In his second year with the program, head coach Kurt Schomer hopes to have his New London boys basketball team taking another step in the right direction.
In his first season, Schomer led the Bulldogs to a 6-8 Bay Conference record, good for a sixth place finish. New London is fortunate enough to return a few players that logged varsity minutes last season, and with more familiarity with the offense, Schomer thinks that they can surprise some people.
“We come back with a little bit of experience, which I’m excited about, but I really love the guys we have in our program,” Schomer said about his team. “There’s kind of a buzz going around right now for New London boys basketball and people want to be a part of it, and that’s a really cool thing. I think that if we continue to do what we’re doing, and keep building, doing things the right way, working hard, treating each other great, I think we can have some success in our future.”
New London will have to make cuts for the first time in a few years, due to the number of players that have come out. That speaks to the kind of program Schomer is building.
Specifically, the team will be looking to the senior leadership out of Devin Winkler, as well as other production from players looking to make the leap, now that they have some experience under their belts.
“We have our senior point guard Devin Winkler back. We’re going to look at him to lead our team. He’s a great defender, he’s also great on the offensive end, he can get into the paint, and that creates things for other guys. We have guys coming up that have played for a couple years. Kyle Wolf, Will Wohlt, Brayden Kurth, all those guys are looking to make the next step.”
In order to be competitive, coach Schomer knows his team is going to have to bring the defense on a consistent basis. If they can do that, along with an improved offense, he thinks they can hang with most teams.
“I just think we have to be rock solid on the defensive side,” Schomer said. “If we do that night in and night out, I think we’ll be in most games. Offensively, I really think we can do a lot more than we did last year, again that’s going to take time, but our guys have been working hard in the offseason and I think there’s some good things we can do.”
New London begins their second day of practice Tuesday. They’ll open their season at home against Winneconne on November 22nd.
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