The 2024-25 season tips off this Saturday, Nov. 30, and Whatcom basketball fans are looking forward to another exciting and successful year.
Will it be as extraordinary as last season when all 22 of our teams reached the playoffs, eight earned state berths, six took home state trophies, and three — the Lynden boys and girls and the Nooksack Valley girls — claimed state championships?
Only time will tell. But before our boys and girls battle for Northwest Conference and Northwest 1B League titles and head into postseason, fans will notice several differences from the past several seasons.
Here’s a quick look at some of the changes you’ll see:
Bellingham girls coach Ken McLendon
Familiar coaches heading up new teams
Three teams will have new head coaches this season and all have familiar faces and strong ties to Whatcom County basketball.
Chas Kok, who is in his third year as Blaine athletic director, takes over the Borderites boys program; Ken McLendon returns to head coaching when he takes the helm for the Bellingham girls squad; and David Dunham returns to Whatcom County to coach the Squalicum boys.
Kok grew up in Lynden, starring for the Lions varsity for three years including the 2007 Class 2A state championship season his senior year. He played collegiately at Skagit Valley College, Simon Fraser University, and Thompson Rivers University (B.C.) and at the semi-pro level with the Bellingham Slam.
His coaching experience started as an assistant at Thompson Rivers before assisting the Burlington-Edison boys for three years. He took over the Tigers’ head coaching job and for five years made them one of the NWC’s most improved and successful programs before coming to Blaine.
McLendon grew up in New York state, where he played basketball at Woodlands High School in Hartsdale and Harry S. Truman High School in the Bronx. He has lived, off and on, in Whatcom County since 2002 and permanently since 2012.
Besides teaching locally, he is the owner of McLendon Athletics basketball development program. In addition to coaching McLendon Athletics AAU teams, he was the girls head coach at Mount Baker during the 2021 season.
Squalicum boys coach David Dunham
Dunham grew up in California, starring at Pasadena High School, before playing two seasons at Golden West Junior College in California and one season at Lewis-Clark State.
After assisting at a high school in California for two years, he coached Whatcom Community College for 13 seasons, the last three as head coach; was the head assistant at Western Washington University for seven years; and last season was an assistant coach for the University of Idaho.
More rivalry games? You gotta love it!
Even more doubleheaders scheduled
In a continuation of a popular trend, our Whatcom County schools will play even more girls-boys doubleheaders with both varsity teams playing on the same night in the same venue.
Bellingham and Sehome have done this for years with their annual Bellinghome series and the Lummi Nation teams almost always play Northwest 1B League games together because of the distances schools must travel.
But this season all 11 of our schools will be doing it at least once and often more times. One of the ways is when three “rival” schools play round-robin schedules.
For example, in addition to the Bayhawks and Mariners playing each other on Jan. 30 at Bellingham with the girls at 5:40 p.m. and the boys at 7:15 p.m., both Squalicum teams will be at Bellingham on Jan. 28, and both Sehome teams will be at Squalicum on Feb 5.
The Blaine, Ferndale, and Meridian boys and girls will do the same thing with the Trojans hosting the Borderites on Dec. 20 and the Golden Eagles on Jan. 28, and the Borderites hosting the Golden Eagles on Jan. 30.
This is a great way for families and fans of both boys and girls teams to watch both instead of having to choose between attending home or away contests the same night. So, let’s give a big thank you to our coaches and athletic directors for making it happen.
The Blaine girls will try a new unbalanced schedule.
NWC to have unbalanced schedules
Another scheduling change is a one-year experiment by the Northwest Conference. In an effort to improve experiences for the student-athletes, struggling programs were given the opportunity to opt out of playing stronger league teams to allow both to schedule more competitive non-league opponents.
The Blaine and Bellingham girls took advantage of the option this season. The Borderites will not play Lynden, Nooksack Valley, or Burlington-Edison, and the Bayhawks will not play Lynden, Lynden Christian, or Burlington-Edison.
Because the change will make for unbalanced Northwest Conference schedules, the regular-season standings will remain the same but district standings (and playoff seeding) will be determined by a committee at the end of the regular season.
Will the Lynden girls celebrate again this season?
Playoff formats to stay mostly the same
While the Northwest Conference still has the same 16 schools, there are some changes that could affect teams come playoff time.
After the latest classification reshuffle, Sedro-Woolley moves up to Class 3A, which means the Cubs will be joining Ferndale, Mount Vernon, and Oak Harbor in the fight for spots in the District 1 tournament.
The good news is that the top three will advance with nine Western Conference teams into the district tourney. Last season, only two of the three qualified.
Unfortunately, that means one less 2A team in District 1, which almost guarantees there will only be two state berths this season. Because a case can be made that ours is the strongest 2A district in the state — both boys and girls — it could again mean several very good teams will not make it to Yakima.
Although the official state tournament allocations for each district have yet to be released, there is a possibility that next year (2025-26) District 1 could qualify for a third 2A state berth or perhaps a play-in game. Stay tuned.
As for the 1A and 1B teams, it appears that things will remain the same as the past couple of years. All five 1A teams will qualify for the district/league tournament with the top two probably having to play “cross-over” bi-district games against District 2 opponents for state berths.
For Lummi Nation, the 1B playoffs also involve an extra step as the Blackhawks must go through the District 1 tourney and then survive the Tri-District 1-2-3 tournament with the top teams qualifying for state in Spokane.
The Nooksack boys open the season on Saturday.
Week 1 preview: top games, schedules
Every Sunday, Whatcom Hoops plans to come out with boys and girls recaps of the previous week that include top games, top individual performances, a summary of every team’s games including standings, and a preview of the upcoming week’s games.
Later this week, Whatcom Hoops hopes to have preseason summaries of all 22 of our teams. The Ferndale and Lynden Christian boys and girls squads, and the Nooksack Valley boys open the season with Saturday games, but the rest of the Whatcom teams begin play next week. Here’s what we have for Week 1:
Boys
TOP GAME
With only non-league games on the docket, including a few against some of the best teams in British Columbia, the most interesting contest could be on Thursday, Dec. 5, when Sehome takes on Lummi Nation. In a rare Whatcom County David vs. Goliath contest, the experienced Blackhawks, who are again predicted to be among the top 1B teams in the state, will host the young but talented Class 2A Mariners.
SCHEDULE
Monday, Dec. 2: Mount Baker at Coupeville, Blaine at La Conner, Meridian at Bear Creek
Tuesday, Dec. 3: Ferndale at Snohomish, Tamanawis (B.C.) at Lynden, Marysville-Pilchuck at Sehome, Lummi Nation at Concrete
Wednesday, Dec. 4: Friday Harbor at Blaine, Orcas Island at Mount Baker, Holy Cross (B.C.) at Lynden Christian, Sultan at Nooksack Valley
Thursday, Dec. 5: Sehome at Lummi Nation, Squalicum at Sultan, Tamanawis (B.C.) at Blaine, Ferndale at Edmonds-Woodway, Meridian at Mount Christian
Saturday, Dec. 7: Mount Baker at Friday Harbor, Lake Stevens at Lynden Christian, Marysville-Getchell at Squalicum, Spectrum Community (B.C.) at Sehome, Bellingham at Marysville-Pilchuck, La Conner at Lummi Nation
Girls
TOP GAMES
In the only game involving two Whatcom teams, Sehome is at Ferndale next Tuesday in a battle of squads rebuilding after last year’s successful campaigns. Among the non-league contests, Class 4A Lake Stevens is at Lynden Christian on Saturday, Dec. 7, in a contest between two state tournament regulars.
SCHEDULE
Monday, Dec. 2: Friday Harbor at Meridian, Mount Baker at Coupeville, Blaine at La Conner, Squalicum at Everett, Riverside (B.C.) at Lynden
Tuesday, Dec. 3: Sehome at Ferndale, Lummi Nation at Concrete
Wednesday, Dec. 4: Friday Harbor at Blaine, Orcas Island at Mount Baker, Sultan at Nooksack Valley, Argyle (B.C.) at Lynden, Bellingham at Marysville-Getchell
Friday, Dec. 6: Sultan at Squalicum, Jackson at Ferndale
Saturday, Dec. 7: Mount Baker at Friday Harbor, Lake Stevens at Lynden Christian, Marysville-Pilchuck at Bellingham, La Conner at Lummi Nation
