Junior Carter Campbell (23) made a team-high 36 3-pointers for Greenwood last season.
Daily Journal file photos
Specifying Carter Campbell’s role on Greenwood’s basketball team was much simpler at this time last year.
As a sophomore, the 6-foot-4 wing’s textbook perimeter shooting form had Campbell using screens to his benefit, which in turn prevented opposing defenses from constantly clogging the interior.
Averaging eight points and delivering a team-high number of 3-pointers with 36, Campbell helped the Woodmen achieve a second consecutive appearance in a sectional championship game and an overall record of 18-6.
This time around, Campbell’s job description isn’t so specific.
A year older, an inch taller and approximately 20 pounds heavier, the 230-pound Campbell will be a study in here, there and everywhere for the Woodmen, who open their season at home against Center Grove on Wednesday.
“Carter is going to be Mr. Versatility for us this year,” Greenwood coach Joe Bradburn said. “We’ll play him 1 through 4. It depends on what situation we’re in. He can set up the offense for us, or he can come off screens or post up some.
“We need rebounding. That’s one of the questions for our team. (Senior center Adam Ellinghausen), Carter and some other guys are going to have to step up.”
Campbell credits his mother Andi, a Franklin College women’s basketball player in the mid-1990s, for the shooting touch that belies his power forward appearance.
“My mom played college basketball, and I’ve always respected all of my coaches while growing up with everybody helping me out,” Campbell said. “I always had a ball in my hands for as long as I can remember, and would go shoot at (former Woodmen coach Bruce) Hensley’s camps.
“And then Lance and Larry Pringle were my elementary school coaches, and they would always be telling me to shoot.”
Campbell’s skill set will be complemented by forward Noah Apgar (3.5 ppg), a frequent starter who made 11 triples of his own a year ago, was an absolute pest defensively and whose greatest value was in a blue-collar mentality that drove the 6-1 senior to do whatever benefitted the team.
Apgar finished as Greenwood’s second-leading rebounder last season, averaging 3.8.
After Campbell and Apgar, the player with the most varsity experience is Ellinghausen, a 6-5 senior center. Senior Gavin Ruppert, too, looks to expand his role through rebounding and hustle; newcomers such as senior guard Luke Fiesel, sophomore sharpshooter Jake Mosemann, Jack Kidwell and Cade Kelly also look forward to making their presence known.
Greenwood’s deliberate pace offensively, combined with its emphasis on defense, enabled it to allow just 39.7 points a game during the 2020-21 season — a shade off the 39.6 norm of the previous season.
A dozen Woodmen opponents finished games last season with fewer than 40 points.
Campbell, who feels this season’s ball club has the players needed to push the pace a little more this season, looks forward to expanding his overall role.
“You’ll see me handling the ball a lot more this year, setting up the offense, and just getting the ball to my teammates,” Campbell said. “If I have a smaller guy on me, I can move inside, but it’s just wherever they need me to play.
“I’ll play anywhere.”
