Moose lack depth, but not short on talent

PALMER —Jason Marvel is excited about the players on his 2011-12 roster. He’d just probably like to have more of them.

The Moose have spent much of the early chunk of their season with about seven varsity players to work with. But Marvel has been thrilled with the work of those seven players.

“I really feel like we’re not very deep, but I feel like the guys work well together, like each other,” Marvel said recently.

Seniors Jackson Buresh and Jared Straight are leading the Moose into the new season.

“I’m really impressed with how Jackson and Jared have taken the team under their wing,” Marvel said.

Palmer also has promising juniors Connor Looney and Brian Selmer, and newcomer Thomas Matik.

“They’ve improved big time,” Marvel said of Looney and Selmer. “Connor has always been so crafty. Now he’s got the shooting to go along with it and he’s got great court vision. Brian can shoot.”

Marvel said he’s been impressed with Matik, who moved to Palmer from Anchorage.

“We’ve asked him to do a lot of things, and he’s stepped up,” Marvel said.

The Moose, who also have Hayden Niekamp and Adam Ramoth on the varsity roster, have been without sophomore point guard James Nisbett, who is still recovering from an offseason injury.

Without Nisbett, the Moose have relied on Straight and Looney to handle the point guard duties.

Palmer has already picked up key wins this season, beating both West Anchorage and Chugiak during the Doc Larson’s Roundball Classic in December. The Moose were 2-1 in the Roundball Classic, and also finished 2-3 in the Alvarez Tire Classic in Prescott, Ariz., late last month.

“I think we learned a lot about ourselves,” Marvel said of his team’s experience in the Arizona tournament. “There was some nice competition. I never thought we were completely out of a game.”

The Moose played South Anchorage Thursday, but results were unavailable by press time. Palmer jumps into Northern Lights Conference play Tuesday when the Moose host defending conference champion Wasilla at 7:45 p.m. at PHS.

** Editor’s note: This is part of a series of stories that preview the 2011-12 seasons of the local 4A prep basketball programs. For the Colony and Houston preview stories, see frontiersman.com/sports. For stories previewing the seasons of the Palmer girls, Wasilla boys and Wasilla girls, see future editions of the Frontiersman.