Doniphan looks to dominate Ozark Foothills Conference

OFC Boys

At the beginning of the season, the Daily American Republic sports department sends out a short preseason questionnaire to area coaches. Included among the questions is one asking about that particular team's conference outlook.

The coaches' answers pertaining to the Ozark Foothills Conference boys' season were telling.

Clearwater coach Louis Bell: "Doniphan is very good. Rest of the conference is evenly matched."

Twin Rivers' Rob Brown: "Doniphan is certainly alone atop the OFC."

Neelyville coach James Patty: "Doniphan is the team to beat."

East Carter's Benji Stahl: "Doniphan should be the favorite."

You get the idea: When it comes to the upcoming boys basketball season, there's Doniphan -- and then there's everybody else. Unfortunately for the rest of the OFC, those jerseys with big, red bullseyes on the back may fit the Dons just fine.

"If there are any teams gunning for us, I think that's good," first-year coach Jason Andrews said. "These kids love to compete and that challenges the kids."

But Andrews is not about to start minting the Dons' OFC champion medals just yet. Although the Dons went 25-3 last season, they lost four seniors, including 6-foot, 10-inch center Matt Rogers.

Nobody on the Dons' roster this season even comes close to filling those shoes size-wise, so Doniphan will have to return to more guard-oriented offensve sets. And also, the learning curve inherent in running a new system under a new head coach may take some time. So, Andrews thinks his team still has some things to prove.

"We are certainly not going to take anyone for granted," Andrews said. "The worst thing we can do is think that we'll just put the uniform on and win."

The Dons, however, have plenty of talent returning. Andrews said his bench will run "eight to 10" players deep and in the front of that rotation are the Wilson twins, juniors Chandler and Charles.

During a 4-on-4 scrimmage at practice, Chandler makes a quick chest pass to Lance Majors, threading the needle between two defenders under the hoop. Majors converts his easy lay-up. Minutes later, Charles comes off a screen, catches a pass and promptly pops an 18-footer straight out from the basket. On the sideline, Andrews is stoic, knowing full well that what he is seeing isn't a fluke.

And it only gets better as the Wilsons are complemented by a slew of talented returning upperclassmen in seniors Adam Carpenter, Nick Webb, Jake Netherlands and Majors and junior Tyler Collins.

"We have some real competitors on this team," Andrews said. "As a group of leaders, this is the best I've ever coached."

But OFC teams are doing everything they can to ensure that the Dons won't ascend to the top of the conference heap unimpeded.

Twin Rivers first-year coach Rob Brown, who is taking over last year's 19-7 team from Jim Vaughan, is teaching his players how to create and score easy baskets. With the Royals' lack of size and lack of experience --they lost six players from last season, including Three Rivers signee and Royals all-time leading scorer Michael Lance -- Brown admits his team is both "short and slow."

That's why, during one early season practice, Brown has his team make 25 consecutive lay-ups before moving on to other skills. On this particular day, the Royals botch the first three attempts on Nos. 21, 17 and 13. Then they run. They botch attempt No. 4 somewhere between 11 and 13 and run again. Attempt No. 5 falls short at two. More running.

Eventually, the Royals get their 25 and they move on.

"These are great kids," Brown said. "They will run through a brick wall for you. But, we need better defense to create easy baskets."

Greenville head coach Robert Stein is doing his part by teaching his young team how to win games. Winning just three contests in the past two seasons, Stein has a talented blend of upperclassmen and newcomers but, admittedly, has "little experience in how to win at the varsity level."

That's why, as his team does station-to-station drills that include jump-roping, free throws, 3-point shooting and defensive technique, Stein stops practice and calmly tells his players he doesn't like their effort. Stein's message: "When we walk, we run."

Neelyville coach James Patty is teaching his undersized team how to rebound and defend better. Led by a talented group of seniors in David Carter, Travis Russom and Josh Miller, Patty thinks improvements will come sooner than later.

"Our seniors are really being good leaders," Patty said. "These guys are working hard and, hopefully, we'll keep improving."

East Carter coach Benji Stahl is working with his team, which lacks any player taller than 6-feet, on how to spread out his four-guard offense and get open shots at the basket. Junior Dustin Hartgroves can knock down shots all over the floor as well as drive to the rim. Devin Rymer, Zach Feller, Derek Miller and Chris Whitaker are also talented scorers.

"We're not very big," Stahl said. "We're tiny, actually. We're going to have to spread the defense out and make them guard us a bit."

Clearwater will be led by "sparkplug" junior point guard Ryan Hicks and junior forwards Jake Hime and Mark Jackson. Other than that trio, however, coach Bell knows his team is young and carries little varsity experience onto the court.

Naylor's Josh Robins shares Bell's problem as he returns only three varsity players from last season in Justin Vorce, Jeff Young and Michael Somers. But Robins said he has a lineup that is versatile and allows him to use his players in a variety of roles.

With all coaches strengthening defense and stressing rebounding and with the OFC looking generally undersized and very guard-heavy, all seven teams should match up fairly evenly.

Which, of course, adds up to another year of competitive basketball in Southeast Missouri.

-- Tanner Kent