(Audubon) The Audubon boys basketball team brings back several players from a competitive squad last season.
Joel Klocke and Ethan Klocke were the lone seniors that played significant minutes in the 2020-21 season. Coach Coleman Mullenix discusses the returning talent. “Gavin Smith has played a lot for us the last couple of years and I expect good things from him to be able to guard the other team’s best player most of the time. Collin Bauer is a kid that looks like in practice he’ll get more playing time. We’ll need him to make some shots and be able to handle the ball. Braden Wessel probably more in a point guard role where Joel Klocke handled a lot for us in the past. Jackson Deist and Carson Bauer scored quite a bit for us in the past and we are going to need for them to continue to do that.”
The Wheelers will also be without Joey Schramm who is out with an injury, but a highly touted sophomore could fill that void. 6’5″ Edward Miller is a player that coach Mullenix is excited about. “He has had a good offseason. He’s been playing well the first week of practice. He’s grown quite a bit. Everyone asks me how he’ll do and I just don’t have a clue until we see other people play. The thing about teenage boys is they change a lot within a year. Edward Miller is 6’5″ right now and I don’t even know if he was 6’0″ a year ago. Beyond height he’s improved his skill set. He’s been good in practice. We hope that he can contribute quite a bit for us.”
The biggest area they are looking to grow is their shooting ability. “Priority one is scoring, specifically shooting percentage. We shot 23% from three last year which is bad. We know that and own it. We talk about it. I hope we can improve on it. I think we will, mechanically everybody is pretty good. We’ve focused on that this summer”
Mullenix says the group plays good team defense. Of course their big emphasis is on Defense, Effort, and Team. “If I accomplish anything as a coach my goal is for our players to know and state the purpose of Audubon basketball. We talk about defense all the time. I think teaching defense first is important because being willing to do thankless jobs fosters a positive team culture and that falls right into the team thing. If you’re going to be successful at a team sport you have to be motivated for team success. Then effort, 100% effort for anything in life is a prerequisite to success.”
Audubon won eight of their final 17 games last season. Carson Bauer and Gavin Smith combined to average over 19 points per game last season and each return to the lineup. Audubon gets started at Missouri Valley on Tuesday, November 30th.
Audubon coach Coleman Mullenix:
