High school basketball preview: Carroll Eagles (+video)
Schedule
December – 4, North; 8, at Northwest; 11, East; 15, South; 18, at Southeast; 19, at Kapaun.
January – 8, at West; 12, Heights; ; 14, 15 or 16, TBA at Koch Arena; 19, at North (G), 21-23, at McPherson tournament (B); 26, at North (B); 28-30, at Newton tournament (G).
February – 2, Northwest; 5, at East; 9, at South; 12, Southeast; 16, Kapaun; 23, West; 25, at Heights.
Boys
Coach: Lonnie Lollar, 11th season
Last season: 17-8
Top players
Patrick Carney, 6-0, sr., G
Eric Scharping, 6-5, sr., F
Jake Allen, 6-4, sr., F
Max Iseman, 6-2, sr., G
Carroll turned a lot of heads last season, making a run to the Class 5A semifinals and finishing fourth. They did it with a breakout season from 6-foot-5 senior Connor Evans, an All-Metro pick, but got a lot of help from a core group that returns mostly intact.
“We feel like we were a couple of rebounds, a couple of free throws from playing in the state championship game,” Lollar said. “We talk a lot about how we were knocking on the door last year. Connor gave us a world of leadership last year, and I don’t know if we have that kind of individual this year, but we have a fairly deep group of returners.”
That group is led by three returning starters who all made big impacts — Carney (11 points), Scharping (7 points, 5 rebounds) and Allen. Carney was dynamic in spurts last season, hitting 47 percent of his three-pointers and often going head-to-head with the state’s best guards and holding his own.
“We just need the consistency out of Patrick, and we hope that season he’ll blossom and see the big picture,” Lollar said. “He’s got all the intangibles, all the tools, we just need him to emerge as a leader. We need Eric to blossom into a consistent all-around player, which he showed some promise doing last season.”
Carroll also got a few big games last season off the bench from Iseman, who dropped 25 pounds in the offseason by running cross country.
“Max’s dedication, his commitment to changing his body and becoming a better player has been phenomenal,” Lollar said. “He just dedicated himself to becoming more fit, and it’s paid off.”
Girls
Coach: Taylor Dugan, fourth season
Last season: 16-7
Top players
Abby Sauber, 5-8, sr., G
Brynn Maul, 5-6, jr., G
Ashley Carrillo, 5-10, jr., F
Ashton McCorry, 5-11, so., F
Last year represented several breakthroughs for Dugan and her program. First, Carroll beat Kapaun for the first time under Dugan, topping the Crusaders in a key matchup late in the season. Then, Carroll made it to the state tournament for the first time under Dugan.
“Last year was really key for us, we got past a few milestones,” Dugan said. “We beat Kapun, which was great, then late in the year we were kind of on a streak, then beat Andover Central to win sub-state in a game that not a lot of people thought we couldn’t win. I think that will push us forward into this season, I think the players we have back will return with a lot more confidence.”
Carroll lost five seniors off last season, and the biggest task will be replacing forward Shelby Lopez and her 15-point average.
“Losing five seniors, losing Shelby’s production is definitely a detriment,” Dugan said. “But we also have returning players that we think can pick things up in a different way. I don’t want to say pick up the slack, I want to say that we have players that can pick up a few more scores here or there, and be more of a factor in distributing the ball.”
Carroll returns starters Sauber, Maul and Carrillo. Sauber averaged 5 points, while Maul and Carrillo averaged 6. It was Sauber who took what amounted to a game-winning charge against Kapaun last season.
“We have a lot of returners, and conditioning through the fall, open gym and fall league they looked very ready,” Dugan said. “Team chemistry has always been one of our strengths, so we’re hoping that continues.
“We had our first practice, and we could really tell that the girls are used to the way we coach now. It’s fun to be in the fourth year and know our program and your philosophy from the years that have gone by are starting to take hold. You’re not starting from scratch, you’re developing leaders and they’re helping the newcomers.”
Tony Adame
This story was originally published November 27, 2015 at 10:40 AM with the headline "High school basketball preview: Carroll Eagles (+video)."