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Clovers ready for regional
CLOVERDALE -- Coming off a second-straight sectional winning season, in which the boys' basketball team won its county tournament, and going into a regional halfway across the state, one might expect a few steely-faced high-schoolers with nervous faces after every practice.
But the Clover boys looked relaxed and confident as they knocked down jumpers near the end of practice Tuesday. In fact CHS coach Patrick Rady thinks his players are better when they come into the games relaxed.
But relaxed in this case doesn't mean complacent because the Clovers are focused on the task at hand and they know what moments like these mean for their community.
"I'm really excited," Jalen Moore said. "This is the second year I've been to regional. I'm blessed to say that. Because I'm only a sophomore. That's exciting. It means we've got to go out and take care of business. We can't overlook anybody. We are preparing for the best."
A lot has changed in one year for the Cloverdale team and not just at the coaching helm. Rady Jr. is took over once Pat Rady Sr. retired and Rady Jr. back in the head coaching spot with a team that lost a huge chunk of its scoring threats last season to graduation.
"Each team has its own identity," Rady said. "Both teams when they began the season excepted to win the sectional. Maybe more people thought we'd win last year but as a collective group we had our eyes the prize."
Rady is accompanied by a cast of coaches who have earned the respect of the players and the community with their basketball knowledge.
"It's awesome," Neese said. "From Greg Thomas who played at ISU, to (Daniel) Varnes whose probably one of the most aggressive rebounding guys I've ever played against, to Chase Haltom helping me, to my brother helping me and even my dad telling me what I need to do and work on I'm blessed for it. You couldn't ask for a better coaching staff."
CHS not only had the goal of reaching and winning the sectional title, but they had the drive early into the offseason to do what it takes to get the job done.
In the offseason the Clovers typically scrimmaged 3A or 4A teams hoping to get the players ready for postseason play.
"I'm not sure we won two ore three games in the summer," Rady said. "But we wanted to play the best competition to make us better for March. It was a work in progress we lost 64 points a game but we still felt that come March, we could win the sectional."
Cloverdale opened the 2015-16 season by dominating in its first two games before its loss in the J7 shootout tournament. The Clovers then went on to win five in row, beating local schools before their winning streak was snapped by Greencastle on Tucker Court.
The Clovers were good but still hadn't managed to stay dominant and score when its two super stars weren't producing above-average numbers. To take a sectional win it would take more than high-scoring averages, even with one of the top scorers in the state.
"You've got to have a great team," Neese said. "Not a good team, a great team. On a good team you'll have good individual players. But on a great team you need players all working together and to know their strengths and play well to those strengths."
As the season wore on more players began to get involved in both the offense and defense, which allowed Neese and Moore to work more efficiently.
Seth Pfaff scored four threes in a game, getting hot at just the right time, Nick Winders and Jake Wilkes are consistently getting good looks for corner threes and Brenan Hall's role has become more pronounced as the season has grown to point where CHS fans were happy to see him back on the floor after his brief injury on Saturday.
"It's easier than a lot of people think," Hall said. "With Cooper and Jalen they are such amazing players they make everyone better. I go out there with the mentality that I need to play a relatively strong defense and go get some rebounds. They're going to get me open shots and setting screens for them will get me open shots."
The role of these athletes are in many ways more vital for CHS due to the amount of attention opponents will have to pay to Neese and Moore.
"I think we've progressed as a team a lot," Winders said. "We're all playing to our roles. I'm just trying to be a team player. I'm looking and trying to make that opportunity for myself and the team. Jalen will get anyone open. He's a good point guard for us. Cooper is a great ball handler and he can make anything happen. It's fun playing with them and hopefully I knock down those shots when they get me open."
After the loss to GHS, Cloverdale was still looking to get better and CHS took their talents to Terre Haute for the Wabash Valley Tournament, unfortunately coming up short of a championship but Rady was happy to have played some of the area's top talent.
It didn't stop there as CHS went on to play at Banker's Life Fieldhouse looking once again to play some top tier athletic programs. Having just beat a class 3A school in Owen Valley the Clovers went to play Covenant Christian. Cloverdale lost this match but Rady has explained that his coaching isn't just about the wins and losses.
The sixth-year head coach who coached for five years at Southwestern (Hanover) said that it can be tough for role players to learn to play with the team and figure out just how their skills fit in where needed.
"It took awhile," Rady said. "It took awhile for us even as the coaching staff to put them in positions to be able to, when Cooper and Jalen make the reads, be in the right spot and expect the pass.
"Those were all things that we had to get down in practice. We spent 40 minutes per day in individual development," he continued. "So could we have had more plays in? Yes. Could we have added another defense in? Yes. But we chose to work on skill development and I still think when it came down to the sectional, guys made plays with skill where as early in the year. I didn't think we could make that play."
After the game at Banker's Life, Cloverdale got hot, winning nine of its next 10 games taking a Putnam County title and a sectional championship in the process.
"I think whenever you are one of just 64 teams," Rady said. "Not every basketball team gets to play this week in Indiana. The students you can tell have taken a lot of pride in our program. I think it's great. I continue to tell our players we're playing for something bigger than yourselves."
Rady said his team is beginning to realize what that means as it gets tougher and tougher to win. It's great timing for a team which has just finish a tournament where opponents did whatever they could to keep Neese and Moore uncomfortable.
"Players are going to try and get in your head," Neese said. "That's just becoming the leader of a team. The team runs through the leaders Jalen, our seniors and I and they are going to try and knock you down. They'll scratch you, claw at you, hit you. I think everybody saw that in sectional but we still won. We shoved through some adversity. There's teams that may double team and triple team you but we are used to it now."
Moore, who typically makes opposing defenders look silly with the rock in his hand, is perhaps subject to the most physical defense when he slashes to the paint.
"I'm the smallest guy on the court," Moore said. "I'll be getting bumped while trying to finish. Size doesn't mean nothing. You can't measure the heart. It's on the inside."
Moore said his favorite part of the game is making plays for his teammates to get open shots, which fits in well with what the coaching staff at CHS has been trying to accomplish.
So even though the mood was relaxed at the end of the practice on Tuesday. as the team broke its huddle Neese took a shot from the center of the clover on Al Tucker court and swished it. The Clovers are ready to play.