Boys basketball: Scouting Fremd
By Marty Maciaszek
mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com
Fremd
Coach: Bob Widlowski (10th year, 138-103)
Last year: 19-9, 7-3 (MSL West tri-champs, sectional semifinalist)
Key losses: Zach Monaghan (two-time all-area G, 22.3 ppg, 56 3s, 3 rpg, 2.6 apg, South Dakota State), Quinton Brown (all-area G, 9.8 ppg, 2.6 apg), Jack Konopka (C, 9.6 ppg, Northwestern football), Ken Leonard (G), Jim Scharfe (G, 5.9 ppg)
Returning players: Seniors Garrett Peters (6-1, G, 5.2 ppg); Matt Wisniewski (6-0, G), Mitch Dinterman (6-1, G), Nate Serviss (6-4, F), Michael Whithey (6-4, F), Adam Gorecki (6-6, F); juniors Sean Benka (6-4, F); sophomore Riley Glassman (6-4, G, 3 ppg)
Newcomers: Seniors Jack Nelson (5-10, G), Gabe Clayborne (5-8, G); juniors Kevin Kubis (5-11, G), Jake Schmeling (5-10, G), David Kim (5-11, G), Michael Krupa (6-1, G), Nick Mann (6-2, F), Erich Barber (6-1, F), Arjun Thakkar (6-3, F); sophomore Ben Carlson (6-5, F)
Outlook: A new starting five and not having a proven returning commodity such as eventual all-area captains Chris Klimek and Monaghan is a big change for a program that is 43-11 the last two seasons. “This is a big change to replace five starters and when you look around you don’t see a lot of teams doing that,” Widlowski said. “It’s almost like a clean sweep for some of these guys to step up and get in there. It’s also kind of exciting because they want to play and have an opportunity to play.” So who will be Fremd’s five on the court to open the season? “We’re looking at 10 guys competing for playing time and that’s been good for us so far,” Widlowski said. “We’d like to keep the competition level high … and we don’t have a set lineup yet.” Peters is a versatile guard entering his third varsity season but he didn’t play until mid-January last season because of injury. Glassman joined the varsity in late December for the Elgin tournament and quickly established himself as a key contributor. Widlowski said Peters and Wisniewski have “really set the pace for us” with their leadership and work ethic. Benka, Gorecki, Serviss, Nelson, Dinterman, Carlson and Whithey also figure prominently in the battle for playing time on a team that has solid size. “I’m hoping we’ll be more balanced this year where you couldn’t take one guy away from us,” Widlowski said. “The key for us is can we really step up and be a strong defensive varsity team.”