Utah Pump N Run Basketball

Some coaches and athletic directors opt to stack their non-region schedule with creampuffs and tomato cans to boost their records with hopes of climbing the rankings, hoping that November and December conquests will turn into March success.

Not the Bingham boys' basketball team.

The Miners, who are currently ranked No. 1 in the state, have loaded the opening stanza of their season with top teams and championship contenders from the get go, and the results have been nothing short of spectacular.

Wins over Bountiful and Davis on the road, coupled with home victories over Timpanogos and Fremont, have Bingham sitting at the strongest 4-0 in the state. Their run of tough teams continued this week with road contests at Olympus and Mountain View on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, and finishes with Brighton at home in South Jordan, Friday night.

Head coach Mark Dubach would not have it any other way.

This year's edition of the Miners have championship aspirations, and for Bingham these early games are an important piece in the title picture puzzle that is 2009-10.

"We're always up for a good fight. This team is not afraid of any team or arena." Said Dubach, "Some teams opt to go with an easy early schedule, that's great for them, but we want to be playing the best possible competition we can on a consistent basis."

That competition included an Olympus team which is one of the favorites in 4A. The Titans (4-1) have one of the top trios in the state in Nicholas Paulos, Connor Brady and Will Watkins. All three are averaging double digit points so far, with Paulos leading the way with an 18 PPG average.

They also have a good amount of inside information on the Miners. The Titan triumvirate has played with Bingham's point guard Shad Sommerville and center Ben Clifford on the Utah Pump-N-Run AAU team for the past couple of summers, and have spent a lot of time both on and off the court together.

"Oh yeah those guys out east are real good." Said Clifford, "We'll have our hands full with Nick and those boys."

Added Sommerville, "These are guys we have spent a lot of time with. They know our moves, we know theirs. It's going to come down to who can execute the best."

Besides Olympus, Mountain View and a tough Brighton team, the Miners will have a Jan. 2 showdown with rival Alta before embarking on a region schedule that will include games against Copper Hills, Riverton and defending 5A state champion West Jordan.

Whispers of an undefeated season may start to grow louder over the next two weeks, but Dubach is quick to squash that type of speculation.

"We take it one game at a time. We don't want to get too up or down for any one game this early in the season," said Dubach, "Our goal is to be playing our best basketball in March."

March is playoff time in Utah, and expect to see the Miners still alive when spring comes around. They will have been preparing for it all winter long.