Garfield Bulldogs varsity boys’ basketball ended their amazing season last year ranked #1 in the 3A Metro League standings. Overall, they were 26-2 with a 93%-win rate — with those only two losses coming against the Eastside Catholic Crusaders, one of which was in the Metro League championship playoff bracket. They ended up taking third place in the Metro League tournament.
After metros, the Bulldogs went on the win state and ended their last season ranked 50th in the nation and ranked #2 in the state. The Bulldogs faced a tough loss in losing last year’s senior star, Myles Daymon, who was their superstar point guard. Garfield is facing a major rebuild after losing 11 of their seniors, on their 12-man team, with four of them being starters.
That said, one rising junior remains: Legend Smiley.
Smiley was one of their top players in the 2022-2023 year, with offers and interest from schools including The University of Washington, Seattle University, University of California Berkeley, University of Oregon, U of California Davis, Louisiana State University, University of Southern California, and more. As a junior, the Bulldogs will likely lean on Smiley to lead the team with experience. As well as Smiley, Garfield gained a senior transfer from Eastside Catholic, point guard Ishe Kanhukamwe. With Garfield ending their 2022-2023 season strong, they have two superstar players going into the 2023-2024 season, but who will be the other three starters?
Looking at Garfield’s schedule, they will have to once again face last season’s kryptonite, Eastside Catholic. The Crusaders were the only team to beat Garfield last season. It’s going to be a heated two games when they face the Crusaders on December 8th and January 17th. The Bulldogs also play the Bishop Blanchet Bears three times in the season. A tough two games the Bulldogs will face is against, the Nathan Hale Raiders. The Raiders finished their last season with a 13-2 district win loss rate, while the Bulldogs finished 15-2. This placed Nathan Hale in second place, right behind Garfield. The Bulldogs and the Raiders have two hot matchups this season. One of them takes place on December 12th, and the other takes place on January 20th.
Will the Bulldogs continue their stellar basketball record with majority of their roster lost, or will they to the rest of the Metro league? Garfield opens their season playing the Bishop Blanchet Bears away, at 7:30 pm.
