Team: Clarkson/Leigh
Mascot: Patriots
Colors: Red, Blue, Gray
Class: D-1
Conference: East Husker
Head Coach: Jay Knaak (5th season) (46-53 record)
2015-2016 record: 4-20 (lost to Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family in Sub Districts)
Returning Starters: 0
Overview:
The Clarkson/Leigh Boys hope to be better this year than they were last year when they won just four games.
The Patriots don't have any returning starters though, and this is what Clarkson/Leigh's starting lineup could look like:
Haden Held 11 G 0
Anthony Bruhn 11 G 0
Garrett Schroeder11 G 0
Luiz Mayorga 12 C 0
Mark Aguirre 12 F 0
Bradley Bunner is going out for the team, so just having him as a team member should really help.
5th year Head Coach Jay Knaak says Bunner is a newcomer who could make an impact.
"Bradley Bunner 6’0 12 F, he is going out for basketball for the first time in his high school career,
but is a talented athlete so I hope he will contribute to the team on the boards and on defense."
Given the Patriots' struggles on defense last year, having Bunner should help Clarkson/Leigh out tremendously on that end of the floor.
Blake Paprocki (12 6’1 F) is another returning letterwinner for the Patriots.
Knaak says he saw good growth and improvement in the offseason.
"We did a good job of improving over the summer. We were competitive in the Y league in Norfolk and some players took a step up in their game."
Knaak adds the team figures to be challenged down low this season.
"We will not have much height this year, with our post players at 6’1 or less. We will have to depend on grit and hard work to get on the boards and defend the bigger post players we have in the conference."
Season Outlook:
Clarkson/Leigh is looking for good things in 2016-2017.
Knaak discusses the keys to a successful season.
"We will have to rely on defense and shoot the ball at a better percentage. We are not very deep so will also have to stay out of foul trouble."
Knaak says he's looking for growth and improvement throughout the course of the season.
"I am looking forward to seeing if we can grow as a team and improve each game and see how good we can be at the end of the season."
Knaak adds the team's chemistry is good, they just need to develop a bench.
"I like the nucleus of the team and need to develop younger players to come off the bench and give
the starters some rest and keep us in the ballgame."
I would say the Patriots can't afford to have the starters get all the minutes. Clarkson/Leigh has to find some options on the bench to give the starters blows.
If the Patriots have to rely on their starting five to do everything it could be an interesting season.
It looks like Clarkson/Leigh should have at least seven players see the floor though.
Knaak says it should be a fairly good season.
"We should be competitive in all of our games this year. We will have to depend on shooting the ball well from the outside, defending the post and forcing turnovers."
Looking at the schedule, the Patriots appear to have tough games against Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family, Oakland-Craig, BRLD, Howells-Dodge, Yutan, North Bend Central, GACC, Humphrey St. Francis, Twin River, Lutheran High Northeast, Logan View/Scribner-Snyder, and Stanton.
The schedule appears to be pretty difficult for Clarkson/Leigh, but I think the Patriots can hang in there with the majority of the teams on their schedule.
Clarkson/Leigh is in Sub-District D1-4 with GACC, Pender, Emerson-Hubbard, and Walthill.
The Patriots open up the season on Friday at Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family in a game that can be heard on 107.9 the Bull.
2016-2017 Clarkson/Leigh Patriots Boys Basketball Schedule:
12/02/16 @ Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family
12/03/16 Madison
12/06/16 @ Oakland-Craig
12/08/16 Winside
12/09/16 BRLD
12/15/16 Pender
12/17/16 @ Clarkson/Leigh
12/17/16 Howells-Dodge
12/20/16 Yutan
12/28-12/29 (To Be Determined) Nebraska Christian Holiday Tournament Nebraska Christian
01/03/17 @ North Bend Central
01/07/17 @ Guardian Angels Central Catholic
01/10/17 @ Tekamah-Herman
01/13/17 Humphrey St. Francis
01/17/17 Elgin Public/Pope John
01/19/17 @ Twin River
01/20/17 @ Lutheran High Northeast
01/24/17 @ Wisner-Pilger
01/28-02/04 (To Be Determined) East Husker Conference Tournament TBD
02/07/17 Logan View-Scribner-Snyder
02/09/17 @ Stanton
Team: Clarkson/Leigh
Mascot: Patriots
Colors: Red, Blue, Gray
Class: D-1
Conference: East Husker
Head Coach: Matt Murren (4th season) (21-49 record)
2015-2016 record: 4-19 (lost to Battle Creek in Sub Districts)
Returning Starters: 4
Overview:
The Clarkson/Leigh Girls hope and figure to be much improved this season given the fact four starters return this year.
Head Coach Matt Murren has this analysis of the returning starters.
"We have four girls back on this years roster that started at some point last season. Shelby Paprocki is a senior for us who has started the past two seasons and has a lot of ability on the perimeter and can score inside. Kaegan Held, Beth Wiese, and Hannah Kasik all started as freshmen last season. Kaegan is our point guard and plays a lot of minutes. Kaegan averaged almost 2.5 assists/game last season and we look for that number to increase this year as she is more comfortable with the offense. Hannah plays both inside and outside for us and looks to use her strength inside this season. She is a great rebounder and has ability to score in transition. Beth played both inside and outside for us last year and we look to get her more into her comfort zone back inside this season."
Murren says Alyssa Novotny, Maddie Cerv, and a few others are key losses.
"We lost five seniors from last years team. Maddie Cerv was a 3 year starter for us and will be a big loss as far as a leader, defender, and shooter. Alyssa Novotny wasn't able to play as a senior last season but did average 16 ppg and 11 rpg so she was missed last season and will be missed as well this season. We will also miss Jessi Sayers, Megan Svehla, and Camille Koehn who all contributed in different ways."
Murren adds he's excited about some newcomers who could make an impact.
"Ashlynn Novotny, younger sister to Alyssa, will impact our team this season. She has the ability to handle the ball, great vision, and can shoot the ball as well. She will play minutes for us this year as her, Kaegan, and Halee work well together as guards both defensively and offensively. Sara McEvoy (sophomore), Sydney Folken (junior), and Kim Stodoloa (freshman) could see some varsity minutes as they continue to pick up the speed of the varsity game as the season progresses."
Murren feels success in fall sports should help the girls be successful this basketball season.
"The girls had great fall seasons in both softball and volleyball where both sports had winning records and winning seasons. We look to have that success in the fall sports transfer over into basketball. It's my belief that in order to have a successful program, we must be successful in all girls activities here and the fall we had leads us in the right direction. It should give us confidence as we head into our season. "
The girls worked really hard in the offseason, according to Murren.
"We had a great offseason, I was very impressed with how hard the girls worked. We had seven girls make our 10,000 shots made club last summer: Halee Steffensmeier, Held, Ashlynn Novotny, Paige Moore, Kasik, McEvoy, and Reagan Settje. It shows the girls' commitment to basketball and shows they want to improve and get better when they put in individual time on their own. The most improvement that I saw this summer was from our transition offense creating opportunities for points for us. We did some summer activities such as trips to Mahoney State Park to continue to build ourselves together as a team. The girls enjoyed these activities and really had fun."
Here is Clarkson/Leigh's projected starting lineup:
We have seven girls that are currently competing for the five varsity starting spots and they've worked hard with each showing individual strengths to the team. I will list all seven who have an opportunity to be in the starting lineup that first night against Humphrey/LHF on December 2nd:
Year Ht. Pos Pts/Gm Reb/Gm Ast/Gm
Shelby Paprocki 12 5’8 F 6.3 5.9 1.8 (starter for 2 years)
Kaegan Held 10 5’4 G 4.7 2.9 2.3 (starter for 1 year)
Beth Wiese 10 5’8 F 2.1 2.3 0.5 (starter for 1 year)
Hannah Kasik 10 5’8 F 6.3 5.2 0.5 (starter for 1 year)
Paige Moore 10 5’8 F 1.4 1.7 0.4
Halee Steffensmeier10 5’4 G 1.2 0.7 0.4
Ashlynn Novotny 9 5’8 G
Season Outlook:
The Clarkson/Leigh Patriots have to be thinking they have a chance to be successful this year given all the hard work they put in during the offseason and the success the girls had in their respective fall sports.
Murren says his team has to be better on offense.
"We have really stressed ball handling over the summer and into the preseason so far. That was a weak area for us last season and it has been a focal point in practice. We have guards that are more comfortable working against pressure defense and that will be a key factor in us winning more games. We have to handle the basketball better and minimize our turnovers. We also have to shoot the ball better. We shot 29% last season as a team and we look for that number to hopefully be 40% or above this season. We have to knock down perimeter shots to get our inside going. We also look to use our transition game this season. Defensively we must play better the season and minimize scoring attempts. We will look to switch up between man and zone."
Clarkson/Leigh was held under 50 points in every game last year, and that has to change for the Patriots to be successful this year, in my opinion.
Murren is hoping for good things this season.
"Looking to see the growth of our team as a whole. We had a really fun summer, did some fun activities and had some great summer success. I'm hoping that translates into the season where we have a lot of fun and that fun leads into success for us into the season. We have a great group of hardworking girls that love to have fun so hopefully changing up practices will lead to a successful season. "
Murren adds the mental aspect of the game will be critical to Clarkson/Leigh's success this season.
"I'm very excited about the upcoming season and what it brings for our girls program. Our motto this season is "Contagious Positivity" and "No Complaining." We adopted these motto's because for us to have fun, which we all want, we must have the above motto's. We have got to stay positive in the tough moments in games and can not drop our heads in the rough times during the season (no complaining.) It'll be interesting to see how much growth this team can make as the season goes along because we have athleticism and ability and now it is about fine tuning and continuing to grow our basketball skills so each player has the confidence in themselves that they are and can be a great basketball player."
I think the Patriots have a chance to be a lot more competitive this year than they were last year, but the schedule is still tough.
Clarkson/Leigh has tough games against the likes of Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family, Oakland-Craig, BRLD, Pender, Howells-Dodge, Yutan, North Bend Central, GACC, Tekamah-Herman, Humphrey St. Francis, Elgin Public/Pope John, Twin River, Lutheran High Northeast, Wisner-Pilger, and Stanton.
I think the Patriots will be quite a bit more competitive in all games this year, and win at least a few more games than they did a season ago.
Clarkson/Leigh has a tough path to success this year, but given all the hard work this team put in, they can certainly make some things happen this season.
The Patriots are in Sub-District D1-4 with the likes of GACC, Pender, Emerson-Hubbard, and Walthill.
Clarkson/Leigh opens up the season at Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family on Friday in a game that can be heard on 107.9 the Bull.
2016-2017 Clarkson/Leigh Patriots Girls Basketball Schedule:
12/02/16 @ Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family
12/03/16 Madison
12/06/16 @ Oakland-Craig
12/08/16 Winside
12/09/16 BRLD
12/15/16 Pender
12/17/16 Howells-Dodge
12/20/16 Yutan
12/28-12/29 (To Be Determined) Nebraska Christian Holiday Tournament Nebraska Christian
01/03/17 @ North Bend Central
01/07/17 @ Guardian Angels Central Catholic
01/10/17 @ Tekamah-Herman
01/13/17 Humphrey St. Francis
01/17/17 Elgin Public/Pope John
01/19/17 @ Twin River
01/20/17 @ Lutheran High Northeast
01/24/17 @ Wisner-Pilger
01/27-02/04 (To Be Determined) East Husker Conference Tournament TBD
02/07/17 Logan View-Scribner-Snyder
02/09/17 @ Stanton
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