By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
A lot of wild cards come into play concerning the 2015-16 Elkhorn Area High School boys basketball team.
The Elks are a long and athletic bunch that hopes to play quicker than last year, according to second-year coach Josh Skatrud, but might struggle to make open shots.
Some of the Elks played in the offseason and a number of seniors are on the roster, but experience might be an issue.
Finally, the Southern Lakes Conference will remain a toss-up among a handful of teams, and success will be dependent on who plays best night in and night out over the grind of a season that can reach four months in length.
“We have the ability to beat anyone, but at the same time, there are no easy wins,” Skatrud said of the SLC.
The Elks started practice on Monday and scrimmage Saturday at Janesville Craig with Big Foot, Janesville Parker, Milton, Parkview and Craig.
Elkhorn opens the regular season Nov. 24 at home with a non-conference game against Clinton.
The Elks finished 12-11 overall last season and 5-9 in the SLC, good for a fifth-place tie with Union Grove. The Elks season ended March 3 in a WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal at Elkhorn. Westosha Central won 75-66.
Westosha beat the Elks three times last season. Central won 62-49 Dec. 9 at Salem and 55-52 Jan. 30 at Elkhorn in Southern Lake Conference competition.
Elkhorn’s play last season can be described as consistently inconsistent. The Elks didn’t lose more than two games in a row, but only enjoyed three winning streaks all season. The Elks’ longest winning streak – four games – occurred between Dec. 19 of 2014 and Jan. 3 of this year.
“We had some real positives last year and want to build on that,” Skatrud said. “I’m hoping to establish more consistency this year, as there were nights last year when we didn’t always know what we were going to get from guys.
“It’s hard to make any predictions, but I like the guys we are going to run out there, and think they will surprise some people.”
Junior post Alex Easterday led Elkhorn in points (12.9) and rebounds (6.9) per game as a sophomore and is the Elks’ top returnee. Easterday and senior guard Dayne Fisher played the most last season of anyone on the roster.
Seniors Shane Piasecki, Patrick Glogovsky, Riley Reed, Jack Keller and junior Ryan Shilts are back from last year’s team, and juniors Ross Ingersoll, Ian Nowell and Louis Mann are also expected to contribute.
Badger is the defending SLC champion. Skatrud said several of the conference’s top teams lost talent from last year, but said he expected Badger, Burlington and Westosha Central to all be tough. Waterford is working with a new coach in Paul Charapata.
“Delavan-Darien has some nice players, and Wilmot does as well,” Skatrud said. “There is no clear-cut favorite.”
