Knights doing the job early

NEW ULM -- When you lose seven of your top eight players from the previous season (six through graduation and one due to a season-ending knee surgery), it literally changes the face of a team overnight.

But for the Martin Luther Knights mens basketball team, the facelift from a veteran team to a youthful squad has, thus far, been a success.

Currently (with a game played Saturday night at Bethel College) the Knights have posted a 4-2 season record.

"Our team has changed," said head coach Jim Unke. "This year's version is bigger, and it probably plays stronger than it has in the past. So we have changed our game plan; instead of five interchangeable parts like we had last year, we now make differentiation between post and perimeter (players). Our goal is to have our post players touch the ball on every possession."

That is a complete 180-degree switch from last year.

"Then, we didn't worry who was touching the ball because we were just five players," commented Unke.

But last year's team was also a veteran team -- a team that knew what to do and when to do it. This year's edition, with two juniors (Tim Breitkreutz and Ben Kuerth, who Unke calls the two hardest workers on the team) two sophomores (Kurt Nielsen and Jake Briney), and freshmen in Tom Engelbrecht in the starting lineup has been taken along slowly by Unke.

"In our first six games, we have been pretty positive across the board; in our first six games, we have not played mistake-free and we are a long way away from being a good team," commented Unke. "I have tried to be positive with them, and now I think that they know that I am going to start holding their feet to the fire a little more."

And the Knights have responded to Unke's techniques, winning four of their first six and coming within a point here or there of being 6-0 on the season.

Coaching young teams at MLC is nothing new to Unke.

"In my first year as head coach here, I did not have any seniors," he said. "That was when the just-graduated seniors were in-coming freshmen."

Those freshmen became those seniors who won a trip to the NAIA D-III National Tournament last year.

"This year's team is very much the same," Unke said. "The one thing that is missing is a point guard."

Jay Wendland, who was a point guard last year for MVL, had assumed that spot for the Knights before spraining his right wrist.

"He was getting comfortable with the spot and hopefully he will be back next game," said Unke about Wendland, who had dished off 14 assists in five games along with four steals.

COACHING YOUNG TEAM MEANS MORE COACHING: Unke said that coaching a veteran team like last year's "you listen more. With a young team, you do more talking and coaching. Sometimes with a veteran team, you let them do the problem-solving on their own."

One of the best freshmen to play at MLC is in the form of 6-foot-9 Tom Engelbrecht, who is tied for the scoring leadership with Kuerth at 15 points a game.

Already this year, he also has eight blocked shots and totaled 43 rebounds. Both are team-highs.

"Gary Dallmann, who has been coaching here for many years, said that Tom has the potential to be the best big guy that this college has ever seen," commented Unke. "His foot speed, his ball-handling and his shooting ability."

Sophomore Jake Briney has also impressed this year ,taking over for Wendland at the point guard. "He (Briney) is really a two-guard (he has attempted 30 three-point shots, a team-high). Sometimes when you put the ball in a two-guard hands, they don't know what to do with it and they shoot it. That is part of the learning process."

Unke said that the he tells his players, "when we step on the floor, we are there to win it. Sometimes, that may be unrealistic but I don't want our kids to compromise that."

So far, this young team hasn't.

MORGAN SAID TEAM RAGGED: MVL head boys basketball coach Craig Morgan said that his team "looked ragged" in the Chargers' season opener against Wabasso Friday night.

"Defensively, we gave up too many points in the first half (37) but we made some adjustments in the second half. The intensity was there."

Morgan was happy with the balanced scoring, with three players in double figures led by Jesse Pfeifer's game-high 18 points. "We distributed the ball really well and I was happy that Jesse had the game he had. He has to establish himself more inside; we need to have our inside guys to do that. We need to get that ball inside, which will open up the outside."

Morgan was also happy with the play of Tom Metzger and Danny Liggett. "Tom has quickness and plays intense defense. He is learning when to shoot and when to hold back. We had Danny at point guard (Friday night); he did a nice job. He got some layups on breakaways."

Morgan got to use his depth as he had 12 players who saw action by halftime.

"We were bringing in guys in to see how they would work out; some guys surprised."

He was happy with the second-half defense. "We held Wabasso to three points in the third quarter and we were patient on offense when they switched defenses.

"We need to work on defense; we need to have more intensity. On offense, we need to execute better and set picks and do a better job of screening."'

UNKE GETTING BETTER: MVL senior Dan Unke is improving from his staph infection.

"He is off his double dose of antibiotics," said father Jim. "He is down to 1 1/2 hours in the morning and 1 1/2 hours at night. It seems that the infection is under control. The (right) elbow has a full range of motion and there are a lot of positive things going on now."

SCHUGEL HELD DOWN: It is real unusual to see Cathedral guard Joey Schugel not score. That was the case Friday night when Schugel went scoreless for the first three quarters before hitting a free throw and a rebound to start the final quarter.

"He (Schugel) was all over the place on defense," said Cathedral head coach Dan Wolfe. "He created an awful lot of scoring in the game. Of all of our kids in the game, he had the most adrenaline going. Sometimes, that can throw you off a little because you are too pumped up. He did not score a lot tonight, but he did a lot of other good things in the game."

WRESTLING ALUMNI NIGHT: Former New Ulm High School wrestlers will be recognized when the Eagle wrestlers take to the mat against a tough Blue Earth squad on Thursday, Dec. 21.

JV matches start at 6 p.m. Former wrestlers should sign in at the door, and if you have any questions you can contact Steve Dittrich at 359-1379.

Column by Jim Bastian, Journal sports writer