Team: West Point-Beemer
Mascot: Cadets
Colors: Red, Black, and White
Class: C-1
Conference: East Husker
Head Coach: Cody Bobolz (1st season)
2014-2015 record: 13-12 (lost to Wayne in subdistricts)
Returning Starters: 2
Overview:
The West Point-Beemer Boys Basketball team is under new direction as Cody Bobolz takes over for Nick Kroon.
Bobolz inherits two returning starters in Tate Toelle (5’7” Sr. PG) and Adam Niewohner (6’1” Sr. SF).
The Cadets will have to make up for the losses of Ty Haase, Austin Case, and Karsten Schuetze.
Austin Streeter (6’3” So. PF) and Ben VanderGriend (5’10” Fr. SG/PG) are two newcomers Bobolz feels could make an impact.
Bobolz says look for his team to mix things up on offense and defense. "Offensively- we love to push the basketball and put pressure on the other team whenever we can; we will run a lot of motion offense and sets looking to exploit certain things. Defensively- we will do all kinds of stuff- we will press, run man, and throw in some zone."
I definitely think it will be important for West Point-Beemer to be multidimensional on offense and defense given the talent the Cadets graduated from a year ago.
Bobolz says having players that are versatile and team players are team strengths. "I think we have some quickness and guys that can play multiple positions. I think we have some guys that are really close team chemistry wise, which allows them to hold each other accountable while always being encouraging towards one another."
Teamwork will be very important for West Point-Beemer this season. The Cadets have to play as one night in and night out.
Bobolz says size and youth could factor into his team's season, at least early on. "We will have to make up for some size deficiencies with some real toughness inside. And we lack experience so there will be a bit of a learning curve early in the season."
Teams with size could give West Point-Beemer some trouble. The Cadets should matchup well with teams that are small and quick though.
There are a lot of very winnable games on the schedule for West Point-Beemer so the Cadets have to be ready to play hard every time out, and have to keep getting better with every game.
I think West Point-Beemer will be a team that plays their best basketball in the second half of the season.
Season Outlook:
West Point-Beemer looks to build off last year's 13-12 record, and in my opinion, can have some success this year.
Bobolz says expectations are high. "Every year our goal is to make it to the state tournament and this year is no different. We have some guys that have some big shoes to fill of some seniors that compiled a lot of starts and minutes, but I really think we have some guys ready to do that. We have talked a lot about focusing on the process and thinking about improving every day and focusing on the little things, which can lead to much greater success in the end. I think we have the potential to surprise some people this year and that is a testament to our players work ethic in the summer and thus far this season."
All the hard work put in during the offseason by these players will show up now.
Bobolz says offensive execution and winning the battle on the boards is critical. "Our offensive efficiency has to be better. Rebounding is always an emphasis and limiting opponents second chance opportunities."
Boxing out will be a big thing for the Cadets this season. West Point-Beemer has to put a body to a man, they can't just rely on their athletic ability alone to rebound well.
This team has to be fundamentally sound and smart when it comes to possessing the basketball. Every possession of every game is important, and that has to show in the Cadets' play at all times.
Bobolz is excited to get the season underway. "I am excited to get things going and see where we are at and how much we improve throughout the season."
Look for West Point-Beemer to get hot at some point in the second half of the season and make a push in subdistricts.
Arlington, Stanton, Fort Calhoun, Wisner-Pilger, Bancroft-Rosalie, Battle Creek, Twin River, Wayne, and Pierce will be among some of the tougher teams on the Cadets' schedule.
I look for West Point-Beemer to win somewhere between 10-12 games. I could even see that number peeking to 15 if the Cadets overachieve and pull off some big upsets.
West Point-Beemer opens up the season at home against Arlington on December 3rd.
Projected starting lineup (Height, Grade, position, how many years starting experience):
Tate Toelle- 5’7” Sr. PG 1
Ben Jahnke- 6’0” Sr. SG 0
Adam Niewohner- 6’1” Sr. SF 1
Austin Streeter- 6’3” So. PF 0
Chase Streeter- 6’4” So. PF 0
2015-2016 West Point-Beemer Cadets Boys Basketball Schedule:
12/03/15 Arlington C1
12/05/15 @ Omaha Roncalli Catholic B
12/08/15 Stanton C2
12/10/15 North Bend Central C1
12/15/15 @ Howells-Dodge D1
12/28-12/30 (To Be Determined) Wayne Holiday Tournament Wayne State College
01/05/16 Fort Calhoun C1
01/08/16 Wisner-Pilger C1
01/09/16 @ Bancroft-Rosalie D2
01/12/16 Battle Creek C2
01/14/16 @ Schuyler B
01/16/16 Tekamah-Herman C1
01/19/16 @ Pender D1
01/22/16 @ Twin River C2
01/23/16 Logan View-Scribner-Snyder C1
01/26/16 @ Pierce C1
01/28/16 Wayne C1
01/29-02/06 (To Be Determined) East Husker Conference Tour TBA
02/09/16 @ Madison C1
02/12/16 @ Oakland-Craig C2
Team: West Point-Beemer
Mascot: Cadets
Colors: Red, Black, and White
Class: C-1
Conference: East Husker
Head Coach: Craig Theis (2nd season)
2014-2015 record: 24-4 (lost to Norfolk Catholic in District Final)
Returning Starters: 4
Overview:
This is the season the West Point-Beemer Girls Basketball team has been looking forward to for quite some time given all the experience they bring back.
The Cadets return four starters in Amanda Hansen (5'7 SR G), Taylor Weddle (5'6 SR G), Bethany Anderson (6'0 JR P), and Kenzie Bruce (5'6 SR G).
Jade Duhsmann (6'0 SR C) offers a dominant post presence, according to 2nd year Head Coach Craig Theis.
West Point-Beemer will have to make up for the losses of Cassy Gade and Brooke Schulzkump.
Theis feels the sophomore class could really help his team. "The sophomore class got some experience playing some varsity last year but we will lean on them to add more depth this year. Makenna Weddle is a sophomore who is one of the very best athletes in the area. She will be in our starting line-up if the season started today. Brittney Hinkel is another very good sophomore that will be one of our 1st subs off of the bench. Brittney and Makenna are very versatile in the fact that they can play several different positions. Katie Pilakowski, Leigh Jahnke and Megan Groth are also very good sophomores that I look to help us by the end of the year. Great class. Athletic!!!!!"
The sophomore class should definitely help push this year's very talented senior class, and make them better players during games and in practice.
Theis says look for his squad to run and play tough man-to-man defense. "Offensively we are more of a run and gun offense. We want to play at a very fast temp and having someone like Hansen as our point guard really helps. I really want the girls to attack for 32 minutes. We run a very structured motion in our ½ court game and this can also be a good stall game if needed. Defensively, we are a man to man team! We want to guard you for 94 feet and create turnovers that lead to easy offense. However, we don’t want to slow the pace by fouling 90 feet away from the basket and this has been very difficult teaching kids to be aggressive without fouling. We also like to trap occasionally in the back-court."
I look for the Cadets to get the most out of themselves and maximize their potential night in and night out. West Point-Beemer should win quite a bit of the time, just like last year.
Theis says Hansen and experience are strengths of this team. "Hansen is a real strength of our team, because she is often the best player on the floor offensively and defensively. She is also a very fierce competitor! Experience is also a real strength of our team. Taylor, Amanda, Bethany and Kenzie have played a lot of games and started in every game last year. It was huge going to the conference and district final games last year so our girls could experience it. This group is very athletic! This really allows us to do some different things on the defensive end. It gives us an opportunity to really pressure the other teams full court the whole game. I really think that depth and size could be a real strength this year and this was not the case last year. We ran out of gas at the end of last year, but I don’t feel this will be the case this season with added depth.
Having depth and staying healthy is going to be critical to this team's success. The Cadets have to avoid the injury bug, and must be all full strength and playing their best basketball when it matters most.
Theis says free throw shooting and shooting from the floor has hurt his team before. "Shooting is a real weakness for us in the past. We have struggled shooting from the foul-line as well. However, the girls have put in a lot of work to turn this into a strength and if we can accomplish this than this year could be a real special one."
I suspect West Point-Beemer will win somewhere between 20-25 games again, but all that matters is getting to Lincoln. I think these players and coaches want to make a trip to the state tournament more than anything. And the tools are certainly in place to make state a reality.
Season Outlook:
The Cadets expect to win quite a bit this year, just like last year. And certainly West Point-Beemer is capable of making it happen and getting the job done.
Theis says this team wants to reach their potential and achieve the goals they've set out. "We have set some very high goals coming into the season, because we return a lot of players from last year’s successful team. We are also getting Jade back and our sophomores are going to add a lot of depth. This will allow us to get up and down the floor on both defense and offense more this year with added depth. The girl’s 1st goal is to win a conference championship in Columbus this year. We came up a little short this past season. Another goal is to not only get to state but to do some damage once we get there. We came up one win short of getting to Lincoln this past season and we have used it as motivation this summer and preseason."
Theis says good offense and defense are keys to sustaining the same level of success as last year, and experience should help that. "It starts with returning a lot of experience from last year. When you return a point guard like Hansen you have a great chance to having another great year. We feel like our pieces around her have continued to get better and this will prevent teams from just taking Amanda away. Taylor Weddle and Kenzie Bruce have both started for 3 years so I expect these two to have a great year.
Just like last year we will look to push the tempo into our favor. Hansen did a great job of pushing the basketball and making good decisions last year. We feel like we have really improved in the ½ court when teams take away our fast break offense. We need to be much better shooting the ball this year and we need to improve from the foul-line as well. Another big key is having our defense create easy offensive opportunities. We want our pressure to turn a lot of teams over and lead to easy baskets. I really feel like with our added depth we can provide full-court pressure much more this year and force teams to play up tempo with us. We are very athletic and we can really defend well. I am really excited to see what our defense can become this year."
The Cadets certainly appear to be strong in many areas of the game. Theis says his squad has been building for this year ever since last year's district final loss. "We are very hungry and it all started leaving the Columbus Gymnasium last year. The girls decided in the locker room that night that next year they want to take the next step. This attitude carried right into the summer and we put in a lot of great work. I always preach that everyone practices 2 hours during the season, so basketball games are won and lost in the summer. They really grabbed ahold of this and had a GREAT SUMMER!! The best part about the summer work is that it was the whole team that bought in and this will help us during the season. I have also added an extra conditioning session at the end of each practice, so we don’t come up short again. The girls have agreed that hopefully this will give us a little edge in the 4th quarter when a championship might be on the line."
It's important for West Point-Beemer to play well throughout the season to earn enough wildcard points into the state tournament should they need a wildcard to get to state. It's also important for the Cadets to build for a potential District Final showdown against Wahoo Neumann.
Theis says he is excited to see what this team can do. "The sky is the limit for this group! Hansen is a player that does not come around too often and she is also a fierce competitor. She has done a good job of getting her teammates involved in the game plan and this is only going to help be more successful this year. This senior group has really been the reason we have turned around the girls’ basketball program. They decided to put in a lot of work and I believe they will be the reason we take the next step this season. It should be fun!!!"
Hansen is a great player and needs to have a super senior season, and I expect her to have another fantastic season.
Other players have to step up and play well on a consistent basis though. West Point-Beemer can't rely solely on Hansen to win games. Duhsmann, Taylor Weddle, Makenna Weddle, Anderson, Bruce, and others have to step up and perform for this team on a game-by-game basis.
I think the Cadets caught some teams by surprise last year. Teams will be ready for West Point-Beemer this year so the Cadets have to step up their game that much more and play well every game.
Looking at the schedule, Stanton, Howells-Dodge, Tekamah-Herman, Pender, Twin River, Pierce, Wayne, and perhaps Oakland-Craig will be challenging teams for West Point-Beemer.
The Cadets open up the season at home against Arlington on December 3rd.
2015-2016 West Point-Beemer Cadets Girls Basketball Schedule:
| 12/03/15 | Arlington | C1 | |||||||
| 12/05/15 | @ Omaha Roncalli Catholic | B | |||||||
| 12/08/15 | Stanton | C2 | |||||||
| 12/10/15 | North Bend Central | C1 | |||||||
| 12/15/15 | @ Howells-Dodge | D1 | |||||||
| 12/28-12/30 | (To Be Determined) | Wayne Holiday Tournament | Wayne State College | ||||||
| 01/05/16 | Fort Calhoun | C1 | |||||||
| 01/08/16 | Wisner-Pilger | C2 | |||||||
| 01/09/16 | @ Bancroft-Rosalie | D2 | |||||||
| 01/12/16 | Battle Creek | C2 | |||||||
| 01/14/16 | @ Schuyler | B | |||||||
| 01/16/16 | Tekamah-Herman | C1 | |||||||
| 01/19/16 | @ Pender | D1 | |||||||
| 01/22/16 | @ Twin River | C2 | |||||||
| 01/23/16 | Logan View-Scribner-Snyder | C1 | |||||||
| 01/26/16 | @ Pierce | C1 | |||||||
| 01/28/16 | Wayne | C1 | |||||||
| 01/29-02/06 | (To Be Determined) | East Husker Conference Tour | TBA | ||||||
| 02/09/16 | @ Madison | C1 | |||||||
| 02/12/16 | @ Oakland-Craig | C2 |
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