Scouting Fremd boys basketball
Fremd
Coach: Bob Widlowski (ninth year, 119-94)
Last year: 24-2, 10-0 (MSL champions)
Key losses: Chris Klimek (all-area captain, two-time all-area F, 17.6 ppg, Washington (Mo.) Univ.), Quinn Williams (all-area G, 9 ppg), Charlie Rosenberg (F, 8 ppg, North Central), Nick Pflederer (C, 4.9 ppg), Chris Vainisi (G), Jeff Chappell (F)
Returnees: Seniors Zach Monaghan (6-2, all-area G, 16.8 ppg, 43 3s), Quinton Brown (5-5, G, 2.8 ppg), Jack Konopka (6-5, C, 4.4 ppg), Joe Leaf (6-7, F), Ken Leonard (5-9, G), David Ferguson (5-8, G), Colton Mitchell (6-1, G), Akhil Nambiar (6-3, F), John Reising (6-5, F), Jim Scharfe (6-1, G); junior Garrett Peters (6-1, G)
Newcomers: Juniors Zach Brady (5-5, G), Mitch Dinterman (6-1, G), Adam Gorecki (6-5, F), Misoslav Letic (6-5, F), Jonathan Nelson (5-9, G), Nate Serviss (6-3, F), Matt Wisniewski (6-0, G), Michael Withey (6-0, G); sophomore Sean Benka (6-3, F)
Outlook: Two all-area players and two other starters are gone from a team that won its first MSL title in 12 years and tied for the second-most wins in school history. "We have a lot of work to do," Widlowski said. "The exciting part of a new year is everybody has a new role." The South Dakota State-bound Monaghan will be counted on for more leadership with his experience along with Brown, who also came up to the varsity early his sophomore year. "Quinton is doing a nice job at the point and his leadership skills have improved dramatically," Widlowski said. "We need that because we lost a lot of kids who did that."
Peters, who can shoot and handle the ball, is out until January after breaking his foot twice in soccer. Konopka is back inside along with Leaf, who didn't play much last year after Tommy John surgery for baseball. Leonard and Scharfe also figure in the mix. "We have a wide variety of guys we're looking at to fill roles right off the bat," Widlowski said. "It's a new mix and a different type of team." One thing Fremd would like to see somewhat similar is how allowing only 48.8 points a game led to averaging 64.8. "Hopefully we can get up and down the floor with our defense a little bit," Widlowski said. "I thought we did a good job of that last year scoring off our defense."