Nearly 13 feet and 32 points per game left the Perry boys cage program when Kyle Nevitt and Janier Puente graduated, taking 339 combined rebounds with them as well.
Six-foot-six senior Connor Nielsen returns, but the 2017-18 Bluejays will be a much smaller, less imposing sight on the floor. It does not mean the team will be easing pickings.
“I think if you look at who we have back, and the makeup of you they are, you would realize we have a team with a lot of tenacity,” head coach Denny McDonnell said. “You look at players like Reece Dunlap and Brandon Kenyon and you see guys that will dive all over the floor and fight to win each trip down the floor, and we have several others just like that.”
What McDonnell also has is a team packed with seniors, 11 all told. While not all have seen a great amount of playing time at the varsity level, all, McDonnell said, have realized that court time is up for grabs.
“Because we have so many choices I hesitate to say ‘this is our starting lineup’ because it will likely change some based upon the opponent,” he explained. “It might be safe to say we could go the whole season and have two or three spots change back-and-forth quite a bit.”
Rashon Ivory returns at the point and gives McDonnell “the fastest player I have ever seen from foul line to foul line with the ball.”
Ivory averaged 10.8 points per game last year while shooting 14-of-47 (29.8 percent) on 3-pointers and 72-of-103 (69 percent) at the foul line. He distributed 99 assists, made 34 steals and slipped underneath to secure 56 rebounds.
Nielsen spent much of last season as what McDonnell called “a facilitator” in helping run the offense and finished with 80 assists along with 23 steals.He grabbed 94 rebounds, blocked 29 shots and had a 6.6 ppg average. Nielsen shot 46.2 percent from the floor while knocking down 31-of-38 (81.6 percent) free throws.
The team will need to improve overall at the line after shooting just 61.7 percent last year. Overall Perry shot 45.5 percent, including 82-of-272 (30.1 percent) on 3-pointers. The team averaged 58.1 ppg and 29.5 rebounds per contest while making 147 steals and providing 300 assists.
Kenyon (3.4 ppg, 54 rebounds, 32 assists and 26 steals) and Drew Levan (4.1 ppg, 47 rebounds, 39 assists, 17 steals) will also see plenty of time and will likely start most games in McDonnell’s “hoops by committee” style of attack.
“I think we will go fairly deep, because that is clearly a strength, as is our guard play,” the coach said. “We are going to try and use our speed and athleticism to give people trouble, and I believe we will.”
Perry was 12-10 overall and 7-7 in Raccoon River Conference play, numbers McDonnell believes — indeed, expects — will improve.
“I think we are going to score quite a bit more points than we did last year, and hopefully the defense will play at least as well (Perry yielded 56.3 ppg last winter),” he said. “If we do that we will definitely have a better record.”
“How well these different combinations work together will be key,” McDonnell said. “We will looking for various mixes depending upon what we need, and the sooner we figure out what those will be, the better.”
Perry opens their season at home Tuesday against North Polk in a boys-only contest, and will be joined by the Jayettes Friday when RRC foe Carroll visits.
