LCA Cougars Entering New Era
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
Gone from last season’s 7-15 club are nine graduated seniors, as well as coach Lee Compson.
This year, Joel Burrus takes over the LCA boys program after coaching junior varsity under his father John Burrus for four seasons at Southwood before serving as an assistant coach at IU Kokomo the last two years.
“I wanted to get back into the high school game,” Burrus said. “I dipped into the college game a little bit, but I knew my passion and love was here in the high school game.”
Just wanting to get back into the high school game, he decided to take on the tough situation at LCA, where experience is low.
Despite the lack of returnees, Burrus says he’s still looking for actual victories instead of moral ones.
“I’ve never really been into saying, ‘Well, we’re just going to go out there and work hard and try hard and see what happens,’” Burrus said. “I want to win. Even with the nine seniors they had last year, they didn’t experience a lot of winning success. I’m bringing in a little bit different style. I’m a little bit different guy to deal with. I demand a lot of things. Hard work, mental preparation. After our team pictures, we’re going into the film room to watch our scrimmage. Just little things like that is what’s going to help us win games.
“Defense and rebounding are my big thing,” he added. “If we can guard and if we can rebound, we’ll surprise some teams.”
He may know what he wants, but the only commodity he knows what he’s going to get with is Silveus, who averaged 5.0 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game last year.
“We have Chris Silveus, who will have a lot of stuff go through him this year,” Burrus said. “He’s the guy that I’m really looking to key on. We’re going to focus a lot of our offense off of him. He’s a good leader. He’s a proven scorer on the varsity level and he’s really stepping up his game. He’s put on some weight in the weight room, so we’re really excited about him.”
After Silveus, it’s hard to tell who will step up, but Burrus has a positive outlook.
“Cody Kline, he’s another senior, but he didn’t play last year,” he said. “He’s another guard and he’s going to do a lot of good things for us. He’s a really good defender. Kind of a pest on defense. Not a really big kid, but pretty quick. He’s also left-handed, so he can do some things off the dribble and he’s not a bad shooter.
“(Junior) Brigham Davis (a transfer for Warsaw Community High School), he’ll play some big minutes for us,” he added. “Then sophomores Connor Blum and Carter Twombly, those are two that I’m expecting a lot of things out of. They’ve really improved over the summer, since I’ve gotten the job. Anytime you can get sophomores in, and getting them to improve in the offseason, it’s a big advantage to get them time on the floor.”
A couple other players have also caught Burrus’ attention.
“(Junior) Nate Gross is about 6-2, but he can really use his weight well and moves pretty well for a bigger guy,” he said. “He’s going to play a lot in the middle of our zone. Then we have (sophomore) Jon Harmon, he’s a point guard. He’s growing into his body, maturing and he impressed me in our scrimmage, just with his handling and distribution of the ball. He’s not looking for his shot a lot right now, but he can shoot it.”
Junior Logan Phillips and sophomore Evan Bremer round out LCA’s varsity roster.
“We’re trying to develop some of these other guys, who are going to be splitting minutes (between varsity and junior varsity),” Burrus said. “Hopefully, they can go down to the JV, get some reps down there and carry that into the varsity, helping us with role players.”
For now, no position has been solidified for the Cougars, who open the season with three-straight road games, beginning with Caston Tuesday night.
“Our first three games are pretty tough,” Burrus said. “We go to Caston, Bethany Christian (Dec. 3) and then Hamilton (Dec. 7). Caston’s always been a power in 1A. They’ve won a lot of games. So, our first three games are going to be a big test for us. If we come out of there with some wins, we’ll see what happens.”[[In-content Ad]]
Gone from last season’s 7-15 club are nine graduated seniors, as well as coach Lee Compson.
This year, Joel Burrus takes over the LCA boys program after coaching junior varsity under his father John Burrus for four seasons at Southwood before serving as an assistant coach at IU Kokomo the last two years.
“I wanted to get back into the high school game,” Burrus said. “I dipped into the college game a little bit, but I knew my passion and love was here in the high school game.”
Just wanting to get back into the high school game, he decided to take on the tough situation at LCA, where experience is low.
Despite the lack of returnees, Burrus says he’s still looking for actual victories instead of moral ones.
“I’ve never really been into saying, ‘Well, we’re just going to go out there and work hard and try hard and see what happens,’” Burrus said. “I want to win. Even with the nine seniors they had last year, they didn’t experience a lot of winning success. I’m bringing in a little bit different style. I’m a little bit different guy to deal with. I demand a lot of things. Hard work, mental preparation. After our team pictures, we’re going into the film room to watch our scrimmage. Just little things like that is what’s going to help us win games.
“Defense and rebounding are my big thing,” he added. “If we can guard and if we can rebound, we’ll surprise some teams.”
He may know what he wants, but the only commodity he knows what he’s going to get with is Silveus, who averaged 5.0 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game last year.
“We have Chris Silveus, who will have a lot of stuff go through him this year,” Burrus said. “He’s the guy that I’m really looking to key on. We’re going to focus a lot of our offense off of him. He’s a good leader. He’s a proven scorer on the varsity level and he’s really stepping up his game. He’s put on some weight in the weight room, so we’re really excited about him.”
After Silveus, it’s hard to tell who will step up, but Burrus has a positive outlook.
“Cody Kline, he’s another senior, but he didn’t play last year,” he said. “He’s another guard and he’s going to do a lot of good things for us. He’s a really good defender. Kind of a pest on defense. Not a really big kid, but pretty quick. He’s also left-handed, so he can do some things off the dribble and he’s not a bad shooter.
“(Junior) Brigham Davis (a transfer for Warsaw Community High School), he’ll play some big minutes for us,” he added. “Then sophomores Connor Blum and Carter Twombly, those are two that I’m expecting a lot of things out of. They’ve really improved over the summer, since I’ve gotten the job. Anytime you can get sophomores in, and getting them to improve in the offseason, it’s a big advantage to get them time on the floor.”
A couple other players have also caught Burrus’ attention.
“(Junior) Nate Gross is about 6-2, but he can really use his weight well and moves pretty well for a bigger guy,” he said. “He’s going to play a lot in the middle of our zone. Then we have (sophomore) Jon Harmon, he’s a point guard. He’s growing into his body, maturing and he impressed me in our scrimmage, just with his handling and distribution of the ball. He’s not looking for his shot a lot right now, but he can shoot it.”
Junior Logan Phillips and sophomore Evan Bremer round out LCA’s varsity roster.
“We’re trying to develop some of these other guys, who are going to be splitting minutes (between varsity and junior varsity),” Burrus said. “Hopefully, they can go down to the JV, get some reps down there and carry that into the varsity, helping us with role players.”
For now, no position has been solidified for the Cougars, who open the season with three-straight road games, beginning with Caston Tuesday night.
“Our first three games are pretty tough,” Burrus said. “We go to Caston, Bethany Christian (Dec. 3) and then Hamilton (Dec. 7). Caston’s always been a power in 1A. They’ve won a lot of games. So, our first three games are going to be a big test for us. If we come out of there with some wins, we’ll see what happens.”[[In-content Ad]]
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