High School Basketball: Iola Mustangs
The high school basketball season may be six months away but the Iola Mustangs are already hard at work getting things ready to roll for the 2018-19 season.
The changes between this years squad and the 2017-18 iteration that ended the season with a 10-11 record and a loss in the first round of sub-state to host Frontenac will definitely be noticeable, even to the most casual basketball fan.
Were definitely going to be a lot smaller, incoming senior forward Kane Rogers said with a smile. Well be passing and cutting a lot and were definitely going to use everybody on the floor.
Gone are the Mustangs two towers in graduated seniors Ethan Holloway and Evan Sigg who made up the lions share of Iolas offensive output last season. Add in the graduation of starter Cale Barnhart and major role player Isaac Vink, it becomes even clearer that a major shift must occur during the offseason for the Mustangs.
They were great, Rogers said. They were the best people Ive ever played with. Its going to be tough, but were going to have to work through it and do our best.
And thats why while the Iola football camp starts across town and legion baseball teams continue their seasons a group of players are working hard inside the Iola High School gym, prepping for a season that doesnt start until after Thanksgiving.
The benefits are twofold, second-year head coach Luke Bycroft said of his summer camp. One is you lay the foundation for the young guys coming in. We had eight freshmen last week and we talked through our defensive system and things that well be working on when we get to practice.
For our older guys, we lose a lot of experience and a ton of size so next season we will become a completely different kind of team. I love those guys that we had last year and well miss them, but what we have now is more tailored to the way that I coach. Id like to get the ball inside but this year well have to do that off the dribble. Were going to be putting the ball on the floor and attacking in transition. So this summer is good for getting that idea in their head that this is a different style and heres how we want them to approach it.
Itll be up to guys like Rogers and fellow-incoming seniors point guard Derek By-croft and shooting guard Blake Ashmore to lead the transition into that new offensive look. Coach Bycroft envisions his team having more freedom in half-court sets to attack both by driving to the basket and kicking it out to open shooters on the perimeter.
It may look a little more like what Burlington does offensively but we probably wont chuck up as many outside shots even though we have some guys who can shoot and should shoot, By-croft said.
Defensively, little changes. Bycroft still wants maximum effort coupled with fundamental and strong man and zone defensive looks with the addition of a full court press that Iola played with late in the season.
Bycroft hopes those changes in addition to a winning culture and attitude jumpstarted by Iola baseballs state championship last month will be the key to a bid to the state tournament.
Theyre athletes who have had success and Id sure like to hope that will bleed into the basketball season, Bycroft said. At the beginning of practice last year, we made everyone go around and give a little speech and part of that was they had to say something they had struggled with. The majority of them said confidence. Hopefully winning a state championship in any sport will go a long way in erasing some of that lack of confidence.
