Glenn Starting To Roll Heading Into New Year
You just had a feeling Travis Hannah’s John Glenn Falcons boys basketball team might take some time before it hit its groove, and it appears his club is starting to hit on all cylinders as we head into 2023.
So far, the 2022-23 season has had more bumps in the road than the Falcons are used to.
Fresh off a 24-win 2021-22 season that included a No. 1-ranking for the first time in school history, Glenn knew it would have to reload this year, but never envisioned starting the campaign 1-4.
However, replacing point guard Silas Kaser and guards Joe Delinski and Jack Porter from a team that lost in the sectional championship game a year ago has been easier said than done.
Kaser was one of the best point guards we’ve covered on MAX 98.3 FM. He was terrific guiding Hannah’s ship and came within an eyelash of delivering the long-time coach that coveted sectional crown he so desperately wants at Glenn.
Delinski and Porter were the sharp-shooters a team needs to make any kind of run come March.
Add to that trifecta, dominant big man Brycen Hanah and you’ve got a team that could not only make it out of the first weekend of March Madness, but advance to the state finals in Indianapolis.
Glenn looked to be destined for the Capitol City, but perennial foe Marian had other ideas and ended the Falcons’ dream season in a classic sectional title game.
However, the cupboard wasn’t bare entering this season for the 16th year Glenn head coach.
After all, his son, 6-foot-4 Brycen was returning along with Noah Dreibelbeis and up-and-comer Joe Chrapliwy.
The big question mark entering the season? The point guard position and the backcourt.
Enter juniors Ty Larkin and Chase Miller, both known more for their football accomplishments to date.
The season opened with a disappointing loss at Plymouth. Joel Grindle’s veteran team was fired up to play the Falcons and took full advantage of an off shooting night by the visitors especially their star player.
Surprisingly the losses started to snowball from there.
Glenn lost to South Bend Clay before beating Elkhart. Then the Falcons fell to South Bend Riley and Tippy Valley.
But things started to turn around on Dec. 16 when ranked South Bend Washington came to Walkerton.
Washington, who has talented freshman guard Seven Reynolds Jr., a player the No. 1 team in the country – Purdue – is interested in, faced a Glenn zone defense that seemed to baffle the visitors.
As a result, that packed-in zone caused the Panthers to jack up ill-advised shot after ill-advised shot. When it was over, the Falcons had gained some much-needed confidence and an impressive 21-point victory.
A 14-point win over visiting LaVille followed.
Then came this week’s Max Platt Holiday Tournament at East Noble.
Two more lopsided-wins later and Glenn is riding a four-game winning streak heading into road tilts against New Prairie and Triton.
For the first time this season, the Falcons are above .500 at 5-4.
Other than the pair of Ws that resulted from the aforementioned holiday tournament, the best thing that emerged was Miller’s confidence seemed to get a much-needed boost.
In the 19-point win over host East Noble, Miller, who now finds himself in the starting lineup, scored 13 points, including two first-quarter triples that helped the Falcons build a lead they would never relinquish.
In the morning victory over Fremont, Miller chipped in nine points.
Without question Glenn will need consistency from Miller and his outside shooting, plus a boost from Larkin coming off the bench would be nice, too.
To be honest, all of the Falcons’ role players will have to step up to help leading scorer Hannah if this team is to make some noise over the final three months of the season.
The New Year will be anything but smooth sailing for Hannah and Co.
One look at the schedule will tell you that.
The schedule is brutal with dates against top-ranked Marian and No. 16 St. Joe to come in January along with an encounter against Class 4A No. 2 Penn to start off February.
Oh and there is also the Bi-County Tournament in January, too, not to mention a much more manageable sectional that no longer includes Marian and St. Joe, but rather Bremen, Knox, Tippy Valley, and Culver Academy.
Speaking of Bi-County, Glenn recorded its record-tying fourth straight tournament title last season and will be the favorite to repeat this time around.
Expect the Falcons to be one of the favorites in their newly revamped sectional and just maybe this time around Hannah’s team can be the ones cutting down the nets.
Now wouldn’t that be something?
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