Mt. Zion Boys Basketball ready to improve and play

By BLAKE FAITH
Staff Writer

Mt. Zion boys basketball head coach Dale Schuring and his team are ready for a normal season. For Coach Schuring and some of his team members this will be their first regular season at Mt. Zion.

Coach Schuring is going into his third year as the head coach at Mt. Zion. He was a late bud in his first year and then a pandemic happened shortly towards the end of his first season. In his second season, the team had limited open gyms and the season was delayed from November until early

2021 and even then the season was shortened and no playoffs.

“We got our six week season, and when you’re playing two or three games, you just can’t build anything that way,” Coach Schuring said. “So it’s the third year, but I kind of feel like this is really the first time we’ve had a chance to do it the way it should be done to build into a season and go from there and because that this will hopefully be better and we’ll have a little more success.”

Coach Schuring and his team worked on decision making and skill development in the offseason. In the first week of practice Coach Schuring has installed some stuff into the offense that will require the work from the off-season and the working on fundamentals that has been happening in practice. The focus though is getting the varsity ready for The Paris Tournament which is the opening of its season.

Coach Schuring believes that his seniors Jack Driscoll, Ethan Hamrick and John Baumann are going to have the biggest impacts. Other players mentioned were Carson Cuddy, Nathan Hart and Lyncoln Koester.

For Hart and Cuddy, Coach Schuring says their game has improved in the off-season. For Koester, Coach Schuring believes he has a skillet that matches his understanding of the game. It will be up to if he can be physically ready for varsity.

Coach Schuring said that the ultimate goal for his team this year is to be at their best when regional play opens. The other thing is the team is working to get better.

“I think we’re better, but we’ve got a long way to go and ultimately what you want to win is regional sectionals, etc,” Coach Schuring said. “So let’s build towards that. And learn from what mistakes and losses we may have along the way.”

Coach Schuring’s overall message he wanted to send to readers and the community is that this team will look different in recent years and that the team is turning the corner to get the program back on the right track.

“Those kids played their tails off. They did everything we asked them,” Coach Schuring said. “But we tend to not come out on the winning end of games. The kids that graduated were a part of that. Even though they didn’t win they laid a foundation on how hard you have to play to be successful. Unfortunately, wins and losses they weren’t, but they gave it everything they have. And I think these kids learn from that and now you can continue that and keep building and turn this around.”

The Mt. Zion boys basketball team opens its season on Tuesday against Paris at The Paris Tournament at 7 p.m.