Jayce Cicinelli is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Casteel High School for AZPreps365.com 

The Casteel High School boys basketball team has been winning all year and have had its best season in school history.

The Casteel Colts have won a school high 21 game this season. The Colts have improved significantly from being ranked 97th in Arizona in 2020 to this season ranked 20th since head coach Aaron Windler took over. 

They finished the regular season on a four game winning streak and finished 21-5 with their playoffs starting on Wednesday Feb. 14, where they will take on Tucson High Magnet School who are 23-1.

Windler has made a drastic impact since coming to Casteel as his track record shows success back from 2008-2011 at Scottsdale Chaparral with three final four appearances as well as the Desert Sky and East Sky region coach of the year in 2008 and ‘09. 

“I think setting good expectations in the beginning of the season is important because you have less success with lower expectations,” coach Windler said. “It’s taken a while for them to know me and me to know them, but I think the best part is we work hard everyday and try to get better each day.”

Windler has been dedicated to his team and has been getting improvement from his team each season. 

“We watch a lot of film and we do a lot of prep and gameplan on how we can go into each game using our best strengths to win games,” Windler said. “I’m a big believer in watching film and trying to get the edge of each opponent and that goes into my responsibility which is to put this team in a good position to be successful.”

In the 2020-2021 season, Arizona had a rough season barely cracking the top 100. Next year, they moved up to 45th in Arizona. Last year, they finished 37th in Arizona and this year has been their best finishing the regular season as one of the top teams in the east valley of Arizona. 

The team is led by senior forward leading scorer Aidan Schmidt. He is averaging 19.3 points per game and team high 7.6 rebounds per game.

“I think my teammates and coaches have just been putting me in the perfect position to be efficient on the floor all season,” Schmidt said. “I know my role on this team whether it's scoring each chance I get or putting my teammates in a good position to make plays.”

Schmidt has been a vocal leader of this team and knows this team has found a spark differently from other seasons since his freshman year.

“I think our height and length have helped us make this season special because this is the tallest team we have had since I have been here,” Schmidt said. “It makes it easy on the defensive side which has allowed us to score at a high level on fast break points.”

Senior forward Kaelum Brown has also been with Windler for a couple years on the varsity basketball team. He admires coach Windler for what he and his coaching experience has brought to this team.

“He definitely pushes us each day whether game or practice,” Brown said. “He knows how to coach us in a way that makes it easier on us and allows him to get the best out of each and everyone of us.”

Windler and his team has been the most complete team in school history showing dominance on the offense and defensive side of the ball. They are ready for the playoff push and ready to leave it all out there on the floor. 

“His tough love for sure has helped us whenever one of us is having a bad game and encourages us,” Brown said. “He gets us through rough games which has made us successful heading into the playoffs.”