SOUTH WHITLEY – A preseason injury has set the Whitko boys basketball team back a little bit, but head coach Rob Irwin still has some talent and foresees good things for this year's squad. Having already lost Zac VanDeWater, Max Elder, Mitch Yeager and Kory Wood to graduation, as well as senior Derek Snep not coming back this season, Whitko also said good bye to senior Lucky Winters. "He tore his ACL and MCL, but we hope to have him back," Irwin said about the 6-foot-1 Winters. "We hope to get him back at some point, because he was a huge part of what we wanted to do this year." Despite not seeing significant varsity time as a junior, Irwin seemed to have pretty high hopes for Winters this season. "He had a good summer, and with him playing with (senior) Logan (Irwin) and (junior) Alex (Stoddard), we were going to be real, real good," Irwin said. "We have to figure out how we're going to do things, because we were focused around his abilities. His loss also effects our depth, because we had a couple guys who would play on the 'B' team, but they don't get to now." What Whitko does still have is Logan Irwin, who recently signed his letter-of-intent to play basketball at Division I Stetson University. Through his three seasons at Whitko, Logan Irwin is already the program's leader in points (1,556), made free throws (483) and steals (139), while his 307 assists are only 10 away from another record. "He's gotten quicker and stronger," Irwin said about his son, who was an Indiana Junior All-Star. "He's also a better shooter." While he's never had much trouble scoring, having averaged 26 points a game last year, Logan Irwin did have the ability to save some energy on the defensive end. "In past years, we had the luxury of not needing him to guard the best player on the floor, because we relied on him so much on the offensive side," Rob Irwin said. "Now, he's going to be guarding that best player." The chore of guarding the opposition's top player belonged to VanDeWater, who is now playing at Indiana Wesleyan, as well as Stoddard. "Alex is going to be playing a different style this season," Rob Irwin said. The 6-2 Stoddard, who was the starting quarterback on the football team, will be an intregal part of the basketball team this season, but Irwin doesn't want the team to rely solely on him and Logan Irwin. "We're going to have two of the better players on the court each night," Rob Irwin said. "If (6-foot-9 senior) Kolten (Krull) is going to be consistent with his play, we'll be tough to deal with." Along with relying on Krull, the Wildcats will be looking to seniors Colin Nicodemus and Jordan Sims, as well as junior Trey Weber and sophomore Keaton Irwin for big minutes, while the rest of the roster is filled out with juniors Michael Carroll, Gabe Powell, Stephen Bennett and sophomores Dylan Cumberland and Tyler Hinora. "Alex and Logan have played the most varsity minutes," Rob Irwin said. "For us to be all we can be, Kolten and others will need to step up." Despite the loss of players from last year's 16-6 squad, as well as Winters, who Irwin said was "probably the biggest loss since I've been here," the coach is happy with this team. "I love this team," he said. "They are a lot of fun to coach. We're young though. With Zac, we lost a four-year starter, Elder was a three-year starter. Now, we have two guys that have started. That's it." The inexperienced squad will get thrown right into the fire, hosting Whitley County rival Columbia City Wednesday night. In the season opener, the Wildcats will face a Columbia City squad that ended Whitko's season in last year's sectional and reached the semistate, falling by two points. "It's always a full house," Rob Irwin said about the opening game. "We're going to need to play as a team. Should we win? Probably not. But can we? I think we can."
