Rochester boys basketball preview: Zebras have 4 senior veterans, but who’s the point guard?

Val T.
5 minutes ago
6 min read

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

New Rochester boys basketball coach Luke Smith is young enough that he himself can demonstrate in a stance what he wants from his players defensively in practice.

Though when principal Oscar Haughs came by practice and saw Smith’s defensive showcase, he dropped a sick burn that caused laughter among all those in the RHS gym.

“I never saw you play that much defense when you actually played,” Haughs said.

Welcome to the new era of Rochester boys basketball. It’s an era of “joy in the gym,” “punching the paint” and a “flow” offense.

But there’s another phrase that might be on the minds of observers on the eve of the season: Who is the point guard?

Rochester has four seniors in Grant Clark, Jonas Kiser, Carson Paulik and Jack Reffett. All have extensive varsity experience, but none are point guards.

Rochester graduated a first-team All-Three Rivers Conference point guard last year in Drew Bowers. Bowers led the team in scoring (16.9 ppg), assists (3.6 apg) and steals (3 spg).

Smith said that sophomores Alex Chapman and Mitchell Clark are vying to replace him.

“They’re battling every day,” Smith said. “Two guys that have the ability to be that point guard for me. I don’t have the answer today. I don’t know who would be above the other.

“And I may lean on some of my senior leadership as a point guard too. I can use Carson in that role too, and honestly, if we get to a spot, Jack can handle the ball. He can bring it up the floor if there’s a mismatch there. Jonas Kiser has a good handle as well. I can remember him as a sophomore bringing the ball up the floor as a JV player. So I have some options. I don’t have Drew Bowers, but I have some guys really working towards that spot.”

Smith called Paulik “vocal” and “a great leader” and said “guys look up to him.”

“As a three-sport athlete, he understands what it means to compete,” Smith said. “So he leads by example. He leads with his vocals. He’s really good in that aspect. His role, I would say, is he can do it all.”

Smith said Kiser can “do it all.”

“He can defend well,” Smith said. “He can score it. He’s really, really worked on his shot. There was a moment this summer where I asked him, ‘Hey, I think you need to make a little bit of a shot change. I know it’s your senior year. Do we want to mess with it this late? Do you want to keep shooting it the way you’ve shot it, or do we want to make that change?’ And he looked at me and was like, ‘Nope, let’s make the change.’ I said, ‘I can’t be with you when you make the change all the time. I’ll tell you what you need to work on.’”

The conversation was right before the summer moratorium period. When Smith turned on the Hudl camera in the gym about a month later, he saw Kiser with the smoothest looking jumper he has seen from Kiser.

“I just called him last night, and I was like, ‘Dude, good work. Way to work on your shot,’” Smith said. “He’s shooting the ball with a ton of confidence.”

Reffett brings more versatility.

“Jack can play 2 through 5 really,” Smith said of Reffett’s ability to play shooting guard, small forward, power forward or center. “One thing I would say I’ve seen the biggest improvement in Jack is he’s not settling for the 3 right now. We’re really putting pressure on him to get into the paint and use his size and strength. Don’t settle. Attack the rim.”

Smith told Grant Clark – he is Mitchell Clark’s older brother – that he will always be the ‘5’ man on the floor. In other words, he’s the center, but he can stretch the floor with his shooting.

“That doesn’t limit him to the post because of the way I want to play,” Smith said. “Like I said, all my spots are interchangeable. But Grant’s shown a great ability to shoot the ball.”

Conner Dunfee and Ashton Musselman round out the senior class.

Brady Coleman got his first significant varsity experience last year. Smith praised Coleman’s athleticism. Now he needs to channel it.

“What we need out of Coleman is not just offensive,” Smith said. “He needs to really be physical. He’s got great athletic ability, and sometimes he doesn’t utilize it to the best of his ability. So I just want to make sure that in practice, he’s all out, all the time. I can’t let him disappear on me. When he’s active and aggressive, he’s up there with the best of them.”

Other juniors include Parker Casper and Liam Spence. Spence is a move-in from Mishawaka Marian, but he grew up in Rochester and grew up around his current teammates.

“I’m excited about Liam Spence,” Smith said. “He shot the ball pretty well this summer. He’s got great length and defensive instincts. One thing that’s impressed me about Liam is his ability to block shots.”

In addition to Clark and Chapman, a third sophomore is Aiden Wilson.

Rochester played an unusual number of summer games, including an overnight tournament at the University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne.

“I think my focus this offseason is just getting the guys in the gym and playing a lot together,” Smith said. “We played 20 games in June, so we played a lot more games than we ever have since I’ve been an assistant here. We went to camp for three days. We hung out in the dorms together, just trying to build that team camaraderie. I think that would be the most significant thing that I would say that we’ve worked on and accomplished is just building that team atmosphere. The kids have bought in. It’s just been a lot of fun to be around them.

“Culture’s really important to me. That stuff doesn’t change overnight, so a good summer like we had was really important for me and the squad.”

He said that the summer is about giving everybody a chance to play and develop. But once practice started Nov. 10, Smith began to have to make hard decisions regarding who would get more playing time and who would get less. He said even the kids who have been told that they would not play a lot have taken the news with a good attitude.

“They still want to be here,” Smith said. “I can see it in the smile on their face. It’s important to me to still care about those guys even though they may not play that much. But those guys have a significant role on this team every day in practice to bring effort, energy and just great attitudes, and that’s important for not only for me to be around every day but all the guys on the team too.”

Smith said 25 boys, including nine freshmen, came out for basketball. Van Kiser will start out on the JV while the other eight will start out on the freshman team.

Rochester boys basketball schedule

Rochester has added games with Twin Lakes and Western and will play a 22-game schedule.

Nov. 26 – at Culver, 7 p.m.

Dec. 5 – vs. Winamac, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 12 – at North Judson, 8 p.m.

Dec. 13 – vs. Logansport, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 19 – at Northwestern, 7:45 p.m.

Dec. 27 – at Tippecanoe Valley, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 3 – vs. Bremen, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 9 – vs. Whitko, 7:45 p.m.

Jan. 10 – at Twin Lakes, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 16 – at Lewis Cass, 7:45 p.m.