Wawasee Hoops Team Learning New System
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
The bright spot in a 5-16 season a year ago was the fact that not one senior was featured on the Warriors’ sectional roster, and just two are on this year’s.
The team may not have lost any players, but it did lose head coach Phil Mishler, who stepped down in June after 13 seasons and a 168-126 record, which included three sectional championships.
The Warriors last won a sectional title in 2010.
Filling the void left by Mishler is Wawasee Athletic Director Steve Wiktorowski, who’ll be splitting duties.
“It’s been busy, but I was aware of what the job would entail,” he said. “I really try hard to manage my time well, then I have really great help from both my office staff here and game day staff. The administration has been super supportive of me in this, so they’ve also been very understandable and helpful. It’s been a good transition so far.”
Wiktorowski was hired as Wawasee’s athletic director in July of 2011, after having coached the Goshen College women’s basketball team for nine seasons, going 93-183.
Prior to coaching at Goshen College, Wiktorowski coached area boys basketball teams, spending six seasons as Fairfield (1986-92), then two years as an assistant at Northridge before heading coaching six seasons at Prairie Heights (1995-2001) until taking the job at Goshen College.
Owner of a prep career mark of 123-176, Wiktorowski says this Wawasee team is as deep and versatile as any he’s coached.
“This may be one of the most competitive teams I’ve ever coached, from the standpoint of kids having a real opportunity to compete for minutes, spots and starting positions,” he said. “Playing time is real important and I think the kids understand that, especially for our guards. We have a lot of (guards) and we can’t play all of them, so they’re competing real hard for minutes. Our practices have been really spirited and physical. We’ve gotten a lot accomplished in a short period of time, because the kids have to compete so hard.”
There are a lot of guards on the Wawasee team, but they’re also learning a new system, which differs from Mishler’s up-and-down, constant substitution scheme.
In the past few seasons, Wawasee’s been known for trying to shoot around 30 three-pointers a game, trading easy buckets by the opponent for a quick chance to get a three-pointer up. That system worked to score 76 points per game in its first season in 2008, then went to 77.8 the next season, but has fallen in each of the last three from 71.0, to 60.2 and then to 50.6 last season.
Under Wiktorowski, the scheme will be much different.
“It’s going to be a little bit more traditional,” Wiktorowski said. “We want to push the ball up, similar to what Phil did, but we’re probably going to emphasize a little bit different shots that we’re looking for. We’re going to try to look from some high percentage shots early in the offense, then after that, we’ll look to spread the floor a little bit and move the ball.
“The kids have been welcoming of me and the new system,” he added. “They have a great work ethic. Phil really taught them well, about what they need to do to be committed. I’m really looking forward to it, but we’re looking at it from a year-long perspective.”
Wiktorowski’s looking long term because of the limited amount of time he’s had with the players heading into Tuesday’s season opener at Fairfield.
“We have some kids that have played on the varsity floor, so that’s a positive,” he said. “However, we will have a much different system than they’ve played in before and we really didn’t get to implement much of it this summer, because I was hired around mid-July. So a lot of these kids are learning my system two weeks before their first game, as opposed to most teams that had two months this summer to work on a system they already knew from the season before. So, we’re not really sure where we’re going to match up right when the season starts, but I think it will improve tremendously over the course of the season.”
One of the most experienced Warriors will be junior Alex Clark, who averaged 13.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 steals per game last season.
“Alex has a chance to be one of the best players in the area,” Wiktorowski said of the 6-foot-2, 185-pound guard. “We definitely want to look for him and we’ll run some things for him. At the same time, I think it’s important that you’re balanced offensively. Right now, he’s injured, so that can happen and teams can also scheme against players and stop them. So, you have to have that balance. You have to have other players that can score and one of the things I like about this team is, not only is Alex a versatile player, but we have a lot of versatile players.”
Wiktorowski says he’s unsure if Clark’s injury will sideline him for the Fairfield game, but if he can’t go, the first-year Wawasee coach will have options.
Wawasee returns six players that averaged between 2.4 and 7.8 points per game last year.
“Gage Reinhard has the ability to play both the inside and outside,” Wiktorowski said. “(Junior) Jake Hutchinson has shot the ball real well here early in the season. (Senior) Chase Myers is another really versatile player at 6-5 that can almost play any position on the floor. (Junior) Stori Bright is a really good defender and rebounder, and I think he’s going to improve his scoring this year. We’re also hoping Kody Carpenter can take a step forward this year as a 6-5 senior with some size. Sam Clark is also going to play a lot of minutes at point guard, even though he’s a sophomore. Another sophomore would be Jeff Moore, who is a very capable shooter, and another is Jayce Boatwright. He played well in our scrimmage and he may be one of our best athletes all-around. David Rocha and Aaron Voirol are juniors with experience and they’re very versatile players.”
Junior Elijah Solina fills out the varsity roster, splitting time with the junior varsity.
Following the Fairfield contest, Wawasee hosts back-to-back games against Angola (Saturday) and Manchester (Dec. 6).
With six games before its Northern Lakes Conference opener at Warsaw on Dec. 20, Wiktorowski hopes his experienced team can become more acquainted with his system and finish much better than its 0-14 NLC mark the previous two seasons.
“We haven’t really talked about (about the NLC),” he said. “To be honest, we’re really focused on getting off to a good start and learning the system. I do know this is a very talented conference all-around, just from talking to coaches and looking at previews. Where we stack up right now, because things are so new for us, is a little bit difficult to predict. But obviously it’s always a goal to try to compete for a conference championship.”
A championship he has talked to his team about is a sectional title, which would come on its home court.
“Our goal is, we’re hosting the sectional and it may be the last time for a few years, so we want to take advantage of that,” he said. “We’re looking for right now, this year. We know we’re a little bit behind other people right now, but we’re working hard to catch up.”[[In-content Ad]]
Latest News
E-Editions
The bright spot in a 5-16 season a year ago was the fact that not one senior was featured on the Warriors’ sectional roster, and just two are on this year’s.
The team may not have lost any players, but it did lose head coach Phil Mishler, who stepped down in June after 13 seasons and a 168-126 record, which included three sectional championships.
The Warriors last won a sectional title in 2010.
Filling the void left by Mishler is Wawasee Athletic Director Steve Wiktorowski, who’ll be splitting duties.
“It’s been busy, but I was aware of what the job would entail,” he said. “I really try hard to manage my time well, then I have really great help from both my office staff here and game day staff. The administration has been super supportive of me in this, so they’ve also been very understandable and helpful. It’s been a good transition so far.”
Wiktorowski was hired as Wawasee’s athletic director in July of 2011, after having coached the Goshen College women’s basketball team for nine seasons, going 93-183.
Prior to coaching at Goshen College, Wiktorowski coached area boys basketball teams, spending six seasons as Fairfield (1986-92), then two years as an assistant at Northridge before heading coaching six seasons at Prairie Heights (1995-2001) until taking the job at Goshen College.
Owner of a prep career mark of 123-176, Wiktorowski says this Wawasee team is as deep and versatile as any he’s coached.
“This may be one of the most competitive teams I’ve ever coached, from the standpoint of kids having a real opportunity to compete for minutes, spots and starting positions,” he said. “Playing time is real important and I think the kids understand that, especially for our guards. We have a lot of (guards) and we can’t play all of them, so they’re competing real hard for minutes. Our practices have been really spirited and physical. We’ve gotten a lot accomplished in a short period of time, because the kids have to compete so hard.”
There are a lot of guards on the Wawasee team, but they’re also learning a new system, which differs from Mishler’s up-and-down, constant substitution scheme.
In the past few seasons, Wawasee’s been known for trying to shoot around 30 three-pointers a game, trading easy buckets by the opponent for a quick chance to get a three-pointer up. That system worked to score 76 points per game in its first season in 2008, then went to 77.8 the next season, but has fallen in each of the last three from 71.0, to 60.2 and then to 50.6 last season.
Under Wiktorowski, the scheme will be much different.
“It’s going to be a little bit more traditional,” Wiktorowski said. “We want to push the ball up, similar to what Phil did, but we’re probably going to emphasize a little bit different shots that we’re looking for. We’re going to try to look from some high percentage shots early in the offense, then after that, we’ll look to spread the floor a little bit and move the ball.
“The kids have been welcoming of me and the new system,” he added. “They have a great work ethic. Phil really taught them well, about what they need to do to be committed. I’m really looking forward to it, but we’re looking at it from a year-long perspective.”
Wiktorowski’s looking long term because of the limited amount of time he’s had with the players heading into Tuesday’s season opener at Fairfield.
“We have some kids that have played on the varsity floor, so that’s a positive,” he said. “However, we will have a much different system than they’ve played in before and we really didn’t get to implement much of it this summer, because I was hired around mid-July. So a lot of these kids are learning my system two weeks before their first game, as opposed to most teams that had two months this summer to work on a system they already knew from the season before. So, we’re not really sure where we’re going to match up right when the season starts, but I think it will improve tremendously over the course of the season.”
One of the most experienced Warriors will be junior Alex Clark, who averaged 13.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 steals per game last season.
“Alex has a chance to be one of the best players in the area,” Wiktorowski said of the 6-foot-2, 185-pound guard. “We definitely want to look for him and we’ll run some things for him. At the same time, I think it’s important that you’re balanced offensively. Right now, he’s injured, so that can happen and teams can also scheme against players and stop them. So, you have to have that balance. You have to have other players that can score and one of the things I like about this team is, not only is Alex a versatile player, but we have a lot of versatile players.”
Wiktorowski says he’s unsure if Clark’s injury will sideline him for the Fairfield game, but if he can’t go, the first-year Wawasee coach will have options.
Wawasee returns six players that averaged between 2.4 and 7.8 points per game last year.
“Gage Reinhard has the ability to play both the inside and outside,” Wiktorowski said. “(Junior) Jake Hutchinson has shot the ball real well here early in the season. (Senior) Chase Myers is another really versatile player at 6-5 that can almost play any position on the floor. (Junior) Stori Bright is a really good defender and rebounder, and I think he’s going to improve his scoring this year. We’re also hoping Kody Carpenter can take a step forward this year as a 6-5 senior with some size. Sam Clark is also going to play a lot of minutes at point guard, even though he’s a sophomore. Another sophomore would be Jeff Moore, who is a very capable shooter, and another is Jayce Boatwright. He played well in our scrimmage and he may be one of our best athletes all-around. David Rocha and Aaron Voirol are juniors with experience and they’re very versatile players.”
Junior Elijah Solina fills out the varsity roster, splitting time with the junior varsity.
Following the Fairfield contest, Wawasee hosts back-to-back games against Angola (Saturday) and Manchester (Dec. 6).
With six games before its Northern Lakes Conference opener at Warsaw on Dec. 20, Wiktorowski hopes his experienced team can become more acquainted with his system and finish much better than its 0-14 NLC mark the previous two seasons.
“We haven’t really talked about (about the NLC),” he said. “To be honest, we’re really focused on getting off to a good start and learning the system. I do know this is a very talented conference all-around, just from talking to coaches and looking at previews. Where we stack up right now, because things are so new for us, is a little bit difficult to predict. But obviously it’s always a goal to try to compete for a conference championship.”
A championship he has talked to his team about is a sectional title, which would come on its home court.
“Our goal is, we’re hosting the sectional and it may be the last time for a few years, so we want to take advantage of that,” he said. “We’re looking for right now, this year. We know we’re a little bit behind other people right now, but we’re working hard to catch up.”[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092