The 2017-18 boys basketball season was a memorable one at Hauser.
The Jets went 6-0 in winning the Mid-Hoosier Conference and 17-7 overall, falling to eventual Class A state champion Morristown in the sectional semifinals. Hauser had beaten the Yellow Jackets in the regular season.
The top eight players from that team, however, have graduated, and coach Griff Roth retired. Nate Cangany, the former Waldron head coach who was Hauser’s junior varsity coach last season, steps into the head coaching role.
“When you do anything new, it’s going to take time,” Cangany said. “It is a process. There have been practices so far than have been really good. Then, we’ve also had some practices like, ‘Who is this team?’ We want to develop consistency. I do think that we have the potential to surprise some people.”
Only two players return with much varsity experience. Will Trotter, a 6-foot-1 senior, and 6-4 senior Sean Miller saw a little action last season.
“Those two guys are definitely going to be guys that we can count on, but we feel like we have 10 guys right now, and competition is a good thing,” Cangany said. “We know that Game 1 is on Tuesday (at Brown County), but it’s going to be a process all season finding out who is going to help us.”
Several players will move up from the JV, including 6-1 junior Sam Johnson, who currently is injured, and 6-6 juniors Trey Johnson and Parker Eickbush. Jackson Paradise, a 6-1 junior, has transferred in from Columbus East.
The Jets have two other seniors in 6-3 Austin Chambers and 6-0 Jacob Walton. Brock Thalls, a 6-0 sophomore point guard, and 5-10 sophomore Austin Cord also could see action.
Cangany wants to continue the up-tempo style that Hauser has played the past several years and to continue to play inside-out on offense, but use more ball screens. He’ll use a man-to-man defensive system.
“The IHSAA allows schools to practice twice a week for two hours in the fall now, and we really tried to utilize that as a way to continue our skills, and we also tried to put in our new system, both defensively and offensively,” Cangany said. “The fall was very helpful for us to lay the foundation of what we’re doing. When teams play us, we want to be known as a team that’s very dangerous on offense, but also stout on the defensive end.”
Jennings County
The Panthers return one full-time and three part-time starters from a team that went 5-19, including 0-7 in the Hoosier Hills Conference.
“We should have a good team,” Jennings coach Josh Land said. “We have some new kids, and we’ll be all right. We have talent. We have good chemistry with our team. We have kids that want to play with each other.”
Weston Miller, a 6-3 senior, is the lone returning full-time starter. Aaron Martin, a 6-3 junior, and 6-0 senior Kent Biehle started some last year, along with 6-0 senior Cody Wilson, who started before injuring his knee in February. He should be back by Christmas.
Josh Pettit, a 6-4 senior who started as a freshman and sophomore, is back after sitting out last season and likely will join the aforementioned quartet in the starting lineup. Trey Wilson, a 6-2 sophomore, and 5-10 junior Owen Miller, also saw varsity action last season and will play prominent roles.
Joey DuLoung, a 6-0 junior, and 6-4 junior Joe Kelley move up to the varsity this season. Jacob Vogel, a 6-6 freshman, and 6-0 freshman Carson McNulty will start year on JV, but could move up to varsity by the end of the season.
“We’ve worked really hard the last two weeks,” Land said. “We just have to fine tune some things. I think by the end of the season, we’ll be a pretty competitive team.”
Brown County
The Eagles have a new coach in John Berning, who has spent the past two years as coach at North Vermillion.
Berning takes over a team that went 4-19, including 0-5 in the Western Indiana Conference East Division.
“Our record is not one of our goals this year,” Berning said. “It will be in future years. When the two leading scorers from a four-win team graduate and the third-leading scorer doesn’t come out, it’s tough. We’re going to be young, undersized, inexperienced and it’s a process.”
Devin Smith-Harden, a 5-10 senior, and 5-10 junior Caleb Yeager each started some games last season. They likely will be joined in the lineup by 6-1 junior Aaron McCann, 6-6 junior Jordan Watson and 5-7 sophomore point guard Travis Ely.
Cody Walsh, a 5-10 freshman, could be the sixth man or even a starter. Berning also will look to 6-6 junior Peyton Proctor, 6-0 sophomore Ricky Stanley and 5-8 freshman Carter Kelly.
“I’m pretty excited,” Berning said. “We have some young talent. Our goals are to get better day-by-day and just to see that improvement. We’re looking to build that culture this year to see that success. My hope is that will pay off in four months come tournament time, but it might take a year and four months.”
Edinburgh
The Lancers are coming off a big season in which they went 17-9, including 4-2 in the MHC, and won a sectional title.
Coltan Henderson, a 6-1 senior, returns after averaging 12.2 points a game last season. Bryce Burton (9 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 4.0 apg), a 6-0 senior, is back at point guard.
Jordan Myers, a 6-5 senior post player, and senior guards Darius Bennett and Hunter Dean saw varsity action last season and could move into starting roles.
“Obviously, I think Coltan will get a lot of (defensive) attention, but the other guys, on any given night I feel they can be a double-digit scorer,” Edinburgh coach Keith Witty said.
Others who could see action include 6-5 junior Tyson Sackman, 6-4 sophomore Dakota Balthazor and 6-2 freshman Travis Jones.
South Decatur
The Cougars will look to improve on a 4-20 record, including 1-5 in the MHC. But they lost eight seniors and have a key returner that is out with a knee injury.
“We’re young,” South Decatur coach Kendall Wildey said. “If we played 10 times, our junior varsity could beat our varsity four or five times. We’re going to take some thumps on the varsity level. We’re one year away, though. That’s not to say we won’t get anything accomplished because these kids are working so hard, and they’re getting better.”
Lane Lauderbaugh, a 6-4 sophomore, moved into the starting lineup midway through last season after transferring from Jennings County. Wyatt Gatewood, a 5-8 sophomore, was a part-time starter.
Trent Nobbe, a 6-1 senior, saw a little varsity action, but the rest of the players will be new. They include 6-0 freshman Hunter Johnson, 5-8 sophomore Tyler Sporleder, 6-4 sophomore Cody Diekhoff, 6-2 freshman Kyle Tetrick and 6-0 junior Conner Bower.
Trinity Lutheran
Trinity returns four starters from a team that went 9-17 and lost to Edinburgh in the sectional final.
“We saw a lot of improvement last year and had a good ending,” Trinity coach Brian Stuckwisch said. “That was a good plus for us, being a young team. I think that gives a lot of confidence to some of the younger guys going into this year.”
AJ Goecker, a 6-4 senior, led the Cougars with 15.5 points and 5.8 rebounds last season. Also back are 5-10 senior point guard Trent Shoemaker (9.8 ppg, 8.5 apg, 2.0 spg), 5-10 sophomore Tyler Goecker (10.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg) and 6-3 sophomore Jack Marksberry (7.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg).
A pair of 6-2 seniors, Aden Jones and Josiah Foster, also will see action, along with 6-4 junior Josh Rowe, who played varsity last year, but tore an ACL this summer and will be out until mid-December. Others who could see action include 6-2 freshman Mitchell Hackman, 6-2 senior Riley Bartels and 5-10 junior Kaedon Bright, a transfer from Seymour.
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The 2018-19 Hauser boys basketball schedule:
Tuesday;at Brown County;7:30 p.m.
Saturday;Columbus North;7:30 p.m.
Nov. 30;Morristown;7:30 p.m.
Dec. 8;at Greensburg;7:30 p.m.
Dec. 14;Edinburgh;7:30 p.m.
Dec. 21;at Rushville;7:30 p.m.
Dec. 26;vs. Trinity Lutheran in Edinburgh tourney;2 p.m.
Dec. 27;at Edinburgh Tournament;TBA
Jan. 4;North Decatur;7:30 p.m.
Jan. 11;at Shelbyville;7:30 p.m.
Jan. 12;at Milan;7:30 p.m.
Jan. 18;at Waldron;7:30 p.m.
Jan. 19;Rising Sun;7:30 p.m.
Jan. 25;at South Decatur;7:30 p.m.
Jan. 26;Batesville;7:30 p.m.
Jan. 31;Southwestern (Shelby);7:30 p.m.
Feb. 2;at Heritage Christian;2:30 p.m.
Feb. 8;Jac-Cen-Del;7:30 p.m.
Feb. 9;at Madison Shawe;7:30 p.m.
Feb. 16;at Indian Creek;7:30 p.m.
Feb. 19;at Triton Central;7:30 p.m.
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