(Greenfield) Nodaway Valley made a strong push at the end of last season and advanced as deep as the substate finals.
Gone from the 2019-20 team are starters Tyler Vandewater, Josh Baudler, and Clay Hohertz (along with reserve Brayden Holder). Toby Bower and Mason Menefee are the returning starters for a Wolverine team that finished last year with a 17-8 record. Co-head coach James Larson say, “Toby is going to have to step it up this year, even more. He’s going to have to do more offensively, rebound, and defensively. Mason Menefee will have to step it up as well. Then the freshmen that played last year, those two just watching them from open gyms and the first day of practice they’ve taken strides. They’ve gotten significantly better.” Larson says DeVault and Phillippi are looking a lot more comfortable on the court and the team will need them to step up.
Co-head coach Darrell Burmeister feels the team will have some depth to work with beyond Bower, Menefee, DeVault, and Phillippi. “We feel we have another six or seven that could work into the lineup also. We are pretty happy with our depth. We’ve named eleven varsity and I think any of those eleven could step on the floor and help us out. I think we are going to be a great shooting team.”
In addition to good shooting, coach Burmeister looks for them to be strong defensively, especially among their guards. “With Boston DeVault and Mason Menefee you have two of the better not only offensive players…Mason can really take it to the rim and Boston is quite a heady player and great shooter, but I think you have two great defensive guards there two. I think penetration from our opponents guards will be tough with those two out front.”
Rebounding is one of the main question marks. Bower averaged 14.5 points and Menefee averaged 8.6 points per game last year. Both shot better than 36% from 3-point range. Both coaches express being impressed by the skill development they’ve seen from the players so far in practice, despite the fact that the offseason was impacted by COVID restrictions.
