Team: Emerson-Hubbard
Mascot: Pirates
Colors: Purple, Gold, and White
Class: D-1
Conference: Lewis and Clark
Head Coach: Alan Gottula (1st season)
2015-2016 record: 8-14 (lost to Walthill in Sub-Districts)
Returning Starters: N/A
Overview:
The Emerson-Hubbard Pirates are under new leadership as veteran coach Alan Gottula takes over for Jeff Korus. Gottula was an assistant at the school last year, and has 37 years experience coaching high school athletics.
Here are three of the five projected starters:
Taylor Donner 5'9 Sr.
Joshua Sebade 5'11 Jr.
Jacob Kneifl 6'1 So.
Emerson-Hubbard will have to make up for the losses of Tyler Haberman, Tyler Emmons, and Austin Ostrand, who are key losses lost to graduation, according to Gottula.
Gottula says his team also has to find some depth.
"Although we bring back both leadership and experience, we will have to find two starters and begin building some depth. We are encouraged by our young talent and expect dramatic improvement as the season progresses."
Gottula adds the team will be multiple on offense and defense.
"We will run multiple offensive and defensive systems in an effort to put our athletes in a position to succeed."
I'm excited to see how good this Emerson-Hubbard team can be this year. I feel the Pirates are fortunate to have Gottula as their coach, and I think he can lead Emerson-Hubbard to big things this season.
Gottula says leadership and work ethic are team strengths while inexperience in a team weakness.
The biggest thing for the Pirates this season is to keep things positive, in my opinion.
Emerson-Hubbard has to come to practice everyday willing to learn and grow as a team.
I see the Pirates doing that, and having a respectable season.
Season Outlook:
Emerson-Hubbard hopes to be good in Gottula's first season.
Gottula says the Pirates have to control what they can control.
"Our focus is on playing with great effort, energy and enthusiasm, focusing on fundamentals, and teaching technique. We expect our athletes to play hard, get better and play together."
I think you will see that as the season progresses. I think Emerson-Hubbard is a team that will get better as the season goes along.
Gottula says his team is looking for better results this year over last.
"Our team played hard last season and has demonstrated the same competitive spirit in our pre-season practices. As we become more fundamentally sound and execute with precision, we expect dramatic improvement as the season progresses."
Gottula adds expectations are high.
"We expect to compete hard against a demanding schedule."
A schedule that includes the likes of Lutheran High Northeast, BRLD, Laurel Concord-Coleridge, Hartington-Newcastle, Ponca, Winnebago, Wynot, Randolph, Walthill, and Stanton.
There are some very challenging games on the schedule for Emerson-Hubbard this season.
To be the best you have to beat the best though, and I think the Pirates have a shot to turn a few heads this season.
Emerson-Hubbard has to work hard for good shots on offense, get to the free throw line, contest shots, box out, and rebound if they want to be successful, in my opinion.
The Pirates are in Sub-District D1-4 with the likes of Guardian Angels Central Catholic, Walthill, Pender, and Clarkson/Leigh.
Emerson-Hubbard opens up the season on December 2nd in the Northeast Nebraska Tip-Off Classic against Lutheran High Northeast in Norfolk.
2016 2017 Emerson-Hubbard Pirates Boys Basketball Schedule:
12/02-12/03 (To Be Determined) Northeast Nebraska Tip Off Classic Lutheran High Northeast/GACC
12/06/16 @ BRLD
12/09/16 @ Laurel-Concord-Coleridge
12/12/16 Hartington-Newcastle
12/16/16 @ Ponca
12/17/16 @ Winside
12/29-12/30 (To Be Determined) Madison Holiday Tournament Madison
01/05-01/07 (To Be Determined) Bob Clough Post Holiday Tournament Homer
01/10/17 Winnebago
01/14/17 Wynot
01/17/17 @ Homer
01/20/17 Wakefield
01/24/17 @ Pender
01/26/17 @ Allen
01/27-02/06 (To Be Determined) Lewis and Clark Conference Tournament TBA
02/07/17 @ Randolph
02/10/17 Walthill
02/17/17 Stanton
Team: Emerson-Hubbard
Mascot: Pirates
Colors: Purple, Gold, and White
Class: D-1
Conference: Lewis and Clark
Head Coach: Troy Haberman (3rd season) (85-52 record)
2015-2016 record: 28-1 (beat Howells-Dodge to win D-1 State Championship)
Returning Starters: None
Overview:
The Emerson-Hubbard Pirates are hoping to continue the success they had last year when they won it all.
No starters return for 3rd year Head Coach Troy Haberman though as Emerson-Hubbard graduated quite a bit of talent in Abby Drieling, Payton Blanke, Morgan Hansen, Ashley Bokemper, Kylie Belt, and Shelby Utech.
Here is Haberman's projected starting five for this year.
Skyler Miller 5’9” Senior New Starter
Caleigh Mackling 5’6” Senior New Starter
Emma Haberman 5’7 Junior New Starter
Melanie Gentrup 5’8 Sophomore New Starter
Courtney Bokemper 5’6” Sophomore New Starter
Haberman says there's a newcomer he expects to have an impact on defense.
"We have one Freshmen in Addison Mackling, who is very quick and a good defender. I expect her to do well in our press schemes."
Haberman adds his team will press and be multiple on offense.
"Pressing defense, with many open offensive sets, we lack a true post player this year so most of the girls are interchangeable."
Speed and scoring are team strengths, according to Haberman.
"Quickness and any of the 5 starters have the ability to score, not one or two people doing most of the scoring, it should be more spread out this year."
Haberman adds getting the ball up the floor could be a challenge.
"Ballhandling needs to be better and Coach Whitsel and I will be watching to see who can step up and make a difference, after most of these girls have been watching from the bench for quite some time."
I look for a lot of teams to press Emerson-Hubbard this year, and try and force the Pirates into committing turnovers and making mistakes.
I think it will be very critical for Emerson-Hubbard to handle the different presses and junk defenses that figure to be thrown their way.
I think that could be critical to the Pirates' success.
Haberman says scoring and staying out of foul trouble are also key.
"Depth and Foul trouble will be two things we will have to overcome to be successful. Also we need to be confident in our outside shots. "
Season Outlook:
Emerson-Hubbard still hopes to be good despite losing all the talent they did off of last year's state championship team.
Haberman says the Pirates will give it their all this season.
"Our team will play hard and compete every night, I don’t know how many wins that translates into but we will defend our state title, the conference title, and the district title to the best of our ability."
Emerson-Hubbard's schedule won't be a cakewalk by any means, but I feel the Pirates have a chance to do some good things this year despite who they all lost.
Emerson-Hubbard takes on difficult foes in BRLD, Hartington-Newcastle, Ponca, Winnebago, Wynot, Pender and Randolph, just to name a few.
Haberman says the Pirates have their work cut out for them.
"Conference wise I think Wynot and Ponca will be the teams to beat, followed by the other 15 teams who will be fairly equal. Pender, Clarkson-Leigh, and GACC are in our sub-district which will be extremely difficult, so we have to improve as the season goes along to make it out of that jungle."
Walthill is the other team in Emerson-Hubbard's Sub-District, which is D1-4 at Wisner-Pilger.
I think it will be important for Emerson-Hubbard to get better as the season progresses. I feel the Pirates are capable of improving from December to February or March, but the girls have to be dedicated to working hard in practice and in games.
I don't know if the wins will come the way they did last year, but I still expect Emerson-Hubbard to win their fair share of games.
A lot these girls sat on the bench last year and saw what it takes to be successful while the other girls were probably there to witness last year's state title run in some fashion.
The Pirates know what they need to do and what it's going to take to be successful this year so it will be interesting to see if Emerson-Hubbard can make it happen again this year.
The Pirates begin the season on December 1st in the Northeast Nebraska Tip-off Classic.
2016-2017 Emerson-Hubbard Pirates Girls Basketball Schedule:
12/01-12/03 (To Be Determined) Northeast Nebraska Tip-off Classic Lutheran High NE/Guardian Angels Central Catholic, Wisner-Pilger
12/06/16 @ BRLD
12/09/16 @ Laurel-Concord-Coleridge
12/12/16 Hartington-Newcastle
12/16/16 @ Ponca C2
12/17/16 @ Winside D2
12/29-12/30 (To Be Determined) Madison Holiday Tournament Madison
01/05-01/07 (To Be Determined) Bob Clough Post Holiday Homer
01/10/17 Winnebago
01/14/17 Wynot
01/17/17 @ Homer
01/20/17 Wakefield
01/24/17 @ Pender
01/26/17 @ Allen
01/27-02/06 (To Be Determined) Lewis and Clark Conference Tournament TBA
02/07/17 @ Randolph
02/10/17 Walthill
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