Lockdown ‘D’ is a focus for NV boys

Nodaway Valley’s boys basketball squad will sport their biggest senior class in three seasons this winter in their second season under head coach Mick Long.

The Wolverines were last a year ago in the Pride of Iowa Conference with an overall record of 4-20. The four victories were one more than the previous season — two came against East Union and others were against Central Decatur and Diagonal.

A celebration point from last season was the Diagonal win came in the first round of the Class 1A postseason. Following that, a ranked Coon Rapids-Bayard team topped the Wolverines 81-29.

Long said there’s a lot to be excited about.

“We are building the program, our base and our program pride. I can’t wait until the season begins. Entering year two, we have a lot of excitement. We have a youth camp established, some AAU teams and soon our middle schoolers will begin. There are a lot of people excited about basketball,” he said.

A new coaching gig Long embarked on as an assistant football coach helped him get to know his basketball players who are out for football even more.

“I got to see the basketball kids in a different sport. It takes three years or so to do a rebuild of a basketball program. I thought we made progress last year and were playing our best basketball in the second half of the year, especially the last couple weeks,” Long said.

Seniors on last year’s team included Paul Berg, Ben Hoover, Christian Putney and Garrett Welsch. Berg led that group with 71. points and a team-high 7.8 rebounds per game.

The Wolverines return six top-8 scorers from last season. Sophomore Ty Rardin returns after leading the team with 8.7 points per game as a freshman, along with 2.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. He was a deadly perimeter threat for NV, making a team-high 47 shots from long range.

Freshman Titan Foster averaged 5.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists last year and will look to take another step in development after strong baseball and football seasons. He nailed eight 3-pointers last year.

Also making eight 3-pointers last year were now-senior Titus Hamer and now-sophomore Jack Berg. Hamer averaged 3.2 points and 1.5 assists per game as a junior while Berg averaged 3.0 points, 2.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.7 rebounds per game.

Senior forwards Parker Schneider and Jaxson Stringer return and could add a mixture of height and physical play near the basket. Schneider averaged 3.2 points and 3.6 rebounds and Stringer averaged 2.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game last year. Both should be two of the taller post players in the POI this year.

Also returning are Dyllan Shannon, Jacob Fry and Cassius Burnside looking to help in the rotation this winter.

“We are ahead of where we were last year. We (coaches) were talking about this the other day about how much more intelligent the kids are this year in our open gyms,” Long said. “We have players that have put time in lifting and I think we are going to surprise people.”

Long said the focus for this year’s team will be placed on defense, which assistant coach Justen Shannon leads.

“He is excited and that makes everyone excited to slow and stop teams,” Long said. “How fast that comes along, we will see. Like last year, I think we will be playing our best basketball again after Christmas.”

NV begins the season Tuesday, Dec. 2 at home against Pride of Iowa Conference title contendor Mount Ayr. The Raiders have won five straight against the Wolverines dating to the 2022-23 season.

The Wolverines have 11 home games this season with other pre-Christmas home games against Martensdale-St. Marys and Wayne. After the break there are eight home games, including a three-game stretch in mid-to-late January against Lenox, Southwest Valley and Southeast Warren.