McPherson Bullpups Basketball Preview

November 12, 2019January 8, 2020 Editor 67 Views

The McPherson Bullpups boys Basketball team begins this season missing four starters from last year’s squad. That team finished with a 15-6 record last year and lost to Bishop Carroll in the Sub-State finals. They were also 9-1 in division play and AVCTL 3 league champions. The lone starter left from last year’s group is Senior Cody Stufflebean. Stufflebean, a Kansas State football signee, averaged 13.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, and nearly two assists a game last season. The football star can also hoop! Stufflebean has been a stand-out on the gridiron this season; his last game was one of the most impressive football games I’ve seen from a high school player. Stufflebean will have to get himself into basketball shape quickly after the football postseason. The two sports require completely different conditioning.

Sophomore Seth Madron, a rotation player last year, looks to build on a strong freshman season in which he averaged nearly four points a game. This team has good size, Stufflebean stands 6’4″ and fellow Seniors Sam Pyle and Cooper Courtney are 6’5″ and 6’3″, respectively. It will be extremely interesting to chart who fills out the starting lineup, which is still very much in flux, and which players will emerge as the new standard-bearers for the Bullpups. Hopefully, the Bullpups basketball team has an auspicious start to the season and can win the State Championship; something they haven’t done since the undefeated 2014-15 season. Coach Kurt Kinnamon has piloted this extremely successful program, and losing players is old hat to him. He will prepare these guys to the best of his ability for the long season.

What follows is taken from a season preview provided by the McPherson Basketball program and, directly after, a couple of questions I asked head coach Kurt Kinnamon about the upcoming season:

Starters Lost: (4)

Max Alexander

Kyler Hoppes- McPherson College football signee

Jake Alexander- Mid-America Nazarene basketball signee

Jace Kinnamon- Emporia State football signee

Returning Starters (1) HT YR WT PPG RPG APG SPG BPG

Cody Stufflebean 6’4 Sr. 240 13.1 8.9 1.6

Letter Winners

Jaytin Alexander 5’9 Jr. 160

Cooper Courtney 6’3 Sr. 170 1.9

Adam Elliott 6’0 Jr. 180

Seth Madron 6’1 Soph. 175 3.8

Eli Pyle 5’10 Jr. 150

Sam Pyle 6’5 Sr. 180 1.5

Hayes Schmid 6’0 Sr. 150 2.5

Team Strengths

Perimeter shooting, this team should be a very good outside shooting team.
Rebounding- This is a team with good length that should do well on the offensive and defensive glass.
Versatility- There are several guys that are interchangeable and can play a variety of positions.

AVCTL 3 Predicted order of finish

McPherson 2. Buhler 3. Augusta 4. Circle 5. Winfield

5A Contenders

Andover Central, Maize, Wichita Heights, Wichita Carroll, Goddard Eisenhower.

Best Players in State

Easton Hunter-Andale, Xavier Bell- Andover Central, Jack Johnson- Andover, Tre Washington- Derby, Omar Bradley- Blue Valley West, Grady Dick- Collegiate, Austin Krogmeier- Newton, Manns- Carroll, Littlejohn- Carroll, Lankford- Carroll

What are some points of emphasis that you think will be key to a successful season?

Coach Kinnamon: I think a point of emphasis this year will be taking a great deal of pride in our performance on the defensive end. I think we will have very balanced scoring and should have a nice inside/outside game. I think we have several players that can score so it will be hard for opponents to focus their attention on any one player.

The team is only returning one starter from last year, does that prospect scare you or excite you? Are your rotations set? Or is their still wiggle room with starters and bench guys?

CK: I am always excited for the season because of the new challenges that each one presents. I haven’t seen them (the full team) yet so I have no idea what the rotations might be. I do think that our bench will be very deep so we will have substitutes that play starter’s minutes at times.

Which players, in particular, are you hoping to see the most growth out of? And what is the gameplan against teams with star players?

CK: I think all of our returning players are going to show a lot of growth. Any game plan involves trying to take away what the other team does best and executing on our offensive end.