When Shawn Jenkins took the coaching job at Independence he knew the program was in a rebuilding phase.
In his second year in Coal City he’s hoping his group can take steps forward in the rebuild. The early returns are encouraging as he’s not starting from scratch.
“You can see that there’s more basketball IQ and they’re a little bit more basketball savvy,” Jenkins said. “There’s things that don’t have to teach them that they see and just react and do, which is a good thing. Last year I had some kids that I was trying to teach them how to screen, so when I see a couple of freshmen come in, and they know how to rotate in the paint on defense, know when to help and know when to drop and that kind of stuff. You’re like, ‘Alright, these kids kind of already know.’ So that’s good.”
The Patriots are bolstered by some returning players as well as a few transfers and freshmen. Amongst the newcomers are former Liberty guard Ethan Williams, freshman Deegan Williams and Koltin Murphey.
“Ethan Williams was a blessing to get,” Jenkins said. “He can shoot it really well. He shoots the ball really well but he’s still coming back from ACL surgery. He’s a little hesitant right now but I think as the year goes he’s gonna smooth out a little bit for us and he’s gonna be a big player. But Sylas Nelson, he’s gonna be a major factor for us this year. And he will play probably about three positions or four positions so he’s got a lot to learn to to pick up because he’s gonna play all four spots for us. He’s going to be the attacker and slasher and shoots the ball good as well.
“We have Chris Lilly coming back from last year’s team and he’s a senior this year. Chris is one of the most dedicated players I’ve ever coached. He’s such a such a good kid. He’s got great character and he just loves it. Of course being a senior you kind of lean on him just a little bit. You know? Dalton Williams will probably be our big man this year. He’s never played before but he impressed me a lot in the scrimmage game the other day. Ashton Arthur, he’s a sophomore that shoots the ball really well. Logan Mink came from Shady and he’s probably going to start for us. He doesn’t really say a whole lot but he never seems like he gets rattled or anything like that.
The Patriots have talent and athletes but the early part of the season will probably be dedicated to developing chemistry. With so many new pieces and players returning from injury there isn’t a lot of continuity.
“We’re trying to put a team together and it’s kind of difficult in one sense of the word because you really don’t have chemistry,” Jenkins said. “You really don’t have a whole lot to really base things on. I think as the season goes we’ll get better and our expectations are always the same. I’ve told you just about every year you’re trying to get into the sectional championship and trying to get the one or two spot so you can play home.”
The Patriots are ahead of progress which is the good news. They’ll be challenged in a competitive section that features perennial contender Shady Spring as well as Midland Trail which is bolstered by some new transfers and PikeView which brings back several key pieces.
The goal is to be ready for March when the games actually count. Jenkins hopes they’re the best version of themselves at that point.
“We’re in a lot better shape than what we were last year,” Jenkins said. “We’re trying to jump out ahead, you know, we didn’t really get to playing any kind of good basketball last year until the right at the end of the year. We peaked right at the end and so I’m kind of hoping that we peak a little bit earlier. I do still feel like it’s going to be a progression. I feel like we’ll get better as the year goes, I’m just hoping that we peak just a little bit earlier than what we did last year to win more games and carry that over. But when you’ve got team like PikeView and Trail and Shady in the section we know we’ve got our hands full to try to get out of the section to where we need to be for sure.”
