The Mail-Journal, Volume 21, Number 44, Milford, Kosciusko County, 14 November 1984 — Page 37

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WARRIOR VARSITY — The 1984-85 Wawasee Warriors are looking to improve last year's 15-6 record. Seated in front are head coach John Wysong. Seth Swihart, Brooks Koble, John Jones. John Hapner, assistant coach Galen Hershberger and manager Mike Pang.

Young Warriors ready for opener

By MARK WEINSTEIN Sports Writer John Wysong may never coach a more inexperienced team in his career than the one he will put on the floor this Friday, Nov. 16. at Carroll But he is not about to throw in the towel and give up Although 10 players are listed on Wawasee's varsity roster, only two have seen much playing time at the varsity level. Brooks Koble and Seth Swihart comprise the 'gold” portion of Wawasee's basketball hopes The remaining eight players, presently, are as green as grass in the middle of summer. All played junior varsity ball last season. “I am excited about this season and the team.” declared Wysong "It can’t get more fresh than this.” Nevertheless, Wysong is look-

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ing at the season realistically. "Most of our guys were junior varsity players last year and they never really practiced with the varsity before this year.” said Wysong. "Because of the inexperience of the team, this season will be tough, there’s no doubt about it.” Perhaps the biggest Wawasee plus is its four seniors, particularly Brooks Koble. Much has been said about the 6-1 shooter, -but there is no doubt in Wysong’s mind that he is the key to this team. "I feel that Brooks is one of the finest players ever to come out of Wawasee,” praised Wysong. "He can do an awful lot of things on the floor. We feel he will have another outstanding year.” Just how impressive a year Koble experiences, at least statistically, could be determined by the performances of his teammates.

In the second row are assistant coach Terry Meads, Travis Reiff, Tim Mangas, Jon Evans, Bill Hutchinson, David Kistler, Jeff Taylor and manager Jim LaTour. (Mail-Journal Photo)

"There’s no doubt that other teams will put more pressure on Koble than anyone else. They would be stupid not to,” said Wysong. "What we have to do is work as a team and learn what good basketball really is. That is our goal, to learn what good basketball is." With Wysong’s philosophy centered on playing well instead of winning, much of the heat of a winning season may be taken off the shoulders of his young team. Wysong is a perfectionist, and that is what he would like to see from his team —a performance as close to perfection as possible. "I feel if we play hard and as a team, the wins will take care of themselves.” said Wysong. “We just need to concentrate every time we go out on the court.” Joining the much-heralded Koble will be Swihart, a small, but powerful point guard. "He has a tremendous talent for working,” said Wysong about Swihart. "He can bench 235 pounds and run a five-minute mile. He also has great hands.” But that is not all the talent Wysong sees in his young team. "John Jones (a senior transfer from Rushville) is very talented,” said Wysong. "He played junior varsity ball last year, but he has some tools that if he puts his heart into, and he has. he should just get better and better.” "He does a lot of things that you

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can’t teach,” added Wysong. “He has good hands, he passes real well and he jumps extremely well.” Although Jones’ passing skills impress Wawasee’s coaching staff, perhaps the one quality that truly excites the staff is his jumping ability. "He can jump out of this gym,” said Wysong. “He will surely help us, but he still needs to work hard." John Hapner is the final senior on this year’s team. He failed to see much action last year, but should perform as a role player this season. "As you can see, we have a lot of talent.” said Wysong. "But we also have very intelligent kids, too. Even though we are inexperienced, I am hoping that their academic intelligence will carry over to the basketball court and make up for a lack of experience by learning more quickly.” Wysong noted that Swihart presently is eighth in the senior class while Hapner is fourth. He added that Koble, Mangas and Evans are all good students. Although Wysong is most concerned about inexperience, another factor that could hurt Wawasee is its lack of height. Jones and Evans are the tallest Warriors, and they only stand 6-2. After that, the most common

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figure is between 5-11 and 5-9. Bill Hutchinson, David Kistler and Mangas all stand close to the sixfoot range. Travis Reiff, Jeff Taylor and Swihart stand 5-9. "We do not have a lot of heigth but I feel we still are very flexible,” admitted Wysong. “We will be able to do some things that we were not able to do in the past. Because of our situation, we should be very interesting to watch.” Although Wysong speaks a lot about Wawasee’s offensive schemes and players, those who followed the 1983 Warriors should know that Wysong\ main interest is at the end of the court. "Most people think that we play only a man defense, but that is not the case,” said Wysong. "I think any good defensive team plays a combination of a zone and man. If you look at defenses, you will see that.” Wawasee’s defense last year was one of the best in the Northern Lakes Conference. It will have to be lip there again should the Warriors expect to challenge for the conference crown. Whether Wawasee wins more games that is looses this year remains to be seen One thing for sure, though, Wawasee’s young will be interesting to watch.