Their regular season record is 21 – 7. One player has hit 1,000 career points and 800 rebounds, and another had eight three-pointers in just the first half of their game against Saint Andrew Catholic School. The Fort Worth Country Day Boys Varsity Basketball team has broken all expectations and is ready to crush the court during SPC.
Michael Szabo, the new head coach, has made substantial changes to the program this year. The practices have become more demanding and vigorous, challenging the players to work their hardest and leave everything on the court.
“We’re tough this year. We’re in better condition. We can run all day, all day. I mean like all day, all day. Like we wake up [and] we run, and we can go all day. We can run a lot,” Alex Streett ’27 said.
The team has four seniors: Nate Blan ’26, Canaan Factor ’26, Cal Neubauer ’26 and Jack Wegman ’26. All four seniors have been playing basketball at Country Day since seventh grade and have made many core memories along the way.
“We’ve all been on the team for like three plus years now, so just seeing how we’ve grown from the ups and downs throughout sophomore and junior year, and how we’ve started off with such a successful season this year. It’s nice to see how we’ve all developed and we’ve all grown as a group,” Wegman said.
Canaan Factor recounted a moment from the Leonard tournament.
“My favorite memory is Jack Wegman almost throwing up on the court during one of our games because he had too many burgers at Braum’s,” Canaan Factor said.
These seniors have also been a core reason this team has done so well. They are great leaders on and off the court, and they inspire the younger players to push themselves. The players have had many bonding experiences throughout the season, including team dinners after practice, late nights at hotels and an outing to Dave and Buster’s after one of their games in Austin.
“I think my favorite part of this season has been just hanging out with the guys, like being able to do all the trips and going out to dinner afterwards, and just getting close with all the dudes,” Reed Haven ’27 said.
Major Factor said that some of his favorite moments were when the team hung out in a hotel room and just talked.
“I think the chemistry we have, it’s great. You know, the guys are always just laughing. There’s never a dull moment. I feel like it’s just no matter where we are, it’s a fun time. When we traveled to Leonard, we stayed in a hotel and we were all in one room late at night. We were all just laughing. It was fun, just making memories,” Major Factor ’28 said.
One moment that showed the bond between the team and their drive was the game against Oakridge when Major Factor scored the game winning buzzer beater.
“They beat us in the football championship, so the game meant something to me, and I just wanted to show them that like they could have it in football, but they’re not going to have them both,” Major Factor said.
There has also been some adversity this season due to minor injuries during games. Kai Chancellor ’27 sprained his ankle during the Leonard tournament, Haven broke his collar bone before the season started, and Wegman had wrist issues all throughout the season. Despite these injuries, they were able to come back strong and finish together.
“[During the Leonard tournament] one of our players went down and it really brought us all together having to play without someone who’s really valuable to the team,” Neubauer said.
During the games, Szabo encourages the players by telling them that their fans are here to support them and they came to watch a good game.
“Now let me tell you something. Look at the crowd you got here tonight. Look at all your family over there, right? Your schoolmates. They’re here to support you…Let’s go. You have to seize these moments,” Szabo said during a Friday night game at home against the Red River Rattlers.
Their familial bond is what helped get them to the championship game in the SPC tournament. The team was seeded second and played extremely well in the first two games. They made it to the championship against Episocopal School of Dallas, where the game went into overtime with a buzzer beater lay-up from Haven. However, in overtime they could not gain enough traction to pull out the win.
Even though the season did not end how they wanted, the impact of this season will stay with the players for a lifetime.
