Sports

‘Dream Team’ offers window into next season

By Tom Haley
RUTLAND HERALD
HINESBURG, Vt. — The Vermont Basketball Coaches Association’s day-long celebration of basketball at CVU on Sunday not only closed the door on the 2021-22 season, it also opened a window on the 2022-23 campaign.

The VBCA honored the Dream Dozen for boys and girls basketball, an honor that goes to the top underclassmen.

You could look out on the players as they were announced and envision the promise that players and their teammates have when the ball is rolled out for the first practice next season.

Certainly, Rutland boys coach Mike Wood has to be excited with the return of Eli Pockette who was named to the Division I-II Dream Dozen and his counterpart Nate Bellomo has to love that his daughter Karsyn Bellomo, also a Dream Dozen selection, gives his team in 2022-23.

Fair Haven coach Bob Prenevost had his own Dream Dozen member, his grandson Sawyer Ramey who was receiving his third such honor.

Springfield coach Pete Peck had to smile at the thought of his Dream Dozen honoree Macie Stagner being around for three more years and West Rutland’s Peyton Guay was also on the “Dream” team after leading the state champion Golden Horde in scoring this season as a freshman.

Proctor’s Isabel Greb, who will be entering her junior season in the fall, represented the Phantoms on the Dream Dozen team. Her presence is a big piece of the team’s quest to get back to the D-IV state final.

What about the programs boasting two Dream Dozen honorees on Sunday? Think about that: Two of your starting five being recognized among the top returning players in the state.

Those teams have a right to harbor some pretty lofty goals and dreams for the coming campaign.

No where is there more excitement than in Barre where Spaulding High School had two members on each Division I/II Dream Dozen team for both the boys and girls programs. Cooper Diego and Riley Severy represented the Crimson Tide on the boys side and Yvonne Roberge and Sage MacAuley reaped the honor for the girls.

“We don’t just have five starters, we have six so that we can rotate players,” MacAuley said.

The Tide made it all the way to the finals last year so they might have the pieces to take that final step.

“We had a lot of motivation. We knew we could get there. We worked very hard,” MacAuley said.

The Division III state championship Hazen Union boys basketball team also boasts two Dream Dozen selections as it tries to bag another crown: Tyler Rivard and Xavier Hill.

“Tyler is a great three-sport athlete,” Hazen coach Aaron Hill said.

“He got very serious about his body and conditioning. It made a dramatic improvement in his basketball game.”

Xavier Hill is Aaron’s nephew. His mother, the former Dorothy Pastor, is well known in the area for her own basketball exploits. She scored 1,260 and pulled down more than 1,000 rebounds during her career at Cabot High School.

Hill was the Wildcats’ point guard as a sophomore.

“Next year, we are looking for him to step up and be more of a scorer,” coach Hill said.

Excitement for next year is through the rafters in South Royalton where the girls team comes back with two Dream Dozen selections: Point guard Tanner Drury and Ella Perreault.

“Both are really good leaders,” WRV coach Tim Perreault said.

Coach Perreault has plenty of flexibility next year with a host of returning players including Ashlyn Rhodes who is a good ball handler with a high basketball IQ.

She might take take over some of the point guard duties giving Drury another role.

Drury will be a key member of the WRV softball team this spring and Perreault make the trip over to Hartford High where she plays lacrosse.

“We are bringing everyone back except one senior. We are bringing back all five starters,” Drury said.

Drury said the plan is for the White River Valley team to play more games this summer in a league with defending Division IV state champion West Rutland and others.

The Division I state champion Rice boys team also has two Dream Dozen honorees back in the fold: Drew Bessette and Sharif Sharif.

Not surprisingly, the largest ovations to greet Dream Dozen members as they were announced were for CVU’s Alex Provost and Kyle Eaton.

The VBCA did a magnificent job of closing out the past season with its four all-star games. It might have done even better at titillating the senses for the coming campaign in December.

tom.haley @rutlandherald.com

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