New Hauser girls basketball coach Chad Evans didn’t waste any time introducing his team to a new style of play during the June period when coaches are permitted to work with their players.
Evans, a former assistant at Greensburg and Southwestern (Shelby), is speeding up the pace.
“We’re completely changing our defensive and offensive philosophies,” Evans said. “They’ve actually responded very well to the way we’re going to be playing defensively. Offensively, they like it. We’re trying to be as fast as we can. With the personnel we have, I think they’ll respond very well to it.”
The defense will be a variation of a man-to-man, called “pack-line defense” that a lot of colleges run. Several college teams, including reigning national champion Virginia, use it, and Evans has talked to Louisville coach Chris Mack and Michigan State coach Tom Izzo about it at clinics.
“With the onset of probably in the next four or five years, a shot clock coming in, the pack-line defense is going to be beneficial,” Evans said. “It forces you to shoot jump shots and not layups. They’ve bought into it 100 percent, and they’re enjoying it.”
The past 19 years, the Jets have given up 48.8 points a game. Evans said that needs to improve, so his practices have been about 80 percent defense and 20 percent offense.
Hauser returns four starters in incoming seniors Bree Hadley, Mel Hasler and Shelby Fugate and incoming junior Hannah Johnson. Incoming seniors Leah Joyce and Nichole Paetzel and incoming sophomores Aunaka Wasil and Morgan Bottoms also are playing with next year’s varsity, along with a couple of freshmen.
“We have some pretty good younger kids that will probably be contributing,” Evans said.
The Jets did not play any games in June, but they practiced for about two hours each Tuesday and Thursday night.
“I think it’s going to be exciting for Hauser,” Evans said. “They’re really going to enjoy watching these girls play and their style.”
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This is the first of six stories this week on how the summer basketball seasons went for Bartholomew County schools.
Today: Hauser girls
Tuesday: Columbus East girls
Wednesday: Columbus North girls
Thursday: Hauser boys
Friday: Columbus East boys
Saturday: Columbus North boys
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