GREENFIELD — This summer, they were quiet.
The gathered Greenfield-Central basketball players, a young and somewhat inexperienced group, might have been a little passive.
Their coach changed that. He sparked the Cougars, who now fill every practice with energy and enthusiasm as they build toward a new campaign.
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That, the Cougars feel, is a big strength as they look to rebound from a 7-16 season in 2017-18.
“It’s the amount of energy and chemistry that you’re seeing each and every day on the floor,” Greenfield-Central coach Lukas Haworth said of the team’s strength. “Even when it’s not the best drill, not the best execution for five or 10 minutes, there’s still a level of energy and a level of enthusiasm with these guys that make you realize that even through mistakes, you’re going to have that next-play mentality.”
That mentality came from Haworth, the team’s lone senior, Sam Hunt, said.
After losing their top three scorers and rebounders — Will O’Connor, Matt Turner and Brian Long — from last season, the team was left with youth and not a lot of varsity experience.
Hunt, now the team’s senior leader, played very limited minutes, appearing in just four games last year and scoring two total points. But he received leadership and mentoring from the seniors in the class above him.
That left him in a great position, he said. He’s ready to take to the court on a regular basis now and help lead a team with newfound energy that their coach brought out in the team during summer workouts.
“I’ve never been more excited in my life,” Hunt said. “I’m finally getting the chance to play on the varsity stage with my brothers. We’re going to war every single day, even in practice. I’m just ready for it.”
Taking the court
The Cougars do have some varsity experience. The learning curve for the team, according to Haworth, lies in the inexperience of not having players who are used to being in control, dictating the tempo of the game.
The team will have a good number of juniors on it, with brothers Brady and Caleb Mundell returning. Also back is Jacob Cochran. Each of the three played in at least 20 varsity games last year, combining for 7.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game.
Brock Wheeler, who played JV last year as a sophomore, will add length and depth. Haworth is excited to have Gavin Rose and Tyler Antic back on the team after not playing last year, and he said he expects to see them contribute with their size and athleticism.
Several sophomores who got JV experience last year also could contribute and play valuable minutes on the varsity team this season.
All in all, Greenfield-Central shapes up to bring balance to the court alongside the Cougars’ energy.
“I’ve been extremely impressed with our team up to this point,” Haworth said. “Our effort has been fantastic. The boys have worked really hard to come together both on and off the court. We did lose some big pieces that were big contributors last year, but these young men that are coming back really took it upon themselves to immediately step into those roles and develop the chemistry they need to try to bounce back.”
Learning curve
The Cougars learned a lot of lessons from last season.
In his first year as head coach after three years as an assistant at Greenfield-Central, Haworth’s team had a schedule that ranked in the top 50 in the state.
His team took its lumps, losing 16 games and winning just one Hoosier Heritage Conference game before falling in the sectional opener. But for a team looking for its first piece of hardware in over a decade — the Cougars last won the HHC title in 2004 and last won a sectional in 1998 — there was a big positive takeaway to last season.
They went toe-to-toe with some of the state’s better teams.
Greenfield-Central played in seven overtime games last year, falling in six of them. But they were close against teams that had strong seasons, including sectional champion Mt. Vernon, who outlasted the Cougars in four overtimes.
“When you play a 32-minute ball game, or in our case a lot of times a 36-minute ball game, and those games come down to one or two possessions, it can be really easy to get caught up in what that final score is, because that is the ultimate goal,” Haworth said. “The ultimate goal is to walk away with a win. That’s why you put so much effort in. But more importantly than that is to become the very best team that you can become. To say that we went toe-to-toe with that schedule, that we had a one-point margin of offense to defensive average against that schedule, and to put ourselves continuously in a position to win, I was extremely proud of those young men last year.”
Even after the tough losses, Haworth never saw his team quit. He had a few seniors who were getting ready to play at the next level, who could have given up on the season.
The younger players could have gotten down on themselves, starting to look ahead to next year and write the season off as a loss.
They didn’t. The Cougars never gave up on the season, battling until the very end, a nine-point loss to defending sectional champion Connersville.
That, Haworth said, was a defining characteristic of this team.
“You can’t coach that,” he said. “You can’t coach that desire to keep pushing forward, to keep striving to be your very best. That’s honestly what we’re trying to build off of.”
The Cougars learned from those losses. They showed perseverance and determination.
They know what it will take to turn those kinds of games around.
“We’ve been there. We know that we’re going to build off of that, and we’re going to take the extra step and win,” Hunt said. “Hopefully, not go into overtime, but if we do, we will win in overtime, because we’ve already been there. We know what we have to do for the future.”
The schedule doesn’t really get any easier this year for the Cougars. It’s tough again, but that’s the point.
They are building to bigger goals than just regular-season wins. To do so, the Cougars will focus on themselves and striving to be their very best, Haworth said, not worrying about the level of competition or what their opponents are doing this season.
“I think that’s what great programs do, no matter if it’s high school or professional,” Haworth said. “They rise to the level of their best execution and dare other people to stay with them. That’s what we’re going to continue to do.”
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Coach: Lukas Haworth
Last season: 7-16, 1-6 HHC, lost to Connersville in sectional opener
Top returnees: Sam Hunt, senior; Caleb Mundell, Brady Mundell and Jacob Cochran, juniors
Key newcomers: Brock Wheeler, Gavin Rose and Tyler Antic, juniors; Chris O’Connor, Caleb McIntire and Will VanDuyn, sophomores
What to expect: This shapes up to be an interesting year for the Greenfield-Central basketball program. The energy level and optimism are high, contrary to the experience level on the team. Replacing the three graduated seniors will be tough, but the Cougars will be boasted by the returns of Gavin Rose and Tyler Antic, two athletic members of the football team who are back on the basketball court. While they might be young, the Cougars were put through the gauntlet last year, stretching a third of their games into overtime. If the lineup gels before Christmas, the Cougars should see an uptick in wins both overall and in the Hoosier Heritage Conference.
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Coming this week and next in the Daily Reporter, we take a look at the rest of the county’s boys basketball teams, starting tomorrow with Eastern Hancock.
Thursday: How is Eastern Hancock shaping up after graduating eight seniors?
Friday: What does defending sectional champion Mt. Vernon have in store for 2018-19?
Next Wednesday: How good can New Palestine be this season with a big core returning?
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