AGWSR Boys Basketball Coach Ryley Schipper has indicated optimism for the future of the program after a relatively strong finish to the regular season. The Cougars went 3-18, but each of the wins came near the end of the season.
Schipper says several starters and role players who made key contributions can be counted on for big production right at the start of next season.
“Bo Starr, Ryne Pickering, Carter Roder, and Blake Willems, those four have all started at some point for us,” Schipper says. “So you bring back four starters that can play. And then you’ve got Trace Eiten as a, gonna be a sophomore next year that started half the season for us. So there’s five right there that I know we could go out on the floor and play with tomorrow. If we had to play a game tomorrow against somebody, we could go do it. Those guys have had the experience. Ryan, the second half of the year only got better as we went along, Blake Willems got better. I like to call Carter a bulldog. He is a defensive stopper. He loves to play defense and, even undersized, he’s always going to have his nose in there and I think he’s going to take charge next year and kind of lead the way defensively.”
Starr appeared in the final 13 games, and had a team-high scoring average of 14.6 and will also be the top returning rebounder.
Schipper expects others who didn’t appear in varsity games as often will create healthy competition for starting spots.
“We’ve got guys in the program that I think can make big strides. The offseason is going to be huge for them. You know. Will Hofmeister played a little bit early on for us. And then Lane Rose and Tyler Nederhoff. And we bring in some eighth graders that I think can compete early on for some playing time. David Koop has done a great job down at our junior high with developing some of these guys. And I think some of those guys might have a chance to play and compete. I’m most excited that we’re going to have that competition in the gym when we get to next year that it’s going to push guys. It’s not just, I was here last year, I’m going to play. You’ve got to earn that right, especially at the varsity level.”
Three seniors have departed the program. The team bowed out in the 1A preliminary postseason round.
