet Greater Metro Conference champion Marquette at 8 p.m. Friday, March 13, in the sectional semifinals at the Al McGuire Center, it will be Tosa East's 22nd game. Arndorfer still doesn't have a set rotation.
Williams, Gholston, Reiland and Mike Cupertino, all seniors, are in the starting lineup most of the time. Either Eric Neal, Vinnie Ingrilli, Larry Bradley and Dan Sayles have joined them on occasion.
This year Arndorfer was handcuffed illness, injury or other – like players missing practice – and the lineup and rotation were affected. The second-year coach shuffled the deck, trying to come up with a winning hand.
At times Jake Larson, Ethan Harris or Thomas Schulz were inserted – in the regional final against Bay View, Matt Patton picked up some crucial minutes – as Arndorfer often looked to add some energy. At times, he even substituted four or five players at once.
Sometimes too much isn't good.
The Red Raiders have also had problems filling up the basket. They lack consistent outside scoring threats and struggle running their offense against the zone. Too many times, players put their heads down and try to plow throw the zone. That doesn't work.
Someone once said, if you always do what you've always done, you will always get, what you always got.
We'll see what the Red Raiders do against the Hilltoppers Friday, and if they get a chance to play again.
Tom "Sky" Skibosh can be reached at (262) 446-6620. Read Sky's blog at
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