Andover Central motivated to keep up its winning ways

Over the course of the last 15 years at Andover Central, the boys basketball program under Jesse Herrmann has won — on average — 17 games per season.

The Jaguars have overcome the graduation of all-state players. They’ve found ways to replace the bulk of their production from the previous season. They’ve reinvented themselves time and time again.

But this season was supposed to be different. The lack of experience was supposed to hinder the Jaguars as they tried to replace seven seniors who led them to 20 wins last season, and the loss of senior Cole Taylor, who suffered a season-ended knee injury during football season. And the lack of height — the tallest post is a 6-foot-3 freshman — was supposed to be too much to overcome.

So far these Jaguars, who are 2-1 and play at Maize South on Tuesday, are taking delight in continuing the success of the program.

“For whatever reason, I don’t think a lot of people expected very much of them,” Herrmann said. “They seem to thrive on that a little bit and they would love nothing more than to prove anyone wrong who doesn’t believe in them.”

Andover Central starts games with a five-guard lineup. It relies on a freshman, Xavier Bell, to play point guard. A pair of sophomores, Braden Belt and Easton Leedom, lead the team in scoring.

The group realizes it’s not the typical path to success, but they’re confident it can work.

“We know what we have,” Leedom said. “We don’t really care what other people say. We’re going to go out and play like we’re going to win every game.”

Herrmann has retooled the offense to fit the personnel and now Central spreads the floor, drives, and finds the open shooter like Belt, Leedom, and Isaac Anthemides.

On defense, Central has to play a manic style with tight ball pressure along the perimeter to hide its lack of height in the posts.

“What really impresses me about this group is that they really want to be good,” Herrmann said. “They work so hard in practice every day and they just keep trending upward. We know there are times where we’re going to make big mistakes because we’re all learning together, but so far I’ve been really pleased with how hard they compete and how bad they want to win.”

Anthemides, a senior and the only returner with significant minutes from last season, has played a pivotal role for Central as Bell, Belt, and Leedom adjust to the varsity level.

“They’re young, but they have so much talent,” Anthemides said. “I know they have what it takes, so as one of the only seniors out there, I have to let them prove it so they get more confidence. I know they’re all going to do big things in the future, but right now it all starts with confidence.”

It won’t always run smoothly with this team — like when it committed 26 turnovers in a 59-56 loss to Salina South — but Herrmann believes they have everything necessary to be a winning team.

Again.

“We usually don’t practice long, but this year I find myself going a little over the normal time just because I feel like they’re about to catch onto something,” Herrmann said. “It’s actually been a lot of fun because of how hungry they are to learn and when you have a team that plays hard then that’s going to make practice fun, no matter how old you are.”

This story was originally published December 12, 2016 at 5:22 PM with the headline "Andover Central motivated to keep up its winning ways."