November 30, 2006 in Sports

Vikings have great expectations

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Kathy Plonka photo

Kent Leiss, in his fourth year as Coeur d’Alene boys basketball coach, expects a league championship this season.
(Full-size photo)

Most years high school coaches whose teams are picked as league favorites do their best to sidestep the topic.

They come up with the typical song and dance about how they should be among the contenders. You know the usual refrain.

Something refreshing is going on in Inland Empire League boys basketball, though. Coeur d’Alene coach Kent Leiss is doing all he can to embrace the notion that his team could win the league championship.

“I’d be disappointed if we don’t win the league – and the kids feel the same way,” Leiss said.

Talk about a break from the customary cliché. This comes from a fourth-year CdA coach who has yet to take a Vikings team to state, let alone win a league title.

If the IEL coaches are right, though, Leiss probably won’t be disappointed come league’s end. In a poll of the coaches, the Vikings were chosen to capture the league championship. Four of the seven coaches, including Leiss, tabbed the Vikings as a slight favorite over defending champ Lewiston, which received three first-place votes. CdA received 67 points to Lewiston’s 63. Moscow (55) was picked third followed by Lake City and Post Falls, both of which received 48 points, Sandpoint (36) and Lakeland (28).

If CdA wins the league, it will have to do so without a traditional lineup. The Vikings’ roster is chock full of guards, wings and forward. But they have no true posts. CdA’s two tallest players – 6-foot-3 seniors Nate Bligh and Austin Heleker – want to spend more time around the 3-point arc than in the low post.

Lewiston cruised through league last year on its way to a 19-1 record before postseason play. The Bengals, buoyed by a tall lineup, finished 23-2 overall and took third at state.

The Bengals, who have made five straight trips to state, return two starters in 6-8 senior post Andrew Packwood and 5-11 senior point guard Shane Moser.

“I don’t think Lewiston is going to be as good as they have been,” Leiss said. “They’ll be somewhere in the top three, but they won’t be as tall as they’ve been. I still think they’ll be good, but not 19-1 like last year.”

CdA’s last visit to state was in 2001. LC last went to state in 2002 when it took second.

In 5A, four teams will be in the mix this year with Post Falls moving up from 4A. The 5A teams have adopted the same four-team regional tourney format the 4A teams used last year. That means the top-placing 5A team will play host to the first two days of the double-elimination regional tourney.

The 5A regional champ advances to state and the runner-up can earn a state berth in a play-in game. The winner of the 4A regional alone advances to state.

Leiss said it’s time for CdA to snap its state drought.

“We have no more excuses,” Leiss said. “Our kids are veteran players now. Without question this team should get to state. I’d be the first one upset if we don’t. I thought last year we had a good chance. Now there are no more excuses.”

To compensate for their lack of height, the Vikings will push the tempo on offense and defense.

“It has to be some sort of organized chaos,” Leiss said. “We have to be all over the court because of our lack of size. We have to play fast and have to shoot well.”

Relying on a perimeter game is something that can catch up with teams late in the season. Leiss knows that well.

“We’re working on attacking the basket more often,” Leiss said. “You can’t live and die by the outside shot.”

Lewiston coach Dave Cornelia knows his team doesn’t shape up to be as big or perhaps as good as the Bengals of a year ago. But he still likes his nucleus.

“We lost a lot, but I still think we’re one of the teams to beat,” Cornelia said. “Until somebody knocks us off, we’re as good as anybody.”

Cornelia also knows the significance in securing the top seed for the regional tourney. Three of the four teams are within short drives of each other.

“We want to win the league and host (the regional tourney),” Cornelia said.

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