Panthers poised for return to prominence
Perhaps the area’s youngest coach, Jeremy Stuhlfauth — who recently turned 30 — often is on the same wavelength as many of his Linden players.
“He’s cool to hang out with,” senior forward Nate Claude said. “He listens to the same music and plays the same video games as we do. Coach is not just our friend, though. He’s earned our respect with what he’s done with the program.”
With the return of nine players from a team that went 15-9 (9-5 City League North) and reached the Division II district semifinals, Linden hopes to continue the revival of a once-dominant, then largely dormant program.
Upon landing the job at Linden in 2013-14, Stuhlfauth needed a crash course on the program’s rich basketball history.
“I knew that Linden had some history because I remember them making the state (in 2005) when I was a senior at Whetstone,” he said. Incidentally, that Linden team finished 11-15 after its postseason run, having ended the regular season sixth in the City League North.
Actually, Linden was a juggernaut for most of four decades until the talent dried up in the mid-1990s. The Panthers won state titles in 1967, ’75 and ’77, were runners-up twice and garnered eight regional and 12 district titles.
“Honestly, I wasn’t aware how far back the history went until I looked more closely at the banners and team pictures on the walls,” Stuhlfauth said. “I realized then it would be wise to tap into that history and impress upon the players what we once had here and would like to have again. We had Jene Davis, who coached some of the state championship teams, at practice to talk to some of the kids. A couple of prominent alums have come around as well.”
Linden last won a City title in 1991, and while 11-time defending champion Northland and Beechcroft are considered the teams to beat, there’s reason to believe that Linden could be a sleeper.
Leading the way for the Panthers will be 6-4 senior swingman Faizon Tucker, who averaged 15.6 points per game. Five other returnees scored between 5 and 8 points per game.
Also buoying the optimism is the emergence of 6-foot-4 point guard Chance Groce, who is rated one of the top freshmen in the state.
“One of our biggest strengths is our depth,” Stuhlfauth said. “Eight of these kids got plenty of minutes last year. We go 10 to 11 players deep with hardly any drop off. Faizon has the skill set to get buckets for us, and he’ll be our leader, but we’ve got a lot of pieces to make a run at the City and beyond this year.”
Groce is somewhat aware of Linden’s storied history: Several of his relatives played in the 1970s.
“I enjoyed watching the team play last year, and I think we’ll be even more athletic this year,” he said. “I have the mindset of coming in and carrying the team. We really think we can get to states this year.”
Stuhlfauth said the Linden community is noticing the program’s long-awaited upswing.
“Our players already had bought in to what we’re doing, but when I saw the home side half full for one of our scrimmages recently, it really made me realize that the community is buying in as well,” he said. “It’s an exciting time here.”