2023-24 BOYS' BASKETBALL PREVIEW: North Putnam Cougars

Any thoughts that North Putnam might fall off with only a single senior and a group that was largely untested proved to be unfounded in the 2022-23 season.

The Cougars finished 16-10, winning the Putnam County Bucket in their second game of the season, winning the Putnam County Classic for a third-straight year and reaching a sectional final for the third time in four years, though bettering Parke Heritage in the championship game still eludes the squad.

With four key seniors returning and six key pieces of the rotation back, North Putnam will look to continue its strong play for a fifth year under head coach Vince Brooks, who said a big part of the offseason was improving upon a shooting performance that was not as strong as previous campaigns.

“At the end of the season, the biggest thing I needed to communicate to the kids was that we get a few more wins if, and it’s a big if, we just shoot the ball a little better,” Brooks said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well. Our three-point shooting was under 30 percent for the season and that can’t happen.

“That’s been a point of emphasis since March. With a few exceptions, I was pleased with our shot selection and we didn’t need to change the way we played. We just needed to hit more of them.”

Brooks added the team took the message to heart.

“Through the summer, we put in the work and it showed,” Brooks said. “We had a much better shooting percentage in the summer and I feel like the same is true so far in the offseason and practice.

“In addition to three-point shooting, we have to be better at the free throw line. I communicated to the kids if we hit one three and one or two more free throws every game and a 16-win team becomes an 18-win team, maybe 19, maybe 20. We just need to improve our shooting.”

North Putnam returns four seniors in Nolan Hackleman (11.3 ppg, 3,2 rpg), Brady Barber (6.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg), Jalen Windmiller (5.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg) and Matt Farrington (3.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg) while Brogan Woodall joins the ranks, having played football for the first time as a senior as well.

The group gained plenty of experience over the course of the season and Brooks said each player had important roles in their fall sports that impressed him as well.

“Having five seniors is definitely a different makeup than we had last year,” Brooks said. “All of our kids are multi-sport guys and our seniors have come off of soccer and football seasons with opportunities to be leaders on their fall sport teams.

“Not only are they bringing a lot of experience from the basketball court back but also adding a season of leadership into the mix. I’m really pleased with this season group; it’s definitely the deepest senior group we’ve had since I’ve been here.”

Junior Kaden Helderman (8.9 ppg, 2.8 rpg) and sophomore Isaac Pickel (3.9 ppg, 3.4 rpg) round out the returning varsity rotation members, giving the team an experienced look that Brooks said allowed for the players to get moving quickly to start the year.

“We do a lot of things that do require our players to not only learn and understand so many different rules, concepts and automatics but we also have a lot of different styles we play,” Brooks noted. “We have a lot of different defenses we use, so we ask a lot of the kids intellectually.

“The longer they’ve been around, the easier the asks are. The four seniors, for them, the concepts are quick refreshers and they’re good to go. The juniors, maybe a little more so, but you have to remember Kaden, as a freshman, wasn’t getting a ton of JV time, so he was in a unique position of getting a lot of varsity minutes as a sophomore and now with a full season under his belt, he’ll be stronger.

“The unique makeup of only losing one senior means we can build off what we did last year in a way you can’t normally do from year to year.” Brooks added.

Additional juniors on the roster include Nolan Augusta and Braxton Woodall alongside sophomores Christian Kramer, Chase Barber, Griffen Starr, Jayce Monnett and Braxton Asher. Freshmen out for the team include Owen Querry and Owen Thurman.

While the younger players will still be getting their feet wet in the system, Brooks said having more returning players allowed for more options to be put on the table, ones that weren’t used a year ago.

“Because we lost one senior and added a senior we didn’t have last year, it’s basically the same team we had last year,” Brooks said. “There are at least two or three significant things I wanted to do last year that we never touched on.

“To be able to throw two or three more things into the mix will be really helpful.”

North Putnam’s opening contest will now be at South Putnam on Dec. 1 after the originally-scheduled opener against Southmont was pushed back due to the Mounties playing in the football semistate just three days prior.

The Cougars will also spend the post-Christmas period going north, having joined the Clinton Central Holiday Tournament.

“We wanted to stick with a potential three-game holiday tournament, so we’re going to Clinton Central instead of Monrovia after the latter cut their tournament to a single-day, two-game tournament,” Brooks said. “We like the two-day, three-game event.

“Fountian Central is in it as the only team might see again later. Carroll is among the best teams in Class 2A and we play them in the opening game. It’s a great draw for us as we know we’re getting a great team off the bat; the nice thing about that is we get to prepare for that team whereas later, you just have to roll with it.”

Though there were several games Brooks said the team could have turned around with better shooting, getting over the hump in sectional play was one the team was eager to try and rectify this season.

“In the last few minutes of the sectional final, it was a low-scoring, defensive slugfest but it was tied at 27-27 and we just couldn’t make those shots,” Brooks said. “We hung out there too long and paid the price.

“We totally believe we can put ourselves back in that same situation again and hopefully we can make a couple of shots. If we do, we’ll enjoy the results.”

While postseason play is a long time away, Brooks said he was enjoying the ride with an enjoyable group of athletes that have improved since last season and we’e eager to let that improvement show in the 2023-24 season.

“You can be a great shooting team and still have a poor shooting game,” Brooks said. “We witnessed that a couple of years ago in the sectional where we had a talented class but didn’t shoot well in the postseason.

“With that said, I’m hoping that the additional focus on shooting helps and puts us in a better position to win more games. This is a great group of kids. Regardless of the results, I’m excited for the opportunity to hang out with these guys every day.”