North Butler Bearcats will use long season to grow into intelligent, quick team

NORTH BUTLER BOYS BASKETBALL

North Butler Bearcats will use long season to grow into intelligent, quick team

Height and experience to lead a veteran squad in Greene

The season is still plenty young, but as far as practices go, boys basketball head coach Dave Brown is content with what he’s been seeing from his team.

Having seven seniors on the team this year helps the flow of practice. Instead of having to jump in to reteach – or teach for the first time – basic offensive and defensive principles, Brown is able to get back to working on the more critical aspects of the game earlier rather than later.

“We’re able to jump into things a little bit quicker. We review things and then, boom, they’ve got it,” Brown said. “We’ve got to get the young guys up to speed, but with the other guys, we can take off.”

One challenge that is on Brown’s mind that he might not be able to work on a whole lot in practice is the inception of the new Top of Iowa Conference. A challenge for any team from the former North Iowa Conference and the Corn Bowl Conference, the addition of power schools like Osage and Newman Catholic are hot on Brown’s list.

The Bearcats were 9-12, (8-6 CBC) last season against a top-heavy conference with West Fork, RRMR and Nashua-Plainfield going a combined 33-9 (West Fork was 14-0). Over in the North Iowa Conference, Newman Catholic went 13-12 (9-11) and Osage was 12-12 (10-10).

“It’s going to be a challenge. There are a lot of good teams added into the Corn Bowl,” Brown said. “There are no gimmes. Every night is going to be extremely tough. On our side, we’ve got Osage and Newman. There are no slouches in any sport, especially in boys basketball. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”

The seven seniors: Jaret Wunsch, Reid Lammers, Anthony Fitzgerald, Connor Huberg, Reed Christensen, Todd Dolan and Logan Shaver, will be the foundation of a team that has a strong understanding for the game this season.

By Stephen Koenigsfeld sports@charlescitypress.com