Playing ‘Plymouth basketball’ the goal for Grindle, Pilgrims
PLYMOUTH — Plymouth is hoping that a change will bring some vitality to a program that has struggled for the past several seasons, but for the Pilgrims, it’s back to the future.
Joel Grindle is no stranger to Plymouth, a multi-sport star in high school he has had two stints as an assistant in the basketball program and has now come back to lead it.
“We kind of like what we have coming back,” said Grindle. “We have a lot of guys coming back who have seen a lot of minutes.”
“Easton Strain was our leading scorer and leading rebounder,” said Grindle. “He can do a lot of really nice things inside and out. We haven’t seen a lot of him because he’s battling a little bit of an injury.”
“Davis Wray has put in a ton of time,” said Grindle. “We think that he’s come a long way from last year and he’s another kid we feel like will have to carry the scoring load for us if we are going to have some success.
“Tanner Feece does a little bit of everything for us,” said Grindle. “He’s going to be a defensive stopper, he’s a guy we are going to need to do a lot of things.”
“Seth Mills has been around multiple sports here and we’re hoping that he can once again fill in that roll as a screener and a rebounder.”
Another player that burst on the scene a year ago and was a part-time varsity starter is back
“Michael (Sheely) is athletic, big and strong and we feel like he is going to take some monster steps for us and be a big part down low,” said Grindle.
Grindle will be asking his team to perform at a higher level.
“We are talking about playing longer stretches the right way and the way that we want to play,” said Grindle. “We feel we can be competitive with the talent that we have but we are going to have to play a certain way, we are going to have to do the little things right and run our offense well, we are going to have to play our defense well and we don’t have room for a bunch of break downs.”
“We’ve seen flashes in practice where you think that we are going to be really good and then you see that things just break down,” said Grindle. “We are looking at more consistency and playing Plymouth basketball.”
And just what is the definition of that?
“You have to go back to that focus and intensity,” said Grindle. “We are going to want to out-hustle people, we have to get on the floor, we have to take charges, we have to set screens. We have to do those toughness things that Plymouth basketball has always been known for.”
“We feel that we have to play Plymouth basketball for 32 minutes. If we do those little things right the big things will fall into place.”
Plymouth Pilgrims
Coach: Joel Grindle, 0-0 in 1st year at school, 84-91 in
9th year overall
Nov. 24 at John Glenn 3A 7:30 pm
Nov. 30 at Triton 1A 7:30 pm
Dec. 3 Argos 1A 8:00 pm
Dec. 7 Winamac 2A 7:45 pm
Dec. 10 Mishawaka Marian 3A 7:45 pm Dec. 17 at Northwood 3A © 7:45 pm
Dec. 21 South Bend Riley 4A 7:45 pm
Dec. 30 West Central 1A 10:30 am tournament Jan. 4 at Michigan City 4A 8:00 pm
Jan. 7 at Mishawaka 4A © 7:45 pm
Jan. 8 at Tippecanoe Valley 3A 7:45 pm Jan. 14 Concord 4A © 7:45 pm
Jan. 15 at Elkhart 4A 7:30 pm
Jan. 21 Wawasee 3A © 7:30 pm
Jan. 28 Northridge 4A © 7:45 pm
Feb. 3 at Goshen 4A © 7:45 pm
Feb. 5 at Westview 2A 2:30 pm
Feb. 11 at Warsaw 4A © 7:45 pm
Feb. 15 at Penn 4A 7:45 pm
Feb. 19 New Prairie 3A 7:45 pm
Feb. 22 South Bend St. Joseph 3A 7:45 pm