Reeths-Puffer will look a lot different on the court this season, as three top players graduated and new coach J.R. Wallace gets set for his first season at the helm.
Wallace is a former Rocket player himself with impressive credentials both on the court and the sideline. He helped lead the Central Michigan Chippewas to an NCAA Tournament berth and first-round win in his senior season of 2002-03 and spent the past 10 seasons as an assistant coach at Division II Grand Valley State.
In addition to having a new coach, R-P lost star players Jaxson Whitaker, Travis Ambrose and Antrel Jones to graduation; by Wallace’s estimation, 76 percent of the Rockets’ scoring is out the door. Still, he looks at it as an opportunity for the next crop of R-P stars to assert itself.
“You get a chance to let guys who were behind the scenes the last couple years to see what they can do at the forefront - all the while building up everyone’s confidence to be players,” Wallace said. “’Now you’ve got to produce.’ I’m sure the guys are excited for the opportunity.”
The obvious two names to pick up more of the offensive load this year are the two returning starters for R-P, Marvin Moore and Brayden Mitchelson. Both are clearly talented, with Wallace saying he’s been hearing from a few college coaches about Mitchelson, whom Wallace describes as “a utility guy” who can fill in whatever gaps need to be filled in a given game. It’s the junior Moore, though, who’s likely to take the keys to the offense. Wallace said he’s hoping once a few games have been played, he’s able to let Moore call the plays on the court.
“Anyone can see his talent watching him on film,” Wallace said of Moore. “What I want for him is to grow as a leader. I want to make sure he’s able to be vocal and orchestrate what we’re doing on offense.”
Drew Brooks and Alex Kieft are other names to watch for R-P, but the Rockets’ roster projects to be more deep than it is starter-led.
“If I am one of these guys returning, I’m excited, because the ball will be shared around,” Wallace said. “Any night can be your night if you’re zoned in and prepared to play.”
However, the key to the team’s success will be defense, and in particular effort on that end. Wallace said he has a student assistant whose sole assignment on game days will be tracking who comes up with loose balls.
“If we’re not the first on the floor, that will tell us everything we need to know,” Wallace said. “But if we are, we’ll have a chance to be in these games...It’ll be fun to take some of what we’ve done at the college level and see if we can make things troublesome.”
There will, as you’d expect, be some schematic changes under the new coach. Wallace said he hopes to force defenses into quick decisions when his team gets the ball. The Rockets aren’t necessarily going to shoot the ball quickly, but they want to make sure if there’s an early opportunity, it can be exploited.
“We’ll push the ball fast and we’re going to make sure we’re a well-conditioned team,” Wallace said. “We want to make sure we pressure guys and pressure the ball and get out and run as quickly as we can.”
With that in mind, Wallace has pushed a mantra of “future over feelings,” which can be summed up as ‘push yourself now to reap the rewards later.’
“We’re going to make sure we’re working hard and making sure we’re making decisions on our future and not our feelings,” Wallace said. “They’ve embraced it.”
R-P will waste no time jumping into competitive games. In the season’s first week, the Rockets will take on a Forest Hills Central team that won a district championship last year, and in its second they’ll face Zeeland West, which played in the semifinals in 2024. The Rockets will also visit Traverse City Central - which will reunite Wallace with former CMU teammate Luke Johnson, the first-year coach there - and are playing a couple of Friday/Saturday back-to-backs by design to prepare the players for tournament play.
In league play, Wallace is eyeing Byron Center and Mona Shores as the top teams in the realigned O-K Green Conference, but as the Rockets are defending co-champions, he wants his team to carry itself as such.
“’Even though we graduated a lot of players, you guys are the returning champs,’” Wallace said of his message to the team. “There are a lot of teams gunning for us because I’m the new coach and I’m OK with that. We’re making sure there’s a responsibility in that, to work our tails off to be the best versions of ourselves. I’m OK taking some losses if we’re playing up to our potential.”
