November 21, 2022 at 8:27 a.m.
Team preview: RHS boys' basketball
Hodag Hoops look to recapture March magic with new-look squad
Team preview: RHS boys' basketball
With four starters, and a number of rotation players, gone from that squad don't be surprised if Rhinelander is once again a team that doesn't peak until late in the season.
"I feel like, right now, we're the furthest from our ceiling," said Derek Lemmens, who enters his 13th season as the head coach of his alma mater. "Where other teams in the conference are closer to their ceiling, we are probably the furthest. But, I like our ceiling. I like what we're capable of doing. We just have to chip away at it and continue to be a better team every single day."
Rhinelander will start working toward its ceiling tonight as it hosts Marshfield in a non-conference contest at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. Folks will need to look closely at their programs, as there are not a lot of familiar faces from last year's squad that went 13-14 overall before reaching the WIAA's Sweet 16 for the first time since 2014.
The Hodags graduated point guard and leading scorer Jacksen Smith, 3-point marksman Ryan Jamison, big post presence Jackson Zettler and a number of other seniors who were part of a deep tournament run.
Expect junior Will Gretzinger to play a major role for the Hodags. He worked his way into the starting lineup during the second half of last season and ended up averaging 8.6 points per game while making 40.7% of his attempts from 3-point range.
Junior Max Ratty will likely see time down low for the Hodags after coming on toward the end of last season and earning some key rotational minutes in Rhinelander's tournament run. But, from there, it's basically a whole new cast of characters. Seniors Jordan Legere, Kaleb Winter, Kyle Brown and Braden Mork saw very limited varsity playing time last year.
"I feel pretty confident in our top (guys) and then, after that, I think it's really any given night," Lemmens said, noting that Gretzinger, Ratty and Brown were the only definites in the starting five - at least at the onset of the season. "Our starting lineup will fluctuate based on matchups, based on performances. There's only a couple guys that I would say they're starting. After that, it's going to come down to let's see who's getting it done day in and day out and giving us the best looks."
A number of underclassmen are vying for playing time as well. Juniors Matthew King, Will Quinn, James Heck and Owen Ives, along with sophomores Truman Lamers and Seth Nofftz, saw action with the varsity squad on Friday when the team scrimmaged at Wausau West.
The scrimmage exposed two areas of concern for the Hodags - rebounding and ball-handling. Rhinelander was beaten consistently to the glass against a similarly-sized Warriors team. The Hodags are undersized at forward with Ratty (6-2) and Heck (6-2) the most likely candidates to work inside.
"We knew rebounding was going to be something we struggled with, but that's just something that we have to overcome," Lemmens said. "It's got to be a mentality. We're small. We need to be more physical. We need to be hungrier. We need to position ourselves better. Those are all things we'll continue to work on."
Additionally, Rhinelander will be looking for someone to bring the ball up and run the point following Smith's graduation. Gretzinger, Winter and Quinn all took turns running the offense on Friday, but Lemmens said it may be a platoon situation to start the season.
"Last year and many years, we've just said, 'get the ball to this guy and get out of the way.' That's not going to happen very often this year. That's something we'll have to adjust to," he said.
Marshfield's ability to pressure the ball may make for a difficult matchup in tonight's opener. In fact, there will be plenty of tough matchups along the way for Rhinelander, which will once again play the entire Wisconsin Valley Conference as part of its non-conference slate.
Great Northern Conference play opens Dec. 9 on the road at Northland Pines which comes in ranked No. 3 in Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook's preseason Division 3 poll. The Eagles are one of ranked three GNC teams. Medford, who beat Rhinelander in the sectional semis last year, was No. 9 in the preseason D2 rankings while reigning GNC champion Mosinee received honorable mention in D2.
Lemmens also noted that Lakeland will have a senior-laden squad and Antigo could be a much improved team in the first year under the direction of former Rhinelander assistant Shaun Smith.
"I don't see many easy nights. That's just the way it is. I feel we can beat those top teams, but I feel like if we beat them it's going to be a close game, and they could beat us by 30," Lemmens said. "We've got to keep that in mind when we talk about execution and details and taking every possession and understanding the importance of that."
Rhinelander had plenty of bumps along the way last year, including an eight-game losing streak during the months of January and February. Those struggles gave way in March as Rhinelander rode timely 3-point shooting to wins over Antigo, Shawano and Merrill in the WIAA tournament.
"When you're making shots, everything seems to look a lot better and in March we made shots," Lemmens said. "It's going to be important for us to make shots. I think we have more potential to consistently make shots this year, but we'll see."
After tonight's opener, the Hodags play their next three games on the road. Rhinelander's next home game is against Shawano Dec. 13. The Hodags upset the third-seeded Hawks in overtime in last year's regional semifinal round.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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