Four starters are back for Berndt led by 6-8 senior forward Andrew Strait. Strait has committed to play college ball at the University of Montana and was the league MVP as a junior when he averaged 21 points with 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks and 1 steal per game.
He’s joined by 6-5 senior forward Corey Wehr (8ppg, 7 rebounds), 6-1 senior guard Gavin Johnson (2ppg/4 rebounds) and 6-2 senior guard EJ Schoen, 10ppg/ 4rpg/2apg/1spg).
Joining them will be 6-0 senior point guard Jordan Jaeger, 6-4 senior post Tye Sundlee, 6-2 junior point guard Brian Swift, 5-11 junior guard Eric Borton and 6-3 junior guard Drew Cavanaugh.
Said Berndt of his 2003-2004 Rams, “after last year’s injury fiasco in the last week of the regular season we return six of our top eight players. Andrew Strait is much improved from last year, when he was player of the year in the MVL. Corey Wehr started our first 18 games and was near double figures in points and rebounds then went out with a stress fracture (back). He is back and healthy. EJ Schoen had a great playoff series and state tournament and a great summer. We are experienced and athletic.”
“We need to stay healthy and may have some players who are injury prone,” Berndt said of his concerns for this squad.
“We had a good summer. We played well at Gonzaga team camp and through all of June. We take July off each year. We came back in August and won the Grandview Late Summer tournament, even though Wehr and Johnson were still out with injuries.”
And he was not being over confident when he spoke of how the Mid Valley should shape up this year. “We should be the favorite to win the league. Our players have established great tradition in our league in the last six years – five outright or shared league championships, four district championships, three regional championships, and four trips to Tacoma. The only three teams in the state 3A to place each of the last 3 years are WV, Rainier Beach, and Mercer Island. Tradition is helping us along.”
“We’re very pleased with the state of our program. As I said earlier, we’ve established a strong tradition in which our players feel like they are supposed to win and should win every time we step on the court. That carries us a long way in close games. They believe in our system, both offensively and defensively and have bought in to how hard we want them to work and to our expectations of them as players.”
He mentioned Sunnyside as a possible sleeper team in the MVL. “They have a new coach who can possibly resurrect their program.”
And as for how he sees the 3A state title in 2004; “Rainier Beach could be better than they were last year.”
And the coach feels strongly about the strength of the competition in Class 3A. “We just happen to be the toughest classification in the state with Rainier Beach, Mercer Island, O’Dea, etc. As long as Rainier Beach continues to reload with unparalleled talent each year the race is always to see who can compete with them athletically.”