By Jim Connell (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Marshfield boys’ basketball coach Damon Seiger has only one senior to work with this season.
It’s not a normal situation, he said, but “we like who we have.”
The Blue Jays are coming off a 13-14 season that included a third-place finish in the Small Division of the Central Ozark Conference, with a 5-2 record, and a loss to Reeds Spring in the first round of the district tournament.
Two starters are back, in 6-foot-5 junior Triston Letterman and 6-foot-3 junior Austin Porter.
Letterman averaged 10.4 points and 6.5 rebounds per game last season, earning second team honors in the COC Small, with Porter an athletic guard who can score from the perimeter or on drives to the basket. Porter had averages of 9.6 points and 3.0 rebounds as a sophomore.
Fellow junior Jacobi Villines is a pure shooter who has worked to improve his overall game in the offseason. He averaged 3.1 ppg as a sophomore and figures to play a more prominent role in the offense this season.
“The biggest thing they bring is varsity experience,” Seiger said. “With the exception of those three, we don’t have any varsity experience, except for some spot minutes here and there.”
The biggest graduation loss for the Blue Jays was first team all-conference and all-district guard Jarrett Paoni. Two other departed seniors are guard Britt Hill and forward Bo Atkison.
The one senior returning is 5-foot-7 senior Jason Whittington, who played limited minutes as a junior.
It’s that lack of experience and seasoning that is a concern for Marshfield’s sixth-year coach.
“We just don’t have a lot of varsity experience,” Seiger said. “I think we have some nice players, but we have some shoes to fill from the four seniors we lost last year. Our guard play will have to be there, especially early on.”
The return of Letterman, Porter and Villines will have to carry the team early on as the young newcomers on the team get up to speed on the varsity level.
“The three showed the ability to put the ball in the hole, we just have to find contributors around them,” Seiger said.
In addition to Whittington, the Blue Jays also expect to get contributions from a group of four juniors and a sophomore.
Junior guards Brayden Peck (5-foot-11) and Parker Dinwiddie (5-foot-10) are joined by 6-foot-3 junior forwards Brandon Pogue and Trenton Kanengieter, and 6-foot-1 sophomore guard Drew Cromer.
“We’ve got a little bit of size, but we don’t have any imposing 6-6, 6-7 kids,” Seiger said. “We have some lengthy kids who are rangy and can cover some ground, and we’ve got some defensive size. I think we’ll be a solid rebounding group.
“Sometimes we will have to grind things out, and I expect that early in the season.”
Seiger said Dinwiddie is a strong shooter and ball-handler who should transition well to the varsity game, and Kanengieter is a quality player who should make contributions on both ends.
“Our biggest challenge, especially early, is getting those sophomores transitioned into their junior year, and after playing JV last year, now being expected to play varsity,” Seiger said. “There is a transition there, it goes without saying.
“The speed of the game is faster, the overall speed and overall strength is just leveled up. It’s bigger, faster, stronger, simple as that.”
Marshfield faces a rugged early schedule that includes road games at Lebanon, Springfield Catholic and West Plains, plus tournaments at Forsyth and Mountain Grove, and the Blue and Gold Tournament.
Then the final season of the Central Ozark Conference includes a balanced and powerful Small Division field.
“This is COC basketball, and this being the last year for the conference, I think it adds a little more excitement to it,” Seiger said. “There’s a lot of returning players in the conference, but a lot of players lost, too, and people trying to figure out what they have.”
