2023-24 BOYS' BASKETBALL PREVIEW: Cloverdale Clovers

For the first time since the 2004-05 season, there was no one named Rady pacing the sideline at a Cloverdale basketball game.

It was a season of sea change for the Clovers as Karl Turk took over a squad that, for the first time in several years, didn’t have a flagship player to build a team around, nor the kind of experience prior rosters had.

The result was a 2-22 record in the 2022-23 season and, with several seniors graduating, there were plenty of questions for Turk to answer heading into the new season.

“Reflecting on last year, the season never got on track,” Turk said. “It was difficult, though I don’t think the effort ever waned from anyone.

“We had gone a decade with players like Cooper (Neese), Jalen (Moore) and Kyle (Thomas) in the team and without them, we saw the running clock a few times. We got a win at Brown County and were definitely competitive in the first half of games, but we got pretty hard coming out of halftime.

“By the time we started to get it, we got hit by the injury bug and never got fully on track,” Turk added.

It was a trying season for Cloverdale but several familiar faces have reappeared ahead of the 2023-24 campaign, forming a roster that Turk said will be wildly different than the previous year.

“The talent level in the gym is significantly higher,” Turk pointed out. “The fundamentals, the ability, it’s just higher. The effort is being replicated but it’s a more positive group with more talent, shot makers and shot creators.

“The returners are guys who went through it last year, including their coach, and there is a hunger in the gym that was not necessarily apparent last year. These guys also have a greater urgency to police themselves in practice.”

Noah Betz (12.4 ppg, 5.7 rpg) leads the returning Cloverdale squad from the 2022-23 season with fellow seniors Scottie McGuire and Liam Ramsay being joined by the returning pair of Eli Kelley and Zach Thomas.

The group provides a blend of speed, size and skill that Turk said would raise the level of play for the team immediately.

“The spacing will be immaculately better,” Turk said. “Noah was our leading rebounder and scorer last season while Scottie is a four-year player and Liam has improved a great deal considering he hadn’t picked up a basketball until after his sophomore year.

“Eli is a good shooter and a good shot creator, not only for himself but for others, and will make the load easier for our returning guys. He’s a threat inside and outside and is maybe the most athletic guy in the county. Zach is a creator and a shot maker, adding some firepower to this senior class.

Tayt Jackson (8.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2 apg) and Levi Johnson (2.7 ppg, 2.8 rpg) return after featuring heavily as sophomores and are joined by Houston Jobe, who returned to Cloverdale this year.

“Tayt and Levi are both third-year guys and are very important for us,” Turk said. “Houston is Cloverdale through and through, though he was at South Putnam after his eighth-grade year.

“He’s back in Cloverdale and, to put it in the vernacular of the young people, he is a bucket. He has the deepest shooting range on the team, is very skilled with the ball, can make tough shots and is a slasher.”

Sophomores Spencer Nees, Artrevion Henderson and Austin Shepherd will see some time on the varsity roster while Turk liked what he saw from freshman Trey Schabel early on.

“Trey has the potential to have a very, very good career here at Cloverdale,” Turk said, noting father Steve Schabel was a prominent player at Speedway and played collegiately at IUPUI and Ball State. “Our sophomores will start splitting time between JV and varsity as we will dress 12 to start the year.”

Turk said the amount of options and experience returning to the team allowed for a much more flexible gameplan, though it was a group that still needed to be tested to find out just what they were capable of.

“Offensively, we are entirely more wide open and versatile,” Turk said. “I can envision a time where we don’t have four or five guys on the floor that are three-point shooters or ball handlers.

“The return of guys like Houston, Zach and Eli give us a lot to work with while the refinement of the returners will be evident. On the other end, we also are more versatile as our team speed is up, though we are not the tallest or widest team and we don’t have a true post player.

“We didn’t play many close games last season,” Turk added. “When we played Riverton Parke in the sectional, it was a one-possession game with four minutes to go and we needed to play in that atmosphere.

“Even for the guys who haven’t played for a couple years, one thing we’ve had to work on consistently is learning or relearning continuity as we’re doing things differently this year.”

Rebounding was an issue throughout the 2022-23 season as the Clovers topped 20 rebounds only six times and, with a lineup that was still on the smaller side, Turk said it was about the internal drive rather than any practice plan that would determine if the team would improve on that metric.

“Rebounding comes down to determination and heart,” Turk said. “We can throw out metrics and drills but each player has to decide and has to challenge themselves.

“Noah, in the sectional game, a game that doesn’t take a lot of intrinsic motivation, grabbed 10 rebounds in the first quarter. He’s capable of doing that every night but is not always focused.

“It doesn’t come down to drills but to the players deciding to get to the ball with more vigor than the other team does,” Turk added. “Eli is a major athlete capable of rebounding and Liam has a nose for the basketball but we’re also hoping our guards get into the mix.

“Tayt, Levi and Scottie have all been in (Cloverdale football head coach Tyler) Lotz’s system, spending a lot of time in the weight room and are rugged guys and can also be capable rebounders.”

Cloverdale will get a hot game to start the season as the Clovers host Greencastle for their season opener on Nov. 25, a game that will have the Putnam County Bucket on the line.

Turk said it was an important game to start the year, though there was no extra pressure with the potential to claim the Bucket so early in the season.

“Our season opens up this year with Greencastle, notably a Bucket game, and there’s a lot of excitement for that game,” Turk said. “Most teams want to start on the first Tuesday of the year but we do not have Terre Haute South on the schedule; we’ve added Riverton Parke, a potential sectional opponent, in the last game before the Wabash Valley Classic.

“It’s going to be a big-game feel and even if we come up short, I don’t mind it as it’s a game in November, not the county tournament or the sectional later in the year. Being after Thanksgiving, this might be a chance for relatives to get to come to a game, so it’s pretty cool that we have a game that will be notable.”

With the amount of talent and a more positive buzz around the gym, Turk said the Clovers had the potential to be in the mix come county and sectional time but added it would come down to how much the players were willing to continue pushing themselves that would determine how their season played out.

“We feel like this team can win a county tournament, a sectional and maybe both, no doubt about it,” Turk said. “All the teams in the county and sectional feel the same way and rightfully so.

“With the way things are headed, the biggest determining factor is what drive these guys have within themselves. The returners went through adversity and are appreciative of the chance to come back and rewrite some things while the players who have returned to us want to be here.

“It’s what is within them that will determine this and, to this point, the players have been extremely motivated,” Turk added. “I’ve been impressed with their attention to holding themselves accountable.

“Zach and Tayt have led that effort and have the most influence on the others on and off the court. Eli has been a role model in the locker room and all of these guys have redirected our efforts when we weren’t doing what we’ve needed to early on.

“Tayt in particular has been on top of things and I’m thoroughly impressed with him and his leadership ability.”