It's Easier To Renovate A Season Than A Gym Floor
January 31, 2018 at 5:26 p.m.
By Roger Grossman-
Anyone who is paying attention knew that this Tiger Basketball season would be different than about any other in recent memory. Eight boys graduated, including Indiana All-Star Kyle Mangas, who saved his best day as a Tiger for his last. Two others moved away.
The returning players included one starter who averaged less than two points per game, a reserve senior guard who hit some big shots in key spots, a senior who rarely played and a mid-season call-up from the junior varsity as a sophomore.
Mix those four young men with most of the members of a junior varsity squad that had a really good season last year and you have the definition of a rebuilding season.
Now, using the term “rebuilding season” in this town is not popular. And I heard about my use of it in the opening week. “This is Warsaw Tiger Basketball…we shouldn’t ever rebuild” a fan wrote me after the first two games of the season.
But to expect this group of players to just jump into this season and pick up where the last team left off is just silly.
So a 2-0 start was great, but it was only two games and a hard schedule was ahead.
The 2-0 record became 2-5 over a span of 15 days ... 15 long, hard, painful days. Good opponents, bad first quarters and a lot of missed three-point attempts led to a level of discouragement that bordered on despair.
The worst part of it was that most of those five losses were witnessed by the home fans.
The low point was a 28-20 loss to rival Wawasee.
I thought about that night a lot, as I am sure a lot of you Tiger fans have. I would like to suggest to you that it was the darkest night of the season, but it also seems it was the moment that things started to turn around.
The Tigers got off to a slow start the next night against Crown Point, and lost, but played better.
Then the losing streak ended with a solid win over Whitko at home, and it was followed by seven more wins and losses only to Westview (then 2A No. 1 and unbeaten) and Zionsville (then 4A No. 4 and unbeaten). They are unbeaten since New Year’s Day, and Thursday they will head to Elkhart’s fabled North Side Gym with a chance to secure at least a share of a fourth consecutive Northern Lakes Conference championship.
I had said, even before the season started, “Let’s see where they are after Christmas.” Building takes patience, and when you are almost starting from the ground-up, it cannot happen quickly if you want it done right. I thought in October that if this team could survive a brutal early-season schedule and not be destroyed, they could begin to use what they had learned to grow in the second half.
And that, friends, is exactly what is happening.
The concern was never about whether these players were talented enough. Not for me. It was always about the experience, and the settling of players into roles. Could Nolan Groninger become the leading scorer and the primary ball-handler at the same time? Can Zach Riley become an effective post player for the first time as a senior? Can this team’s defense hold opponents enough for their offense to win them games?
Well, Groninger’s been so good, and heads to Elkhart with a streak of 11 straight double figure games and a 14 points per game average. And the calling up of Blake Marsh from the JV has given Groninger a playmaker to take some of that pressure off of him.
Riley not only is holding his ground in the post, but is displaying the ability to score with his back to the basket—a fading art in today’s game.
And frankly, Warsaw’s defense was a pleasant surprise at the beginning and has gotten better and better as their offensive efficiency (fewer three-point attempts, more drives and free throw attempts) has gotten better and better.
I know a lot of people gave up on them after the start, and I understand. But can I suggest to you that this Tiger team is not the one that started the season. The best part … they still have a lot of growing to do. Their upside is pretty significant. Plymouth will be here Feb. 9, and it just might be for the NLC title.
For Warsaw, it’s a season of building a team. For Triton, it’s something completely different.
A broken water pipe in a lockeroom that happened at the worst possible time left the Trojan Trench a warped mess, and unusable for practice or games.
I talked to Triton AD Mason McIntyre on Tuesday, and he told me that the insurance company handling their claim still has not given them the go-ahead to replace the floor.
That pipe burst on Jan 7 – more than three weeks ago.
It’s going to take six weeks to do all that needs done! What it means is Triton will not host the boys sectional or regional. The sectional is going to Culver, and the regional is still unassigned. Triton is really good at hosting tournaments. It’s a credit to their school and their community.
It’s hard to accept that senior basketball players will have to have their senior night celebrations in the elementary gym across the street or in Plymouth because an insurance company is sitting on their … laptop … waiting forrrrr, what? To see if the wood that was water-damaged gets better on its own? Shameful.
Renovation projects go best when you have control of your own project. The Warsaw boys basketball team has that. The poor people at Triton do not.
Anyone who is paying attention knew that this Tiger Basketball season would be different than about any other in recent memory. Eight boys graduated, including Indiana All-Star Kyle Mangas, who saved his best day as a Tiger for his last. Two others moved away.
The returning players included one starter who averaged less than two points per game, a reserve senior guard who hit some big shots in key spots, a senior who rarely played and a mid-season call-up from the junior varsity as a sophomore.
Mix those four young men with most of the members of a junior varsity squad that had a really good season last year and you have the definition of a rebuilding season.
Now, using the term “rebuilding season” in this town is not popular. And I heard about my use of it in the opening week. “This is Warsaw Tiger Basketball…we shouldn’t ever rebuild” a fan wrote me after the first two games of the season.
But to expect this group of players to just jump into this season and pick up where the last team left off is just silly.
So a 2-0 start was great, but it was only two games and a hard schedule was ahead.
The 2-0 record became 2-5 over a span of 15 days ... 15 long, hard, painful days. Good opponents, bad first quarters and a lot of missed three-point attempts led to a level of discouragement that bordered on despair.
The worst part of it was that most of those five losses were witnessed by the home fans.
The low point was a 28-20 loss to rival Wawasee.
I thought about that night a lot, as I am sure a lot of you Tiger fans have. I would like to suggest to you that it was the darkest night of the season, but it also seems it was the moment that things started to turn around.
The Tigers got off to a slow start the next night against Crown Point, and lost, but played better.
Then the losing streak ended with a solid win over Whitko at home, and it was followed by seven more wins and losses only to Westview (then 2A No. 1 and unbeaten) and Zionsville (then 4A No. 4 and unbeaten). They are unbeaten since New Year’s Day, and Thursday they will head to Elkhart’s fabled North Side Gym with a chance to secure at least a share of a fourth consecutive Northern Lakes Conference championship.
I had said, even before the season started, “Let’s see where they are after Christmas.” Building takes patience, and when you are almost starting from the ground-up, it cannot happen quickly if you want it done right. I thought in October that if this team could survive a brutal early-season schedule and not be destroyed, they could begin to use what they had learned to grow in the second half.
And that, friends, is exactly what is happening.
The concern was never about whether these players were talented enough. Not for me. It was always about the experience, and the settling of players into roles. Could Nolan Groninger become the leading scorer and the primary ball-handler at the same time? Can Zach Riley become an effective post player for the first time as a senior? Can this team’s defense hold opponents enough for their offense to win them games?
Well, Groninger’s been so good, and heads to Elkhart with a streak of 11 straight double figure games and a 14 points per game average. And the calling up of Blake Marsh from the JV has given Groninger a playmaker to take some of that pressure off of him.
Riley not only is holding his ground in the post, but is displaying the ability to score with his back to the basket—a fading art in today’s game.
And frankly, Warsaw’s defense was a pleasant surprise at the beginning and has gotten better and better as their offensive efficiency (fewer three-point attempts, more drives and free throw attempts) has gotten better and better.
I know a lot of people gave up on them after the start, and I understand. But can I suggest to you that this Tiger team is not the one that started the season. The best part … they still have a lot of growing to do. Their upside is pretty significant. Plymouth will be here Feb. 9, and it just might be for the NLC title.
For Warsaw, it’s a season of building a team. For Triton, it’s something completely different.
A broken water pipe in a lockeroom that happened at the worst possible time left the Trojan Trench a warped mess, and unusable for practice or games.
I talked to Triton AD Mason McIntyre on Tuesday, and he told me that the insurance company handling their claim still has not given them the go-ahead to replace the floor.
That pipe burst on Jan 7 – more than three weeks ago.
It’s going to take six weeks to do all that needs done! What it means is Triton will not host the boys sectional or regional. The sectional is going to Culver, and the regional is still unassigned. Triton is really good at hosting tournaments. It’s a credit to their school and their community.
It’s hard to accept that senior basketball players will have to have their senior night celebrations in the elementary gym across the street or in Plymouth because an insurance company is sitting on their … laptop … waiting forrrrr, what? To see if the wood that was water-damaged gets better on its own? Shameful.
Renovation projects go best when you have control of your own project. The Warsaw boys basketball team has that. The poor people at Triton do not.
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