Photo by John Napalan/Art O’Neill
There’s been a lot of positive momentum around the Millikan boys’ basketball team under new coach Nate Berger, who took over the Rams program last year and led Millikan to a third-place finish in the Moore League. That earned Berger league Coach of the Year honors and, with seven of his top eight scorers returning, got fans excited for this season.
“Our expectations this year is to build on last year’s success,” said Berger. Last year’s team relied heavily on its starters, which Berger said won’t be the case this season.
“This year, we are much deeper and we’ll play 10 to 11 guys regularly,” said Berger. “Hopefully that means we can play fast and hard and trust that our bench and our depth will wear teams out.”
The most exciting player for the Rams is sophomore standout Rob Diaz, who turned a lot of heads last year as a freshman, earning first team All-Moore League honors. Also returning for the Rams are second team All-League honorees Myles Carmon and Kalen Goland-Burrell. Carmon looks like a first-teamer this season, and Berger also expects a lot out of Nic Moy and Noah Fancher.
“We are a better overall team this year entering my second year, a lot more of what I wanted implemented is in place,” said Berger.