By Justin Sampson (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The 2017-2018 season of Carl Junction boys basketball felt like it was trending in one direction as the Bulldogs lost five of their last seven games to close the regular season. Nine days later, they were district champions after wins over McDonald County and Webb City.
Though the Bulldogs bowed out in the Class 4 sectionals, the accomplishment was vital for the growth of this group.
“We hope that our players grew from that experience,” head coach Skip Brock said. “We point out to them consistently that this is a new year and a new team. You can’t take anything for granted. This team will have to find its own way.”’
As Brock enters his fifth year at the helm, he has ramped up the intensity of preseason workouts for exactly that reason. Suddenly, opponents perk up when Carl Junction comes to town as the district title is suddenly a part of the conversation.
“We’ve always tried to gear our approach to playing our best ball in February and March. Any time you have success like that, it can really help your program, but you have to be wary of complacency. It’s never easy to do it, much less to defend a district championship. That’s a new role for us.”
The defense of that crown begins with a trio of seniors, led by All-State selection Trent Smith. The Southwest Baptist commit has been an All-COC Large selection every year and was one of the top scorers in the conference as a junior, carrying a 20.8 points per game average to go with 6.8 rebounds.
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Fellow senior Nakoa Warren is another returning starter who has been a workhorse in the offseason. Brock is impressed with the point that Warren has made to improve his game over the summer and expects that to lead to more production.
Most of the remaining minutes will go to four juniors: Teagan Armentrout, Mason Fox, Alex Baker, and Slade Frazier. There is starting experience among the group and those opportunities will only increase. With the loss of All-COC honoree Will Bebee, Armentrout brings back the second-high scoring average on the team at 4.8 points per night.
Finding the catalysts to replace those points could be the key to the Bulldogs’ success.
“Any time you lose somebody that contribute like that, the challenge is to get all the others to step up and compensate for that loss,” said Brock.
With more players having some starts under their belts, Brock may count on a shorter early-season learning curve. He wants his group to focus on nightly improvement and staying hungry.
“With this kind of experience, you hope you can start a bit ahead of where you were last year. We understand we still have to go through the process, but maybe it’ll go a little faster. All of that comes down to playing a great schedule. Our guys know they have to be ready to play every night.”
