COLUMN: What to watch for on opening night

Monday, November 11, 2013

Tuesday is opening night for the 2013-14 girls' basketball season, and when the county teams tip-off tonight in various places around West Central Indiana there are several things I'm curious to find out. One can only learn so much from watching 10 minutes of practice or a scrimmage.

So while I will I only be attending one game (a Twitter poll has me at North Putnam, and I have yet to devote the time required to discover how to be in four places at once), here are the things I will be (or would be) watching for:

(Ranked in order of geographic proximity to where I'll be)

North Putnam v Crawfordsville

The teams met twice last year, bookending the season for the Cougars. The opener wasn't particularly competitive, but by the time sectionals came around North Putnam was clicking much better and starting to play as a team that understood their expectations and limitations.

I'm looking forward to seeing how many changes the Cougars made this year with coach Curtis Lawrence now in his second season. A team can only add so much in one season, but by year two NPHS should be able to adapt and play with more versatility.

Will the Cougars be able to mix in a zone press, then fall back into man-to-man defense? Can they push the ball at certain points and play slow at others?

South Putnam v Rockville

The Eagles have a young group but a new coach. I'm hoping they can learn his new system on the fly and be ready to go from the start, but I'm mostly curious to see which players emerge. The Eagles have one returning starter, senior Aubrey Nichols, and only one other girl who got big minutes on varsity last year, senior Amanda Barnes.

Which of the young group is going to step up and become the third (or maybe first or second?) option on offense? Junior Emily Dobson was solid in the team's scrimmage on Saturday, but others like sophomores Katie Hewitt and Jessica Modglin or juniors Katelyn Lady, Ariel Higgins and Olivia Arnold might be the first to accept a bigger spot.

Cloverdale at Tri-West

The Clovers had a lot of turnover but the new group should be nearly as athletic as last year. The team's defense is all about effort, energy and reading what the offense is trying to do, so while there may be a few mistakes early, that will be back to peak form fairly quickly.

I'm just wondering if the offense can take advantage. What good is jumping into passing lanes and forcing turnovers if you don't score after? The Clovers scored a lot of fastbreak points last year, but can this group take advantage the same way?

Greencastle v Terre Haute North (at West Vigo)

The Tiger Cubs are experienced and talented. They won sectionals last year and improved dramatically from game one to game 20. Will they be able to pick up right where they left off?

Greencastle had a ton of weapons on offense and defense last season and they shared the ball extremely well. I want to see if that chemistry remains when they mix in new pieces to replace the old, and how much the sophomores last season have improved for their junior year. If they start out clicking, how much room is there to grow?

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