Two weeks into the season, there are already no unbeaten county high school boys’ varsity basketball teams but the six county coaches have hopes to piece together a postseason run once next February rolls around.
One new coach joins the lineup of coaches as Matt Tinsley moves east from the post at St. Marys to take over the Jefferson West boys from David Overstreet. Other than that, no county boys coach is in less than his third year at his school.
Perry-Lecompton was the best team in the county a season ago in finishing with a 19-3 record but dropped a tight substate semifinal game to Holton. After that the records get much closer to the .500 winning mark as JCN finished 11-10, Oskaloosa finished 11-11, Valley Falls and McLouth were 7-15 and West finished 6-15.
The six teams have gotten off to up-and-down starts as Perry-Lecompton has dropped games to Bishop Ward and Hayden while beating West to start 1-2; JCN started 2-0 but lost three straight in the Delaware Valley League Preseason Tourney to drop to 2-3; Oskaloosa led all county teams with a fifth-place finish in the DVL Tourney to move to 3-2; Valley Falls fell to Oskaloosa in the fifth-place game at the tourney to drop to 2-3; McLouth has stumbled to an 0-4 start; and West has dropped its first 3 games. All records are as of Monday, with Tuesday games pending at press time.
Following is a capsule review of each team entering the season in order of finish last season.
Perry-Lecompton
Coach: Jeff Dickson, fourth year
Last season: 19-3
This year’s athletic group of Kaw seniors were freshmen when Dickson came to Perry-Lecompton and the team has its sights set on advancing further into the postseason this season.
One early factor that works both positively for the players and somewhat against the team’s early chances was the run of the Kaw football team to the state football title game. The season wrapped up Thanksgiving weekend with the basketball players on the football team getting only a week to ready for action when the season started Dec. 5. The Kaws’ early record may reflect some rustiness, in part for that reason.
“These guys put a lot of work in and it paid off for them,” said Dickson of the football team’s efforts this season. “It’s a partnership here, 100 percent, between (football) coach Mike Paramore and I, so I don’t look at it like it cost me something here. If we got the chance to be in the football state championship every year, I can live with that. It’s one of those things where the kids see all their work come to fruition, and it’s fun to see them go against what has been the norm at this place.”
Dickson has good numbers in the program with 30 players out but said he would like to see even more out for the team. The squad includes eight seniors, including “twin towers” Andy Bowman and Joel Gantz. Other key returnees include senior guard Kyle Morgison and senior guard Shane Gimzo. Dickson said he is looking to junior Brad Phillips, junior guard Riley Shafer, senior forward Caleb Wege, junior guard Kameron Hurd, and senior guard Eric Hastert to also fill roles on the varsity.
“Andy Bowman has stepped up big time for us so far,” Dickson said. “He had a stat line versus Jeff West of 25 points, 13 rebounds, 4 steals and 6 blocks and he’s capable of doing that every night. Losing Caleb Denton to graduation was a big loss for us, because what he did for us leaves a void. We’ve got a lot of other great kids though. Brad Phillips is Mr. Fundamentals and plays hard, Riley handles the ball great to give us the ability to slide Kyle Morgison over to give him more opportunities to shoot, Caleb Wege is a really hard worker, one of those blue collar hard hat types of player, and Kameron has a great shot and has been a JV all star for us.”
Dickson said the team is sticking to his tenet of aggressive defense.
“We’re all about defense and getting it done with our pressure defense and doing that the right way,” Dickson said. “I’d like for us to get up and down the floor a little more. I think we have the most depth we’ve had since I came here.”
As the Kaws enter one of their last couple seasons in the Kaw Valley League before a move to the Big Seven, Dickson points to Mill Valley, Lansing, Piper and Basehor-Linwood as the front runners in this season’s KVL.
“I think we’ll be in the mix, too,” Dickson said. The team made the move from the midseason McLouth Tournament to the Baldwin Tournament in order to face more comparable sized schools to help prepare for substate. “It should be an extremely competitive league, but if we play like we’re capable, we can and should win it.”
Dickson said his squad still isn’t playing up to capability but will hopefully be in prime shape when the games really start to count.
“We’re not where we need to be but we’re getting there,” he said. “We’ve played pretty poorly as a team so far but we’ve had a couple good individual performances. The guys have proven that if we’re willing to put in the same amount of work kids in other districts do, including in the offseason, we can create a lot of excitement.”
Jefferson County North
Coach: Jim Brickell, 23nd year
Last season: 11-10
Brickell returns for his 23rd year as coach at North with only three seniors lost from last year’s squad that scratched out a winning record at 11-10.
Those seniors were key players for the Chargers but some underclassmen did make somewhat of a name for themselves last season and return to key this year’s team.
North’s 32 players include six seniors led by guard Riley Noll, guard/forward Dalton Speer and guard Matt Perry, who is bouncing back from an early injury. The varsity rotation also includes sophomore guard Jeff Hale, who saw quite a bit of varsity time as a freshman last season, junior guard Austin Gaspard, junior forward Nick Clark, who missed last season with an injury, junior post player Tyler Noll, senior forward Brendan Stevens, and sophomore forward Spencer Wentz.
“We’re still a work in progress,” Brickell said. “Riley has stepped his game up for us already and hit some big shots in games. Defensively we’ve been very good, but we haven’t been scoring very well. Some of that has to do with our deliberate style we play and some of it comes down to us not making shots.”
Despite their scoring problems the Chargers started the season by winning their first two games and then lost their third game in double overtime to Pleasant Ridge, who Brickell points to as one of the top teams in the Delaware Valley League along with Troy, Oskaloosa, Wathena and, potentially, Valley Falls.
“We had a couple opportunities to beat Pleasant Ridge there and couldn’t get the shot knocked down,” he said. The loss came in the quarterfinals of the DVL Preseason Tournament. “I think Valley Falls will be much improved, and Jackson Heights also looks improved from last season.”
Brickell said the team has impressed him with its mentality and thinks good things can happen if the offensive wrinkles are ironed out in the Chargers.
“We’re working a lot on man defense and we haven’t played it very much, if at all, so far but we’ve got to be able to play it. We need to start working on shooting. We’re not shooting well outside and that’s a big part of our game. Actually, I thought we might really struggle early but the guys have really impressed me. They play so darn hard. We talk about doing what it takes to win and they really want to win. They aren’t concerned with points, and who’s getting what, they want to win, and I like that.”
Oskaloosa
Coach: Rod Stottlemire, fourth year
Last season: 11-11
Stottlemire has some rebuilding to do with the Bears after losing a group of nine seniors, but a couple solid varsity players return to help this season’s cause.
The Bears have 21 players out for basketball, including seven seniors. Varsity leaders include senior guard J.T. Thurston, senior post players Chase Tenpenny and Adam Paavola and senior guard Lakota Coffman. Stottlemire said he is also looking to sophomore guards Adam Bowser and Levi Wade, and junior forward Brandon Barnes to step up as the season moves along.
“A lot of our success comes down to our ‘other’ guys stepping up,” Stottlemire said. “I think Levi and Brandon will improve quite a bit as the season moves along. We’re a young team, somewhat, so we look like a million bucks one night and not the next. Most times I want to play fast but with this group I’m trying to temper that speed a bit and keep it reined in.”
Stottlemire pointed to Wathena and KC Christian to lead the DVL this season, although he said it should be competitive all-around.
Stottlemire said the key for the Bears will likely be developing some on-court chemistry with the mix of a small amount of returning varsity experience and a batch of players new to the varsity level.
“We’ve gotta get more familiar with one another and learn what all of our roles are,” Stottlemire said. “There are times we’ve looked good and times we haven’t, but we’ve had a couple days in a row with some good practices. I’m hoping as they play together more that happens more and more.”
Valley Falls
Coach: Caleb Gatzemeyer, fourth year
Last season: 7-15
Gatzemeyer and the Dragons recovered well from a 0-win season in 2006-07 by winning 7 games last season, and Gatzemeyer has the sights set on taking that next step with an athletic group of players this season.
Gatzemeyer paces all county teams with 37 players out for basketball this year in Valley Falls, including a solid group of eight seniors. Perhaps his top two returnees are senior guard Ray Cook and junior post player Riley Bunde, who already has a 31-point game this season, but Gatzemeyer also mentions junior guard Mitchell Streeter, senior forward Josh Kearney, junior guard Logan Wynkoop, sophomore guard/forward Alex Nottingham, senior Ridge Glassel, senior Dylan McKnight, senior T.J. Breese, senior Cole Edwards, junior Blane Brosa, and sophomore Brooks Glassel as other parts of a deep Dragon varsity.
“I’m looking to the upperclassmen for the leadership this season,” Gatzemeyer said. “Riley had a good scoring game that first game and has been good at consistency in rebounding but has struggled a little bit scoring lately. Our last game (a loss to KC Christian) I thought we took a couple steps back but we’ve had some good practices the last couple days and are feeling pretty confident.”
Gatzemeyer also pointed to Wathena and KCC as the teams to beat in the DVL along with Pleasant Ridge. Overall he said the league is pretty level, however.
Gatzemeyer said he has solid expectations but is focusing on a game-to-game basis with a busy schedule before the Christmas break.
“I’ve seen good signs in terms of our athleticism and effort,” he said. “We’ve established a good run of classes of kids coming through that look sound, so hopefully we can get a good season under our belt here and move on. When you think about it, you don’t get a whole lot of practice time until you hit that break. We’ve got some big tests coming up over the next couple weeks. We’ll try to keep things rolling our way.”
McLouth
Coach: Jason Schroeder, third year
Last season: 7-15
The Bulldogs had their ups and downs last season and lost a good group of seniors from that squad as Schroeder enters his third season as head coach at McLouth.
Gone are graduated scoring leaders Mike Rome, Mark Stewart and Ryan Smith from last year’s squad, so Schroeder is looking to senior forward Derrick Crouse, senior forward Jarrod Bechard and junior guard Cole Batman to take up the slack this season. McLouth has 24 players out for the squad, including only three seniors. The other senior, guard Vinny Gonzalez, is another role player Schroeder is expecting production from along with freshman post player Gavin Swearngin, junior guard Tyler Drinnon, freshman guard Alex Courtney and freshman forward Alen Kramer.
“We’ve got some young players in the mix,” Schroeder said. “We’ve had a couple tough games early, but the last game we played (a loss to Immaculata), I felt we let one get away. I feel a bit better about how the team is going.”
Schroeder echoed Stottlemire’s and Gatzemeyer’s assessments of the DVL in naming Pleasant Ridge, KC Christian and Wathena the top teams of the DVL. He said a group of Troy, Horton, Valley Falls, Oskaloosa and JCN could also step up.
“I think the league is in three or four little tiers this season,” he said.
Schroeder said time may be the team’s friend this season as he feels some experience for the younger players with the core of upperclassmen leadership may help the season play out favorably for the Bulldogs.
“We keep working on individual skills. We may try a little bit more pressure defense this season,” Schroeder said. “I put in a new offense this season and the guys are still getting used to that, so I’m being patient there. The guys are working hard, and as long as we keep doing that, I think good things will start to happen. All they can do is their best and that’s what I ask for.”
Jefferson West
Coach: Matt Tinsley, first year
Last season: 6-15
The Tigers lost one of the best players in the county in post player Tom Shirley to graduation, but Tinsley’s first squad of Tigers gives him some ingredients to work with as he makes the transition to the job.
Tinsley spent the last two years as boys’ coach at St. Marys after some time as a graduate assistant coach on the Washburn University men’s basketball team. He has 25 players out for basketball at West, including only three seniors.
Tinsley said he is looking to those seniors – guard Willie Barnett, forward Cole Buckman and guard Briar Ploude – as the team leaders. The rest of the varsity squad is fleshed out by junior forward Alex Baker, junior forward Aaron Starr, junior point guard Sam DeMaranville, sophomore forward Dillon Roy, junior guard Bryce Miller and junior guard Tim Rhodd and junior guard Adam Fechter.
“We have quite a bit of injuries early but I thought it was a complete 180-degree turnaround from our first to our second game,” Tinsley said. The Tigers were routed by Silver Lake in the first game but bounced back to give Perry-Lecompton all it could handle. “We led Perry-Lecompton with two minutes left, so I was pleased with our effort in that game. If we play with that effort every game, we have good things ahead of us.”
Tinsley mentioned Nemaha Valley and Sabetha as two of the teams to beat in the Big Seven this season.
“I’d like to think we have a shot,” Tinsley said. “We’ve got some good tests early to show where we’ll be but I expect us to be near the top.”
Tinsley said he favors an up-tempo style of play.
“I want us to be tough on the defensive end and get after it from a team aspect. I want the guys to know what it takes to play hard all the time. Once they get that figured out I think we’ll be looking for better things.I was very pleased with how we bounced back from that first game. I think they’re understanding what we’re teaching them in practice. Hopefully we get all that together and can do some good things this season.”
