Youth abundant for Leopold boys basketball team in 2015-16

Youth is abundant for the Leopold boys basketball team this season.

Seven of the Wildcats' 10 players on the roster are sophomores and freshmen in Corey Brownsberger's second season at the helm.

"We're young but they're very, very energetic and they want to work hard," Brownsberger said, "and as a coach that's really all you could ask for."

Leopold went 2-19 last season and lost in the opening round of districts to eventual district champion South Iron.

Brownsberger learned a lot in his first season, including how to manage the grind of the long season.

"There's going to be some high moments. There's going to be some low moments, and I think it's my job, especially in Year No. 2, to never get too high and never get too low," Brownsberger said. "Kind of focus on the process and know that if we do things the right way consistently, even though the results might not be there one time if we keep doing it the right way over and over again the results are eventually going to be there."

Last season, Brownsberger tried different schemes for his team throughout the season, which he's going to do less of this year.

Instead, he wants his players to be able to focus on fewer schemes and running them better.

The Wildcats will try to pick up the tempo this year as well and will likely implement a 1-2-2 press to give themselves more opportunities to create more scoring chances.

"I think last year we got too bogged down and tried playing half-court too much, and when you slow it down and play as half-court as what we did last year, you've got to be very, very perfect on your execution," Brownsberger said. "... So I think the change will be faster pace, more possession, and even though they're going to be making mistakes at times, I think the thing that we've hit on the most this year *... is make mistakes being aggressive, going to make a play -- not making a mistake because we're playing tentative."

Brownsberger said the team's mantra this season is "all in," and through the first few weeks of practice, his players have had that mentality.

"These kids have shown up ready to work every single day that we've had practice and we've talked about it from the beginning -- they kind of have a chip on their shoulder because last year was not what we wanted it to be," Brownsberger said. "We grinded through some injuries and some other instances that happen in a basketball season."

Players to watch

Garrett Thele and John Gray are the two seniors on the squad and only two returning starters.

Thele, a 6-1 guard, is expected to play a big role for the Wildcats as one of their top scoring threats.

"He's a 6-1 guard, kind of frail built, but he doesn't play like that," Brownsberger said. "I kind of like to call him the silent assassin because the kid talks very, very little, and when he does, he's very soft-spoken. But he leads very well. He leads by example."

Thele started all 18 games that he played in and averaged about six points per game as a junior.

He "turned it on" and averaged about 11 ppg over the final 10 games of the season, according to Brownsberger.

"He's a slasher, plays really well off the dribble and can hit the 3 when open," Brownsberger said.

Gray will provide some experience in the post. The 6-4 center logged considerable minutes for the first time in his high school career last season.

"Good rebounder, works really, really hard on the defensive end of the floor, blocks some shots," Brownsberger said. "If we can just get him to finish around the bucket -- he's one of those guys that offensively you'll take what you can get from him [because he] rebounds well defensively."

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Class 1 District 3

Conference

Mississippi Valley

Head coach

Corey Brownsberger

(2nd year)

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ROSTER

No. Player Year Ht.

3 Dalton Forrester 10 6-0

10 Grant Koenig 9 5-10

11 Garrett Thele 12 6-1

12 Tristen Graham 10 5-8

21 Simon Elfrink 9 5-10

24 David Gray 9 6-3

30 Ryan Lewis 9 6-0

32 Blake Leazenby 10 6-3

33 Jack Jones 11 6-2

35 John Gray 12 6-4

STARTERS GONE

Zach Elfrink

Cord Cooper

Blake Eeftink

STARTERS BACK

Garrett Thele

John Gray

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SCHEDULE

Date Opponent Time

11/30 Woodland Invitational Tourn.

12/8 @Woodland 7:30 p.m.

12/11 Bell City 6 p.m.

12/14 @Zalma 8 p.m.

12/16 Kelly 7:30 p.m.

12/17 St. Vincent 7:30 p.m.

12/26 SEMissourian Xmas Tourn.

1/5 @Meadow Heights 7:30 p.m.

1/12 Oak Ridge 7:30 p.m.

1/15 @Marquand-Zion TBA

1/21 @Richland 7:30 p.m.

1/22 Greenville 7:30 p.m.

1/26 @Chaffee 7:30 p.m.

1/29 @Oran 7:30 p.m.

2/1 MVC Tourn.

2/9 @Puxico 7:30 p.m.

2/12 Advance 7:30 p.m.

2/16 Zalma 7:30 p.m.

2/19 Delta 7:30 p.m.

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LAST SEASON

LEADERS

Points: Zack Elfrink (13.4 ppg)

Rebounds: Zack Elfrink (6.9 rpg)

Assists: Zack Elfrink (3.5 apg)

RECORD

2-19