'99-00 SCHEDULE

Dec. 7 -- McDonald      11 -- at Warren JFK      14 -- Girard      20-- at Hickory      29-- Niles Jan . 4 -- Hubbard      7-- Badger      11-- at Liberty      14-- LaBrae      18-- at Newton Falls      21-- at Lakeview      28-- Champion Feb. 1-- at Hubbard      4-- at Badger      8-- Liberty      11-- at LaBrae      15-- Newton Falls      18-- Lakeview      22-- at Mathews      25-- at Champion.

By The Herald Sports Staff

Although the Brookfield High boys basketball team has some experienced players returning for the 1999-2000 season, head coach Tim Taylor faces one of the same problems he has in the past: a lack of height.

In recent years, that meant certain death in the size-happy Trumbull Athletic Conference (TAC-8). This season, though, with many squads looking to rebuild in the wake of key graduations, the Warriors will have the opportunity to shoot their way into contention for the TAC-8 title.

"We have a little bit of experience, but we don't have a lot of height," said Taylor. "Our biggest player is 6-1, so we'll be small again.

"Hopefully, we'll be able to shoot the ball decently. Overall, our team speed is a little bit better than what it was last year, so hopefully that's going to offset some of the lack of height."

Four letterwinners return for Taylor this season: 5-11 senior point guard Justin Townsend, 6-1 senior guard Jake Nelson, 6-1 senior forward Jason Sanata and 6-1 senior forward Steve Gerber. According to Taylor, his other starter will more than likely be 6-1 junior guard Dan Micaletti.

Coming off the bench are 5-11 sophomore guard Gary Malgieri, 5-10 sophomore guard Scott Stofan, 5-9 sophomore guard Adam Daugherty, 5-9 freshman guard Julian Hayes and 6-1 freshman forward Craig Wellman. John Litman, a 5-9 junior point guard who is currently injured, may also see some playing time once he recovers.

With players like Hubbard's Brian Conklin, Liberty's Ray Austin and Newton Falls' Joe Wilson gone to graduation, there figures to be a bit more parity in the TAC-8 this season. It's a situation in which Taylor hopes his team can flourish.

"I think everybody believes the conference is pretty wide-open," said Taylor. "On paper, Champion has the most talent back, with four of their five starters returning. Plus, they're big, with a 6-8 kid and a couple who are 6-4.

"Liberty is always good. They have good athletes. The younger Austin is about 6-6, so they have some height there. Badger has a good group of young kids who are going to play hard. Some of them already have a year of varsity (ball) under their belts and they're only sophomores."

Since so many teams are comparable in terms of talent and experience, the squad which is ultimately crowned the league champion may be the one most able to create team chemistry, execute the fundamentals on a consistent basis and excel in the intangible aspects of the game.

"The league looks like a toss-up," said Taylor. "It'll be who plays well together and who gets hot. Right now, nobody is head-and-shoulders above the rest, so it should be interesting this year."

First and foremost, however, Brookfield must once again attempt to compensate for a lack of height. The Warriors will have the chance to do so when they tip off the season at home on Tuesday against McDonald.

"Until we get into the season, it's hard to judge," said Taylor. "It's hard to duplicate height in practice when you don't have any.

"We'll find out after the first week of the season, when we play McDonald and Warren JFK. We'll find out where we stand after that. If we can rebound the ball with some of the bigger teams, we should be pretty competitive."

Taylor is in his 10th season at the helm of the Warriors. His assistants this year are Chris Fahndrich (junior varsity), Jay Obermeyer (ninth grade), Wayne Bair (eighth grade) and Dick DeCapua (seventh grade).