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The Bolivar Liberators ended their 2020-2021 season with a 10-point loss to Cardinal Ritter in the Class 5 State Championship game.
This year, the team will still be led by 4 returning starters, including junior shooting guard Kyle Pock.
The junior has already received offers from head coach Dana Ford with Missouri State University and from head coach Keith Pickens with Southeast Missouri State University. Pock recently took a visit to Clemson University in South Carolina.
Liberator head coach Robby Hoegh gave us some insight to what to look for this year
Makayla Strickland, SWMO: Coach you’re coming off of a 16-13 season and a Class 5, 2nd place state title with that in mind what can we expect from this season?
Robby Hoegh: We are hoping we can continue to get better. We are returning four starters, Obviously Kyle Pock who is an outstanding player and so our goals are kind of the same every year. We want to make sure that when people see us play, they see a team that cares about each other and plays as hard as possible.
Strickland, SWMO: Kyle Pock looks to be a big Liberator contender, especially since he just had a visit with Clemson, what are you expecting from him this season?
Hoegh: He was first-team All State last year and he is one of the best juniors in the state. He has already scored over 1,000 points and has over 500 rebounds against one of the toughest schedules a kid could face. His parents have raised him to be more than a basketball player which is the most important thing to us.
Strickland, SWMO: What is the schedule looking like this season? Any big games that we should be keeping tabs on?
Hoegh: Umm… we don’t really do that. We just look to play the next opponent. Our schedule is tough as nails and last year we went into districts 11-12. Some people may look at that and think ‘Oh that’s not a very good record’ but if you look a little deeper into the 12 losses, 10 of them were to ranked teams and of our wins, three of them were against ranked teams. When you play a schedule like that, your record may not always look pretty and for us it only makes sense to play the best teams possible.
Strickland, SWMO: What else should we know about these state title holding Liberators?
Hoegh: Kyle is just a junior but we believe firmly in Bolivar that the seniors create the identity of the team and when you’re talking about a good team, you have to mention the seniors.
The Liberators have six seniors this season including Cooper Cribbs, Lukas Gabani, Dylan Hubbert, Chase Kirby, Aiden Mauck and Deacon Sharp.
The season kicks off December first for the Liberators during the Willard Basketball Classic tournament.
