Confidence the word for Culver

CULVER — A wealth of returning letter winners and another year in the program have Culver and head coach Kyle Evans feeling particularly upbeat for the coming year.

“We had a very strong summer. It was our most productive summer we have had since I have been at Culver,” said Evans. “I think it raised our expectations even more.”

Returning are leading scorer Emiliano Ortiz (17 ppg.) and leading assist man Ethan Keller (6 pg) and leading rebounder Shane Shuman (4 pg) for the coming season along with Mason Herbert, Joey Pizur and Oliver

Morgan giving Evans a solid core of seniors.

“Our players all understand we have high expectations for each guy within their role,” said Evans. “They have all done a nice job in the role we have given them.”

A solid summer and six seniors also give a coach some confidence.

“I feel like we are ahead of where most teams usually are two weeks into the season,” said Evans. “That comes with our experience. All 6 returners have 2 to 3 years of experience at the varsity level. We pretty much had everything installed or reviewed after week one. Now it’s all about mastering the execution of what we do.”

Even with that confidence, there are a few things that will have to happen to help for a great season.

“We will not have depth this year,” said Evans. “If we can stay healthy and injury free, we have a chance of being a very tough team in our HNAC and within our sectional.”

“Our players and coaches both have high expectations for the season,” he said. “We want to be in a position to compete to win a very tough Hoosier North Conference and our sectional. If we can put ourselves in a position late in the season where we still control our destiny in those areas we would consider that a very successful year.”