By Jordan Burton (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Entering his seventh season at Strafford, Tyler Ryerson has never experienced a losing season.
That streak is poised to continue.
The Indians return all five starters from last year’s 15-12 team whose season came to an end in overtime to Bolivar. Strafford won six of seven games entering district play.
“We feel like we lost sooner than we should have last season,” said Ryerson. “We ran into a Bolivar team that was playing really well at the right time. That’s a credit to Robby Hoegh and how good of a job he does.
“It felt like this group needed that last year, we all really grew together. A major credit to our kids, but they came together last season, and they are extremely close off the court and compete in multiple sports together. As coaches we’re going to deep dive and take a look why those things happened and try to fix what we can to give our kids a shot this season.”
Leading the way this year is senior guard Cody Voysey.
The 6-foot senior averaged 21.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists, earning All-Conference honors.
Voysey is a four-year letterman and a three-year starter. He’s been one of the area’s top guards.
“Cody has been a joy to coach for three years,” said Ryerson. “He’s one of those special kids that don’t come around very often. When I think of the most talented players that I’ve been lucky enough to coach, Cody is definitely on that list. The best thing about Cody is that he’s a gym rat that allows us to coach him. We can get on to Cody and coach him hard.
“We obviously have high expectations for Cody, he’s expected to score for us from all levels. We’re going to see defenses that are geared around stopping Cody, so he’s also going to be expected to find the open guy and keep our offense rolling. It’s going to be a fun season with him.”
He’s joined by several seniors that have played a ton of varsity basketball.
Brady Ripp (6-6) averaged 9.6 points and 9.1 rebounds as a junior. Jourdyn Edelstein (6-1) added 7.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.9 steals. Colton Willis (6-2) put up 5.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists.
All three players earned All-Conference honors.
“Brady is the most gifted offensive rebounder that I’ve ever coached,” said Ryerson. “His motor sets him apart from a lot of other bigs. He runs the floor like a deer and is an all-state high jumper. He’s worked on being more in control in the post instead of rushing like he did a little bit last year.
“Jourdyn is a 3 and D wing. He willingly takes on the other team’s best player on defense. He also shot 36% from three last season and shot almost five a game. He hunts open looks and plays as hard as anyone on the floor. He leaves every ounce of energy on the floor every game. Colton is our Swiss army knife. He does everything well. He switches 1-5 on defense. He can hit an open three, drive to the rim and post up smaller guys. He was second on our team in assists last season behind Cody. He’s an extremely smart decision maker and the game started slowing down for him about halfway through the season and his game really took off.”
Senior guards Ryder Ross (5-10), Bradlee Mullins (5-9) and Conner Rogers (5-11), as well as junior Tyler Hunt (5-11) will add athleticism and toughness, as well as the ability to score from different levels.
Ryerson will also have plenty of newcomers at his disposal.
Juniors Mason Henson and Eli Howard, sophomores Colton Dampier (6-3), Kolby Austin, Jake Berg, Garrett Rogers and Marcus Williams, as well as freshmen JT Mullings and Hudson Turner, will all compete for varsity minutes.
Berg, Rogers and Williams will add frontcourt depth.
The Indians have a chance to have a special winter and to do so, Ryerson believes tempo and offensive efficiency will be the key to success. Few teams have what Strafford does in terms of depth or dynamic ability.
“Re-watching film from last season, I think our kids were thinking too much, which really slowed us down offensively,” said Ryerson. “Once we simplified a few things our offense really took off. Our other guys besides Cody, shot 36% from three as a group in the second half of the season. So, we’re going to keep the things that worked in the second half of the season and improve offensive transition and try to get some easy baskets, by consistently pushing the ball up the floor.
“Overall, we’re excited, a lot of these kids cut their teeth at the varsity level as sophomores. It’s been a joy to watch this group grow together to get where we are.”
Strafford will open the 2024-25 regular season by hosting the Strafford Invitational Tournament on Dec. 2.
