Late start for Lancers, but raring to hit the court
LAKEVILLE - As Laville’s Michael Edison prepares for his 16th high school boys basketball season, there are some things that he knows.
Edison knows that he will have three starters back for the 2023-24 season.
He knows that his top three scorers return and he knows that his club is looking for some new guys to step up and fill available positions.
“Every year, a new team, a new identity,” Edison said when asked about the graduation losses. “Now you can’t create that (identity) on your own, it just happens. You can’t just think you are going to do this or go a certain way. You can do that as a coach to a certain extent, but they are going to be their own team this year and we just don’t know where that is going to be. I’ve had teams where it looks optimistic and it doesn’t turn out that way and I’ve had teams that, oh, we are going to struggle, and the guys get that chemistry and they do well together.”
Collin Allen, Ryan James, Noah Rush, Owen Smith, and Ross Wagoner picked up their diplomas in June, but a group of seven letter winners returns. Leading the way is last year’s leading scorer, Collin Czarnecki (19.2 points per game), followed by seniors Michael Good (11.9 ppg), and Lucas Plummer (10.9 ppg).
“We do have some scorers coming back,” said Edison, who is 215-134 all-time at Laville. “They are the three returning that have the most experience. After that we have some guys that will have to step up. I know a lot of teams will be keying in on Collin, but it will be our job to get the ball to Good in key spots and Plummer where he will be successful. (We also need) to come up with some guys that do some of those Ryan James, Collin Allen-type things, just some of those hard-nosed things. We are going to need some depth. We are waiting to see who emerges and see what takes place next week as we prepare for the season with some more practices.”
Laville’s ‘Big 3’ just joined the basketball team after an 11-win, sectional title-winning football season.
“There is always a drop when you come from another sport, so we’ll have to see,” Edison said when asked how the returning players improved from a year ago. “We won’t hit our stride until a few weeks into the season, but confidence, I think, anytime players have a couple of years under their belts a person can feel a little more at ease with things. That will be a big key.”
Edison’s squad finished 15-10 overall in 2022-23, including a 4-3 mark in the Hoosier North Athletic Conference, in a roller coaster season. One highlight was a run of five straight wins and the ’23 TCU Bi-county championship.
“So much of that is kind
of predicated on how you shoot the ball and teams that you play,” Edison said when asked about the ups and downs of last season. “We played some good teams and won and played some teams that we should probably beat and didn’t. That is what is so neat about Indiana boys basketball is that you have to come ready every game. Upsets happen and you just have to be ready, be focused, and be intentional about what you do.”
This will be the final year in the HNAC. Laville, along with Bremen, Jimtown, John Glenn, Knox and Tippecanoe Valley join together to make up the new Indiana Northern State Conference in all sports next year. Edison expects the HNAC to be competitive.
“I think it will be up in the air this year,” Edison said about a possible HNAC favorite. “We’ve got to be ready for every conference game.”
Edison admitted that his squad is guard strong for the coming season.
“We aren’t going to have a lot of post players,” he said. “We’ve only got a few and Good likes to be out on the perimeter. We’ve got to shoo him down. Probably the only post player is Braedyn Foster. Other than that we’ve got a lot of players wanting to be guards or having that guard mentality. So that will be the other key is figuring out positions and where people are going to fit it and figuring out roles, but having Collin and Lucas at the guard position will help.”
With the delayed start to the season, Laville will open November 30 at home against rival Bremen. The Lancers will play six games before Christmas, including at Argos, back-to-back HNAC games against Winamac and Pioneer, and close with home games against John Glenn and Hebron. Following Christmas break, Edison’s club jumps right back into the fire.
“After we play Hebron, we have 15 days off before our next game,” said Edison. “Then we could play eight games in 16 days. That is if we make it to the Bi-county championship game. Then we still have nine games to finish the season before the sectional.
“John Glenn and Bremen are a couple of our biggest rivals. We have Argos and I respect what Jason Breden has done. Tippecanoe Valley is really good. I always think that any conference school will be good, but you want to know who I think could be the best? Hebron. They have brothers, a senior and a sophomore, both at 6-foot-7, and they have another player that is 6-5 and didn’t play in the sectional. They have another shooter, so they are going to be tough.”