‘Chasing our standard.’ After return to 5A, Woodburn boys basketball team has wasted little time positioning itself among the elite

By Shane Hoffmann | Photos by Christian Zavala  

When boys basketball coach Raul Veliz took the reins at Woodburn, he made his agenda voraciously clear. 

The objective? Rather than build a program tailor-made for a certain league or classification, he purely wanted to erect a competitive program, one that played to a standard and could be proud of itself, even in the absence of a win-loss record.

That mentality trickled down, permeating the youth programs. 

“It isn't chasing a win,” he said. “We're just chasing our standard.”

Call Veliz’s vision cliche if you want, but as Woodburn High School has oscillated between the OSAA’s classifications, his approach has been continually validated.

Previously a Class 5A school, the Bulldogs’ athletic programs struggled across the board, eventually resulting in a drop to Class 4A four seasons ago.

There, Veliz’s program strung together successful seasons, twice reaching the state semifinals. With it came a realization from Veliz and his staff that a return to the 5A ranks was an inevitability.

It finally materialized ahead of this season.

Woodburn is back to 5A and these Bulldogs (15-4, 12-1 Mid-Willamette Conference) are up to No. 3 in the OSAA Class 5A rankings. Meanwhile, those kids who first filled the Woodburn youth leagues when Veliz took over are young-adults, upholding the Bulldogs’ on-court standard.

As chatter swirled last year and this offseason about the potential return to 5A, players were largely ignorant to the discourse, focusing rather on the season and tasks at hand.

“We didn't really initially prepare for it,” senior captain Tony Carrasquillo said. “We just said, ‘You know what? We're just going to go play and if it's against a 5A team, a 3A team, a 2A team, it doesn't matter.’ We just have to do what we can but just play basketball to the best of our ability.” 

With the leap in competition — not to mention the departure of five key seniors — Veliz knew the Bulldogs would need a bit of a launching pad to get going. They started the season 4-3 with losses to Wilsonville, Sandy and Clackamas, the latter two by a combined three points.

Since? The Bulldogs have rattled off 11 of 12, a 63-57 road loss to West Albany (13-7, 10-3) standing as the sole outlier.

“There were a lot of players who were kind of nervous jumping back up to 5A,” Veliz said. “The league we're in is a pretty tough league. Teams are beating each other all the time. It's really a testament to our players that we have been able to win as many games as we have in league.”

One distinct change the return to 5A has brought is a more variable, road-heavy schedule, which has, in turn, opened the door for galvanizing opportunities. From Jan. 5 to Jan. 26, Woodburn played seven consecutive road games, winning each.

“That was certainly a big change for us,” Carrasquillo said. “It certainly improved our mental capacity to play under pressure and in great environments like those.”

It also meant plenty of time on the bus — which, according to the players, was no issue. A majority of this season’s team grew up playing together, and the players have developed strong friendships. 

“It's always fun winning, but it's more fun when you're playing with your best friends day in and day out,” sophomore point guard Cruz Veliz said. 

There have been other minute changes the players have noticed in their new classification. The younger Veliz said the top of Class 4A harbored plenty of elite teams, but that he believes 5A brings a more balanced, deeper look. 

“The 16th-best team in 5A is still a really good team,” he added.

Summit and Wilsonville have spent most of the season atop the 5A rankings. They've been common title favorites. But as Cruz Veliz said, the class is deep. There’s room for a team, or two, to sneak in. 

And Woodburn’s pieces make sense.

Cruz Veliz has broken through in his second season as the starting point guard. The 6-foot-8 Liam Slattum has taken a leap to becoming a stretch big man who is a legitimate shot-blocking presence. Spencer Karsseboom, a high-volume scorer last season, has taken a dip in scoring average, but with it, increased his efficiency. Carrasquillo, meanwhile, has become the Bulldogs’ “Mr. Do-it-all” — a Swiss Army knife wing who often guards the opposing team’s top perimeter threat.

They’ve received contributions across the board. Most box scores feature a handful of double-digit scorers.

“It's really just a big, big, well-rounded team,” Raul Veliz said. 

Come postseason, maybe it will be the difference? Until then, though, these Bulldogs will keep doing what they’ve done for years — chasing their own standards.