Team Preview: McClain Tigers
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
The McClain Tigers are headed in a different direction with a new head coach to start the 2013-14 season, but the players and the coach are no strangers to each other.
Joe Wisecup was named the new MHS head coach this past summer, but he has been an assistant coach for the Tigers program for most of the past few decades.
This season, Wisecup, who will be assisted by Brandon Streitenberger, inherits a team full of juniors and seniors who want to put the best possible product on the court, and if they do, the rest can fall into place for an MHS team that is coming off an overall record of 10-13 last season and just one winning season since their 2009-10 campaign.
MHS, who went 5-9 in the South Central Ohio League last season, enters this year with four seniors and nine juniors on the varsity roster.
Seniors this season are Thomas Schrader, Mikel Pritchard, Jeremiah Savage and Evan Mustard. The junior class consists of Bryce Duff, Tyler Conger, Reid Garrison, Ryan Faulconer, Wyatt Jones, Lincoln O'Connor, Josh Todd, Caleb Rayburn and Michael Aeh.
Faulconer was the Tigers' leading scorer as a sophomore last year with 11.9 points per game and was named to the All-District team. Schrader averaged 9.2 ppg.
"We have kids who have a lot of experience at the varsity level, so we basically have seven kids back with some varsity experience," Wisecup said. "That part has been a positive."
Wisecup spoke about having a team he's already accustomed to and the same with the team knowing what he wants from the program.
"It's been different being the head coach now, but it's been a pretty easy transition because the kids I'm working with are a great group of kids that I've been with for the past two years," Wisecup said.
"They want to get better, and working with Coach Streitenberger has made the transition much easier."
The team has shown improvement, and Wisecup knows there is still a lot more work ahead for the team to gain more wins than the 10 they earned last season.
"The kids have done a really good job of getting stronger," he said. "We have some strong kids inside, and a few kids have committed to getting better over the summer.[[In-content Ad]]
"We all seem to be a little better. We're focusing on defensive footwork, but it is early, and we'll see how it all goes."
Wisecup and his team don't talk about winning a league title or winning a certain number of games. He wants his team and his players to want to keep working to get better, and everything else that comes with improvement will arrive.
"We all have long-term goals, but we just talk about getting better each day," he said. "If we can keep improving, our main focus is to be better at the end of the year than we are at the beginning. If that happens, then the focus is on the tournament.
"We just talk about getting better each night."
With so many varsity experienced players returning, the Tigers have begun to gel as a team early on.
"It has been pretty good with all the returning players back," Wisecup said. "We have a few kids who played JV last year who can come in and give us some minutes, but it is kind of early to tell.
"We just don't have that one point guard that has shown up yet. We're trying out two or three different kids at point guard, so we're going to be a point guard by committee this year."
The past couple seasons, Brent Shannon (10.3 ppg) was the point guard for the Tigers, but he was a senior last season. Wisecup spoke about what it is like to look for, and replace, a new point guard.
"It is hard to find a point guard," he said. "Besides handling the ball and leading the team, we don't really have the type of personality to play the position. We have players who can be."
Improvement is still the key for this season.
"The kids did some things well, and we had stretches last year offensively, but we were very inconsistent last year," Wisecup said. "We have to become more consistent on offense.
"On defense, we have to be able to guard people better in man-to-man. We really struggled in man-to-man last year, and we would like to play more man-to-man this year, but we know we'll have to mix in some zone, too."
Though the Tigers have a new head coach, not much will change offensively or defensively.
"Offensively, we'll make some adjustments with our base offense, but not a lot will change,” Wisecup said. “We are a more post-oriented team this year, so rebounding should be to our advantage this season."
Joe Wisecup was named the new MHS head coach this past summer, but he has been an assistant coach for the Tigers program for most of the past few decades.
This season, Wisecup, who will be assisted by Brandon Streitenberger, inherits a team full of juniors and seniors who want to put the best possible product on the court, and if they do, the rest can fall into place for an MHS team that is coming off an overall record of 10-13 last season and just one winning season since their 2009-10 campaign.
MHS, who went 5-9 in the South Central Ohio League last season, enters this year with four seniors and nine juniors on the varsity roster.
Seniors this season are Thomas Schrader, Mikel Pritchard, Jeremiah Savage and Evan Mustard. The junior class consists of Bryce Duff, Tyler Conger, Reid Garrison, Ryan Faulconer, Wyatt Jones, Lincoln O'Connor, Josh Todd, Caleb Rayburn and Michael Aeh.
Faulconer was the Tigers' leading scorer as a sophomore last year with 11.9 points per game and was named to the All-District team. Schrader averaged 9.2 ppg.
"We have kids who have a lot of experience at the varsity level, so we basically have seven kids back with some varsity experience," Wisecup said. "That part has been a positive."
Wisecup spoke about having a team he's already accustomed to and the same with the team knowing what he wants from the program.
"It's been different being the head coach now, but it's been a pretty easy transition because the kids I'm working with are a great group of kids that I've been with for the past two years," Wisecup said.
"They want to get better, and working with Coach Streitenberger has made the transition much easier."
The team has shown improvement, and Wisecup knows there is still a lot more work ahead for the team to gain more wins than the 10 they earned last season.
"The kids have done a really good job of getting stronger," he said. "We have some strong kids inside, and a few kids have committed to getting better over the summer.[[In-content Ad]]
"We all seem to be a little better. We're focusing on defensive footwork, but it is early, and we'll see how it all goes."
Wisecup and his team don't talk about winning a league title or winning a certain number of games. He wants his team and his players to want to keep working to get better, and everything else that comes with improvement will arrive.
"We all have long-term goals, but we just talk about getting better each day," he said. "If we can keep improving, our main focus is to be better at the end of the year than we are at the beginning. If that happens, then the focus is on the tournament.
"We just talk about getting better each night."
With so many varsity experienced players returning, the Tigers have begun to gel as a team early on.
"It has been pretty good with all the returning players back," Wisecup said. "We have a few kids who played JV last year who can come in and give us some minutes, but it is kind of early to tell.
"We just don't have that one point guard that has shown up yet. We're trying out two or three different kids at point guard, so we're going to be a point guard by committee this year."
The past couple seasons, Brent Shannon (10.3 ppg) was the point guard for the Tigers, but he was a senior last season. Wisecup spoke about what it is like to look for, and replace, a new point guard.
"It is hard to find a point guard," he said. "Besides handling the ball and leading the team, we don't really have the type of personality to play the position. We have players who can be."
Improvement is still the key for this season.
"The kids did some things well, and we had stretches last year offensively, but we were very inconsistent last year," Wisecup said. "We have to become more consistent on offense.
"On defense, we have to be able to guard people better in man-to-man. We really struggled in man-to-man last year, and we would like to play more man-to-man this year, but we know we'll have to mix in some zone, too."
Though the Tigers have a new head coach, not much will change offensively or defensively.
"Offensively, we'll make some adjustments with our base offense, but not a lot will change,” Wisecup said. “We are a more post-oriented team this year, so rebounding should be to our advantage this season."