Woodward-Granger boys basketball recap: Taylor’s historic impact

Following a second-straight loss to West Central Valley to close the season, the Hawks ended the 2023-24 season with a 10-12 record. After parting ways with a good chunk of the roster from last season, another chapter closed, leaving Woodward-Granger with plenty of interest moving forward.

The Replacements

Holding an identical record to last season may be a bigger accomplishment than that first seems.

From the 2022-23 team, Austin Taylor was the only starter that returned this year. And the only other player returning by his side that made more than one shot per game was Chandler Drake. That meant only two of the eight most experienced players were back in action for 2023-24.

The last time the Hawks lost that much talent — with the huge exception that Taylor returned as the top scorer — Woodward went from a 22-3 state tournament team to 9-14 the next season in 2021.

Instead of cutting their wins in half and sliding back, the Hawks instead held steady. Perhaps that’s a testament to Taylor maintaining his role as the team’s go-to on just about every inch of the floor, or it’s an endorsement for roleplayers carving out their roles.

Coming from making just 12 shots in 20 games as a junior last year, Bryan Jesse became a top facilitator on the team with 8.2 points (2nd on the team), 4.7 assists (1st) and 7.0 rebounds (2nd). Perhaps no game was bigger than his nine points, nine assists and six rebounds against Madrid.

That same game, despite a 75-61 loss, introduced everyone to the effect that sophomore Vinny Sebastian could have for the Hawks as he made 5-of-7 three-point tries. With a 45.7 percent three-point rate on the season, Sebastian was heads above anyone else in the conference as the top perimeter. Next in line sat at 41 percent. And among all players in the state with at least 75 tries, Sebastian’s 42-of-92 mark ranked 13th overall.

Apart from Taylor last season, the last time a Hawk had a qualifying clip over 40 percent was in 2010.

Taylor-Made

There’s too many places to start with Taylor. But try this: Taylor is one of only 11 players in the entire state of Iowa to average a double-double the past two seasons.

After leading the team with 14.4 points and 10.5 rebounds being thrust into the lead role last year as a junior, Taylor had the nearly impossible task for following up his senior season with as strong of numbers. He went up for 20.1 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, stretching opposing teams to their limits.

Taylor was purely inevitable.

Leaning into his skillset as a shooter from every spot on the floor, the Hawks ramped up his looks for his sendoff season, leading the team with 328 shots taken. At a share of 30 percent of the team’s shots, Taylor’s workload dwarfed his share of 20 percent last year (and was second-most on the team.)

Not only did the team trust him to make every shot, he was also uncharacteriscally responsible with the ball.

Of the other 10 players in the state that averaged a double-double the past two seasons, Taylor’s 1.3 turnovers per game were the fewest, and most had at least two per game. And on that he made over 40 percent of his three-point tries over his last two years in Woodward, Taylor was a rare breed.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Woodward-Granger boys basketball recap: Taylor’s historic impact