Strong defense, play of underclassmen positive signs for next year
By Adam Knoll
Sports Correspondent
The Whitewater High School boys basketball team had a solid chance at progressing to the second round during their regional tournament against Big Foot last Tuesday night. At home after being granted the seventh seed, the Whippets dropped a very closely contested game, 41-38, to bring their season to an end.
Brett Harms, who only recently has been scoring like he did last season, had 12 points for the Whippets. No other player entered double figures, which had been the norm during the year. Joe Michales added eight points and season scoring leader Scott Gorsuch had five.
In matching their style, Whitewater played their best ball defensively, and in holding Big Foot to just 41 points, the team was at least in a position to win the game, a common thread to the teams enhanced success on the court this season.
“I think the program is in a good spot,” head coach Dan Gnatzig said after the game. “I think we can still have a competitive varsity team. Except for a few bad ones, we were in every game. I think we won a lot of games that were close, but it went the other way as well, we lost some games we could have won. It was a fun, competitive year.”
Gnatzig, who is trying to change the culture of the boys program, was left to wonder what might have been if the team could have pulled out another win or two during the regular season.
“Depending on how you did during your season, you take your application to a seed meeting. We ended up with a seventh seed, and that got us a home game but with a couple more wins we probably would have ended up with a five seed like Jefferson got. They are still playing,” Gnatzig explained.
All in all though, this season highlighted some very positive things, from winning six more games than last season to hosting a home playoff game. In other words, the signs are pointing up for the team with the added bright spot of underclassmen getting a fair amount of time on the court during the season.
“The playing time was about half and half between juniors and seniors,” Gnatzig said. “A lot of our juniors got a lot of solid time this season. The JV was about .500. We had a freshman point guard starting, so we look strong for the future.”
When asked if this is the type of team he envisions coaching in the future, Gnatzig said he always wants a hard working team who is willing to work hard defensively. If the team can increase it’s scoring, based off of how they played this year, more wins should be on the horizon going forward.
“We had a balanced group of kids, not one primary scorer,” Gnatzig said. “I think we have some kids that can work through the year, get into our spring program to stay focused. Now the kids have some wins under their belt, which should make them excited for next year.”
