The season is still very young, yet one can’t help to notice that Watsonville is playing some formidable basketball coming out of the gate to begin the 2024-25 winter campaign.
Junior guard Max Aceves had a team-best 16 points for the Wildcatz in a 71-52 win over Alvarez in non-league action Wednesday evening. Fellow teammate Tino Razo had eight points and Franco Vaca added seven for Watsonville, which is off to a 2-1 overall record.
And the most impressive part is they’re playing against teams out of the Pacific Coast Athletic League Gabilan Division—the highest tier of the four divisions within the league.
“We played confident, we played hard and that is a new skill that Watsonville kids do not have when they face different opponents that are not in their comfort zone,” Watsonville head coach Andre Bailey said following the win against Salinas.
The ‘Catz fell to Palma on Nov. 30 and managed to bounce back against the Eagles the following week. Bailey said the biggest thing at the varsity level is being consistent, or else it’ll be a roller coaster-type season that players, and coaches, can’t handle.
“If we just do what we’re supposed to do, and if we lose to a better team than we lose, but we’re not losing scared,” Bailey said.
Aceves had the hot hand with 21 points, including 12 in the first quarter in the ‘Catz’s win over Salinas. He said it’s a good feeling knowing how much confidence the coaching staff has in him taking the shots.
“It shows that they really put the trust in me,” Aceves said.
Other big contributors in last week’s season opener include junior Abraham Martinez with 11 points and senior Nate Aguilar added nine. Sophomore Diego Garcia is a volume scorer, but Bailey said the young rising standout still needs to get into the varsity mindset and understand he’s able to score easily as an underclassmen.
“[Garcia’s] gotten a lot better, he’s gotten stronger,” Bailey said. “If we can be successful sooner than later, it just builds the program and it gives something to the younger ones to look up to.”
Watsonville is also expecting the Madec brothers—Leon and George—to be ready to go once they become eligible soon.
Bailey said they’ll be some huge pieces of the puzzle that should change the dynamic of helping them be consistent.
“Once they’re able to play, it’s really going to help us stay moving forward instead of a roller coaster,” Bailey said.
All of this is part of the culture change that Bailey implemented after joining the program last year. He said it’s easy for opposing teams to look past the ‘Catz because they don’t pass the eye test.
The goal for Bailey is to see players compete in practice every day and to make his job harder by having them lock horns without being told.
“Starters are not set in stone. Starters just get the first chance to mess up,” he said. “It’s your job until somebody comes along that’s better. That’s all it is, just making young guys understand consistency is important.”
The ‘Catz’s second-year head coach mentioned the players are a tightly knitted group. They might fight and bicker one day, but return the following one with growth and accepting each other’s faults.
“That’s huge when it doesn’t linger. A lot of it is them coming together and doing the right thing,” Bailey said.
Aceves believes team chemistry is currently at an all-time best. He said they have a unique bond that translates on the court, and it helps to play in a good system that Bailey set up for them.
“[Bailey’s] hard on us, but he gets us to work harder and helps us play like we want to play,” Aceves said. “He has a good mentality, a win mentality.”
That type of mentally has Aceves and his teammates thinking of winning a PCAL Mission Division championship. League play begins at Hollister on Jan. 7 at 7pm.
The rest of the division includes Monte Vista Christian, North Monterey County, Rancho San Juan, Seaside, Stevenson and defending champion Marina.
Watsonville is just three years removed from sharing the Santa Lucia Division crown with Soledad. However, they lost the automatic playoff berth in a coin toss.
Bailey hopes they won’t need a coin toss to determine whether or not they can qualify for the postseason.
“We really can [qualify] if we really put it together. I think that’s the most important part, if they believe it,” he said.
Prior to that, the ‘Catz were outright champions in the 2010-11 season after winning a league crown in the now defunct Monterey Bay League.
Watsonville placed fifth in the Pacific Coast Athletic League Mission Division with a 6-8 record in league play, and finished with a 10-14 overall record in the 2023-24 season.
They failed to qualify for the Central Coast Section playoffs, which the ‘Catz haven’t been to since the abbreviated 2020-21 season. Aceves said this year’s group has been committed to their ultimate goal since hitting the gym in the summer, which is to bring back home a league crown and see how deep of a run they can make in the playoffs once they get there.
“We’re all just really locked in this year and we all know what we can do, and where we can go,” he said.
Next up, Watsonville hosts Oakwood in the Watsonville Wildcatz Varsity Classic Tournament on Dec. 11 at 8pm.
