Don’t use the R-word around the Greenwood Christian boys basketball team. It makes folks a little bit uncomfortable.
Besides, coach Jonny Marlin says, it doesn’t apply anyway.
"Rebuild is not necessarily a term that we’ve used once here," he said. "I think the expectation is we’re going to compete for a state championship. We have two goals each year — one is to grow spiritually, and the second one is to win a state championship. Those are going to be program goals every year regardless of how many we graduate, no matter how talented the kids that we lose."
The Cougars lost plenty — nine seniors graduated from a team that was ranked first in Class A, finished two free throws shy of a perfect regular season and won county and sectional championships before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the rest of the state tournament.
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Last season hasn’t been a major topic of discussion at GCA, but for the few returning players who felt the sting from the disappointment of March, it’s still serving as motivation for the season ahead.
"What was stolen from us last year is just fuel this year," senior Styles McCorkle said.
Most of the current team, though, wasn’t really impacted directly by the short-circuiting of last season’s tournament; aside from McCorkle, the lone returning double-figure scorer (12.0 ppg) and senior point guard Evan Stinnett, Marlin is looking at an entirely different roster. Still, he feels there’s plenty of reason for optimism.
The Cougars welcome a trio of transfers that they hope can make a difference — 6-foot-7 junior Isaiah Davis from Zionsville and twin brothers Caden and Cam Thomson from Franklin. Those three, along with some others who played on the GCA junior varsity last year, will fill out the lineup.
The pandemic wiped out a good chunk of what a traditional offseason would have looked like, but the Cougars are confident that they’ve still had ample opportunity to get all of the newcomers on the same page.
"I think that we’ve all gotten better over the summer and made up for that gap that we lost," McCorkle said. "Obviously, being in a smaller school, you’re around the guys more, so you develop that bond regardless of whether or not you’re on the court together."
The bond will be tested immediately — GCA opens with tough games against Greenwood, Park Tudor and University — but the team has built up enough confidence to believe it can battle its way through any challenge it faces.
"We’re looking at this as a new season," Stinnett said, "and even though we don’t have the same guys as last year, I think we’ve got a lot of guys that can do some work this year."
"I’m pretty confident in what we can do," McCorkle added.
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1. Which nonconference opponent are you most looking forward to facing?
Definitely looking forward to playing Greenwood, first game of the year. Yeah, I think that’ll be a fun game, because it always is.
2. Which unknown player on this team will become a household name this winter?
I think Ian Reed will definitely sneak up and — he’ll get some good minutes with the varsity this year, and I think he’ll knock down some shots for us.
3. Given the ongoing pandemic, how concerned are you about the season being interrupted in some way?
We’re really just praying that it’s not going to be affected that much; we’re trying not to look at it that way and just focus on the season, focus on what’s ahead of us. But yeah, it is pretty concerning that it could happen.
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Head coach: Jonny Marlin
Last season: 24-1, won Johnson County and sectional championships
Top returnees: Styles McCorkle, Zane Shewmaker and Evan Stinett, seniors
Key newcomers: Caden Thomson and Cam Thomson, seniors; Isaiah Davis and Matt Teike, juniors; Cage McCorkle, Ian Reed and Blake Shewmaker, sophomores
Outlook: No team lost more to the COVID-19 pandemic last March than the Cougars, who were poised to make a run at the school’s first-ever state title when the season was cut short. With nine seniors gone from that team, GCA will look very different this winter, but they have the makings of a decent nucleus in Styles McCorkle, who will replace older brother Champ as the team’s centerpiece, and point guard Stinnett. The team got an infusion of talent in Davis, a 6-foot-7 transfer from Zionsville, and the Thomson brothers, who come over from Franklin. Marlin faces many more unknowns than he did a year ago, but he’s confident that he has another Class A contender.
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