Next man up for Grizzlies
Crawford keys Thunderridge’s three- peat championship dream
Thunderridge junior guard Andrew Crawford’s basketball resume is impressive.
He stands 6- foot- 6 and has added two inches to his vertical leap, meaning he skywalks 31 inches above the court.
As a sophomore, he averaged 11.4 points, 3.3 assists and 6.5 rebounds per game. He already has scholarship offers from Colorado, Colorado State, Denver, Montana,
Seattle, and UC San Diego.
And Crawford enters the 2020- 23 season loaded with an essential intangible: confidence. Lots of confidence.
The Grizzlies, winners of back- to- back Class 5A state championships, graduated nine players from last season’s title team, including power forward Zach Keller — the CHSAA player of the year who’s now playing at Wake Forest — as well as star big man Joey Bilello. Thunderridge has no seniors.
Crawford feels challenged, for sure, but not overwhelmed.
“I didn’t feel those guys overshadowed me that much,” he said. “I was still a leader. I miss those guys but this year is going to be fun. Leading these guys to another state championship is going to be fun.”
“Another state championship” would give the Grizzlies a rare three- peat and would be their fifth state title under coach Joe Ortiz ( 2002,’ 03, ‘ 21, ‘ 22).
“We graduated nine, which is unheard for us,” Ortiz said. “We don’t have any seniors, but we still have ( our) culture.”
Junior forward Charlie
Spann and junior wingman Tommy Wight, along with Crawford, will have to shoulder the load, at least in the early going. Thunderridge opens its season Thursday when it hosts Rangeview.
“Drew has been phenomenal,” Ortiz said. “Sometimes, we coaches look at each other in practice and we see Drew and Tommy and Chuck making plays, and we say, ‘ Wow! That’s impressive.’
“We’ve had really balanced teams ( in recent seasons), and a lot of times guys had to take on a little bit lesser of a role to make it all fit together. This year, these ( three) guys will have to step up. I think they are up for it.”
Said Wight: “I want to be aggressive. I mean everybody can shoot nowadays, so I want to defend and do all of the little stuff to help us win.”
Crawford understands that the Grizzlies need him to score, but defense is his calling card.
“It’s crucial,” he said. “All of these colleges recruited me because they shined bright on my defensive ability and my ability to guard many positions, so I really take that to heart. I always want to be the stopper.”
There will be plenty of roadblocks in ThunderRidge’s quest for a threepeat, including a Fossil Ridge team that the Grizzlies rallied to beat in the 2022 championship game. The early going might be a bit rough.
“The first year we won it all, in 2002, we had graduated a lot of players and had just one kid returning,” Ortiz recalled. “We were 3- 3 and at Christmastime had just gotten hammered by Arapahoe.
“I told the guys, ‘ We are right where we need to be.’ I hope we don’t have to go through that again, but we’ll take it as we go. That group was able to win its last 11 games. I believe in these kids and I believe in our culture.”