 |
|
Go Foresters! . Feel Free to contact Telephone: . Huntington
College Facts . Return to: |
Huntington
College 2004-2005
SEASON OUTLOOK By
Nick Altman The
Mean Green Machine got a tune-up in the off-season, and if Huntington
College men’s basketball head coach Steve Platt happens to have any
mechanical problems throughout the season, he has plenty of parts to keep
the Foresters running smoothly. With
three returning starters and two highly regarded additions in the post, the
frontline appears to be the Foresters’ engine. Despite losing two very
unique players in the backcourt to graduation, the Foresters’ wheels have
not fallen off as a trio of guards will now get their chance to shine after
playing behind Ryan Thwaits and Derek Yoder. “What
we’ve got is versatility at all positions,” said Platt, who enters his
11th season as Huntington’s head coach. “We’ve got a lot of
interchangeable parts.” Thwaits,
a 6-0 guard, broke the backcourt mold, finishing with a Mid-Central
Conference-leading 8.4 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game along with 10.3
points each contest. Yoder, a 6-1 guard, played a more traditional role in
the backcourt as the team’s sharp-shooter and leading scorer with 14.9
points per game while hitting 47.5 percent from three-point range. “The
neat thing about both of them is they were just winners, and they enjoyed
winning and competing hard,” Platt said. “We’re going to miss them in
more ways than just their statistics. In their own ways, they were about
team basketball and winning, and I think that’s an underestimated part of
the game sometimes.” Despite
losing two key leaders, the Foresters will retool this season by adding a
few more unselfish players to a team that finished 25-9 overall and second
in the MCC with a 10-4 record a year ago. FORESTER
FRONTCOURT Huntington
returns the nucleus of a versatile frontcourt with Steve Snider, Chase Verba
and Kyle Ganton, but a pair of newcomers will also be vying for playing
time. Snider,
a 6-7 junior from Hamilton Southeastern High School in Indianapolis, Ind.,
was the Foresters’ second-leading scorer and rebounder last season with
11.6 points per game and 5.8 rebounds, while Verba, a 6-6 junior from Angola
(Ind.) High School, averaged 10.4 points and 5.4 rebounds a game and
finished the season with a team-leading 26 blocks. Snider closed out the
2003-04 year with a 25-point effort in the Foresters’ loss to William
Jewel in the NAIA national tournament. “Steve’s
gotten stronger now and Chase is so versatile, and both of them had really
big games last year at the national tournament,” Platt said. “We really
expect those two guys to pick up their games even more.” As
a freshman, Verba was strictly a post player but moved from the center
position to the power forward spot as a sophomore. He is likely to be moved
again this year, playing more of a small forward or even guard role at times
in the lineup. Sophomore
Kyle Ganton will also see considerable time in the post at small forward.
Ganton, a 6-5 swing player from Bronson High School in Coldwater, Mich.,
opened several eyes as a freshman, averaging 9.8 points per game while
hitting a team-leading 90.8 percent from the free-throw line. In MCC play,
Ganton had the conference’s third best free throw percentage, hitting 94.4
percent from the stripe. “He’s
not going to sneak up on anybody this year,” Platt said. “Kyle’s got
such a feather touch. He just has a way of getting around people and putting
it up. It may bounce around three of four times, but he¹s just a shooter.
He may be as good a shooter as we have.” With
Verba and Ganton sharing time at small forward, Snider will likely moved
into the power forward position, which will make room for 6-6 sophomore Alex
Kock in the paint. Kock, a transfer from Wright State University hailing
from DeKalb High School in Auburn, Ind., started 27 of 28 games and averaged
nearly 30 minutes and 7.3 points per contest as a freshman with the Raiders.
Following his first season, Kock opted to transfer to Huntington to be
closer to home. “It
was just a great opportunity for us to get another 6-6 kid who can shoot the
ball and understands the team concept,” Platt said. “He’s going to
bring a confidence level and an experience level that’s going to be unique
for a sophomore.” Adding
more depth to the Foresters’ frontcourt will be 6-6 freshman Doug Sheckler.
As a high school senior, Sheckler led Columbia City (Ind.) High School to a
25-4 record and a runner-up finish at the class 4A Indiana state finals. He
is the first Indiana All-Star to ever play for Huntington. “Doug
is a very talented kid, but it’s like everything else in life,” Platt
said, referring to the jump from high school to college. “At the high
school level, he was very successful. With the level we play at here,
you’ve got to be pretty good to be successful.” While
Kock and Sheckler are new to the Foresters’ program, Platt is expecting an
immediate impact from both players. “They’re obviously the two
highest-profile players that we’ve ever had come to Huntington,” Platt
said. Of
the Foresters’ five frontcourt players, Platt does not see any of them as
true post players. He plans to use that to his advantage by having four of
the five big men on the court at various times throughout the season. “It’s
going to be a lot of fun to find playing time for those guys. I think all
five of them will play a lot," Platt said. "They’re all
versatile, and none of them is just a true post. I think we can take
advantage of that. We can see what the match ups are. All those guys can go
down low and post up on people if they need to or shoot over the top of
people. They all can shoot threes and hit open shots.” FORESTER
BACKCOURT While
the Foresters lost two guards and team leaders to graduation in Thwaits and
Yoder, Huntington had plenty of talent just waiting to be unleashed from the
bench. Like the frontcourt, versatility will also be prevalent among the
Forester guards. The
lone senior on Huntington’s roster will also be the Foresters’ only true
point guard. Adam Bontreger, a 6-0 red-shirt senior from Westview High
School in Topeka, Ind., saw his first action in a green uniform last season
after transferring from Bethel College. He started 22 games last season,
averaging 4.1 points per game along with 2.8 assists. “Being
the only senior, Adam will do a really good job of leading, and of any of
the guards, he’s probably a point guard about all the time he’s on the
floor,” Platt said. “That’s kind of a natural position for him. He
understands the game and is like a coach on the floor.” Also
returning for Huntington in the backcourt will be Trevor Shively and Seth
Lochmueller. Shively, a 5-10 junior from Columbia City (Ind.) High School,
established himself as a long-range shooter last year by hitting 35.4
percent from beyond the three-point arc while averaging 4.8 points per
contest. “Trevor
has really improved, and I think he’s really excited about his
possibilities for this year,” Platt said. “He’s going to play some at
the point, and I think he’ll play some at the two spot. He stretches the
defense when he’s on the floor, because he can shoot it so deep.” Lochmueller,
a 6-1 sophomore from Carroll High School in Fort Wayne, Ind., averaged just
over eight minutes a game and saw time in 33 games last season. “He
didn’t get as much playing time as maybe he deserved,” Platt said.
“There were some games last year when he really played solid, and I know
his confidence level is probably even greater this year than it was last
year. He gives us a little bit more of an offensive minded player when
he’s on the floor, because he can not only hit the open jumper but he can
create a little bit and take the ball to the basket.” To
keep opponents off balance, Platt may also consider using Verba in the
backcourt, perhaps even as a point guard. Such a lineup would likely put
four - or even five - Foresters on the court who are 6-4 or taller. “Chase
can handle the ball as well as any guard, and we could put him out at the
point,” Platt said. “Maybe 80 percent of the time, we’re going to have
four kids 6-6 or bigger on the floor. We’re going to make it really tough
for people to figure out how to defend us.” Also
looking to see more playing time this year will be sophomores Jared Yoder
and James Haifley. Yoder, a 5-11 guard from Westview High School in
Shipshewana, Ind., was plagued by injuries during his freshman campaign and
saw action in just six games. Haifley, a 6-0 guard from Homestead High
School in Fort Wayne, Ind., played in 13 games last year and waited
patiently for his chance to step into a larger role. “Jared
is much improved. He’s healed up and ready to make his mark,” Platt
said. “Haifley may be the most improved kid on the team. He’s really
dedicated himself to be that Ryan Thwaits-type player, a six-footer who’s
strong and aggressive and just makes sure that people know when he’s on
the floor.” The
only newcomer in the backcourt will be Trent Shively. A 5-10 freshman, Platt
describes Shively as gutsy, smart on the floor and comparable to his
brother. “He’s
a lot like Trevor and can hit open threes, and he’ll sacrifice his
body," Platt said. "He gives us a little more added depth at the
guard spot.” BUSINESS
AS USUAL While
the look of the Foresters might be a little different this year, the key
components remain the same unselfish play and hard work. “I
think this team is very, very unselfish,” Platt said. “The new kids,
they just want to win. They’re kids that just understand the team
concept.” That
concept has worked for Platt, who has coached Huntington to a 224-111 record
over the past decade and an average of 26 wins per season over the last five
years - the highest average in the state. ”Our goal is the same that it’s been the last four or five years,” Platt said. “We want to win the conference, and someday we¹d like to win a national championship.” |