Dropping a Dime: Place your Bets for the Faculty v. Students Basketball Game

The long-awaited annual faculty vs. students basketball game will occur on May 10th during enrichment. Last year, the teachers won during the regulation period, but fell to the students in overtime when the crowd chanted for an extension. There’s still debate amongst teachers and students, creating the perfect grounds for a rematch. Now, a team of nine dominant students take on eight teachers in this fight for supremacy. Who will come out on top this year? In preparation for this event, we hear from a few students and teachers on what their pregame plans are.

For reference, if you don’t hear who’s on the rosters for the students and faculty, here’s a list of players:

 

Ranging from Varsity Basketball to  water polo players, the students have a few wildcards on their roster:

 

Shea rueda (‘23)

Jacob tsai (‘25)

Alex Goldman (‘23)

Luke Ball (‘23)

Tyler Hagan (‘23)

Michael Savchuk (‘25)

Owen Turner (‘25)

Tyler Boynton (‘24)

Pars Findikoglu (‘25)

Katelyn Wang (‘23)

 

The teachers will have to shake off the rust in order to compete with the youngbloods. They have several formidable veterans and former college players : 

 

Shane Walton (Director of Student-Athlete & Coaching Development)

Paris Johnson (Physical Education and Varsity Girls’ Basketball Coach)

Nick Levine (Physical Education and Varsity Boys’ Basketball Coach)

Jackie Gomez (Director of Community Service & Social Innovation)

Kohl Simonds (Physical Education and Assistant Boys’ Varsity Football )

Daniel Clark (Math teacher and Assistant Boys’ Boys Varsity Basketball Coach)

John Nagler (History and social sciences teacher and Varsity Surf Coach)

Faimie Kingsley (Associate Director of Admissions )

 

Students Prepare: 

 

Harboring six Varsity Basketball players, the students already have some experience playing basketball on a high level, including seniors

A senior on the Boys’ Varsity Basketball team, Tyler Hagan’s (‘23) is an experienced and valuable asset. He reached the 1000 career point mark this past basketball season and will be looking to add some more zeros to that number. He says that this game “shouldn’t be too much of a sweat,” adding to the overall zeal students have. “I simply don’t think the faculty can compete,” Tyler said.

 

Owen feels some players may cause serious problems going into the game. He mentioned that he will keep an eye on Mr. Walton, Coach Levine, and Mr. Nagler. 

Students feel wary about the external factors like referees and the scoreboard. Owen said he’s looking out for any foul play and “unwanted adversity.” He noted some worry over biased referees and a faulty scoreboard. “They want the teachers to win, but obviously the students will win because we are [at] a superior skill level,” he said. 

Michael Savchuk (‘25) agreed. “We definitely have the skills. Definitely like the handles, the shots, basically everything,” he said. However, he cited height as one disadvantage students have going into the game. He’s not wrong because the faculty have several tall players, notably Coaches Paris Johnson (also known as Coach P) and Nick Levine.

Tyler agreed that how the students deal with the height deficit will be a deciding factor. He specifically pointed out that Coach P is taller than anyone on the students side. “I think our game plan will most probably be to stop Coach P and make sure we rebound the ball,” he said. 

In order to prepare for the game, Owen said “Every day I’m working out, shooting hoops, because honestly I think this is probably one of the biggest games in my career. I’ve played a lot of basketball games, but this one means the most to me.” Coming from a pick-up game during lunch to our interview, Michael is also preparing for the game. He said that he’s also been working on “handles” and “shots.”

For Tyler, he plans to get some shots up and “do my best to get my teammates locked in, knowing that we can’t show the faculty any mercy.”

Before the intense match, some students have pre-game rituals that will help them get in the zone. Michael says that he’ll “listen to some tunes” to get hyped.  Alternatively, Owen said “Before the game I have chemistry class, but I’m not going to be listening to chemistry class. I’m just going to be thinking about the game.” This match is so momentous that students are even sacrificing their studies to prepare for the game! At a school like Bishop’s, this is unheard of. 

Some trash-talking is happening on both sides. From the students, they seem extremely confident in their abilities. “They’re out there to get some exercise, we’re there to have some fun, show some dominance over the teachers,” Owen said. 

The students interviewed agreed that youth and chemistry were some of the biggest advantages they had going in. “I feel like most of us have good chemistry. And if us as a student body, as a Bishop’s community, have good chemistry, we’ll be able to win,” Owen said. 

Teachers Lace Up:

The teachers won during regulation period last year, but after an intense overtime period, the students prevailed, leaving some unanswered questions. Who really won that match? This year, the teachers are looking to take back their win. 

A former San Diego State University Women’s Basketball star and current head coach for the Girls’ Basketball team, Coach Paris Johnson or Coach P is more than ready to lace up and take on these upstart kids. Standing at 6’3, her height and knowledge on the basketball court will be valuable to the teachers. When asked about teachers’ advantages, she said, “I think it’s our wiseness on the court. Our IQ.” She noted that she thinks the faculty’s heart and discipline will triumph over the students’ speed and agility. 

When asked the same question, Coach Clark replied with two words: “savvy veterans.” Elaborating, he said, “we know all the tricks.” He said he would not reveal the said tricks until game-time. In terms of disadvantages, Coach Clark admitted a hill that teachers will have to climb over. “Yeah, we’re out of shape. We’re old,” he stated. He clearly agreed with Owen’s statement before.

Coach P noted that the teachers will have to look to control the speed of the game in order to secure the win. “We’re older faculty. We gotta make sure everyone’s okay, safe, and healthy,” she said. 

Before the game, Coach Clark says he’ll prepare by pulling out the foam roller. “Roll out some of the old muscles,” he said. However, he says he hasn’t been doing much to prepare. It looks like the students may have an easier time. He also says that the teachers themselves haven’t been practicing together. “We’re going in no practice, no preparation, just wingin’ it,” he said. 

Stretching seems to be a consistent pre-game ritual among faculty. “My body is definitely a little bit older and I haven’t played basketball in some time. Although I’m still very good at it, I would have to take my time in warming-up and stretching,” Coach P says. 

The time has come.

When asked who teachers should look out for on the students side, Coach Clark responded, “definitely not Tyler Hagan. He’s washed.” Mr. Clark is clearly joking – there is a competitive spirit between the two sides. “You gotta watch [out] for them all,” Mr. Clark said. 

Coach Clark also thinks that some foul play has happened not on the basketball court, but during the draft process this year. Could corruption be running rampant in ASBC’s draft? “Somehow all the basketball players got drafted,” Mr. Clark said skeptically, “I’m calling shenanigans on this draft.” 

Additionally, the circumstances around draft day were a bit hazy. “It was not very clear on the speakers in the cafeteria. It was just a video of Joshua, but not the computer screen that was supposedly randomly choosing the students who signed up.”

Coach P has strong feelings about the rematch. “Students are going down because they tried to cheat us last year and say that we didn’t win when we clearly won in regulation,” she said. For the record, Coach P said with emphasis, staff won last year and students “begged” to play an extra quarter.

Coach Clark agreed. “You gotta cheat to get the dub,” he said. 

Will the teachers reclaim their win? Or will the students demolish them with their agility and youth? Now you’ve heard both sides, who are YOU putting your bets behind?