Dedham Basketball Falls in Plansky's Coaching Debut

athletic director Michael Plansky has taken the reins of the boy's basketball team, a small, but quick team that displayed their game plan Friday in a 60-49 loss to Needham at home.

Planksy plans an uptempo style to push bigger, slower teams by implementing full-court press in an attempt to generate turnovers.

"We're really going to try to fast-break and spread the floor," Plansky said in an interview this week.

The Marauders are led by junior Jeremy Clifford - who poured in a team-high 19 points against the Rockets on Friday - and senior Rohit Kumar, who scored 15 on Friday, including nine in the fourth quarter.

"We only have three or four guys that have varsity experience - so everything is new," Plansky said.

After a 6-year hiatus from the bench, Plansky replaced Ed Hickey over the summer. Plansky last coached at Endicott College, and has had assistant coaching stints at St. Michael's College, Brandeis University and Salve Regina University. He also worked as a graduate assistant at the University of Iowa.

"For me, a big thing is staying patient. Things may not progress as quickly as I am used to, but that is OK as long as we are moving forward and getting better on a daily basis and getting on the same page," Plansky said.

Seniors Mike Ryan, Mike MacFarland and Vinny Iarrobino, who sat out Friday's game, also could see significant playing time for the Marauders this season.

Plansky said as he puts in a new offense and defense plus a herd of first-year varsity players, the 2011-12 season could be one of transition.

"As the season progresses, the goal is I can help them make the adjustments that are necessary. We'll get them to play our style and get them comfortable with that," Plansky said.

With a pair of games against Division 3 Weston and unknown D-3 opponents in a February tournament, Dedham still eyes making the playoffs.

"We've got to play our best basketball just to get in," Plansky said. "Once we get into the tournament, we'll play anyone, anywhere.

"Our goal is always to play our best basketball in February with the goal of playing in March."