Matt Meier was usually the first player off the bench for Naperville Central last season.
Today, he’s the Redhawks most experienced player.
A new season will feature a revamped roster as the Redhawks look to regroup with a young squad.
“Meier and Manny (Rugamba) are our two guards and I would say that Meier is our main guy coming back because he saw the most time,” Redhawks coach Pete Kramer said. “Manny was playing behind (Ryan) Antony, and we tried to keep Ryan on the floor, but Manny still got some experience and I think that will help us.”
More Top Picks Slow Cookers
Meier’s ready for the challenge.
“It’s going to be real different after having five senior starters, but we all learned a lot from that,” he said. “New leadership roles are there for guys to take. We’ll change the way we play, but we’re looking forward to it.”
The positive of Central’s football team losing to Simeon in the Class 8A quarterfinals on Nov. 15 was that it allowed Rugamba and Meier to turn their attention to basketball. The additional week of practice will certainly be beneficial as the Redhawks open their season on Nov. 24 in the Hoops for Healing Tournament.
“That helps because we need those two guys,” Kramer said. “We’re going to be young. The starters will probably be four juniors and (Nate) Dahl will be the only senior.”
Last winter, the Redhawks could count on Nick Czarnowski and Patrick Maloney for inside scoring and rebounds and a solid group of guards to do a little bit of everything else. That luxury dissipated when diplomas were handed out, so plenty of new bodies now have to step up.
One of the new bigs is 6-7 junior Harry Hallstrom.
“We could’ve brought Harry up last year but we didn’t want him to sit so we kept him down and let him play all the time,” Kramer said. “He’s going to really help and he can do a lot. He doesn’t just sit on the block. He can score a lot of different ways.”
The other is 6-9 sophomore Matt Skowronski.
“He’s going to have some growing pains, but he does some nice things for as long as he is, and we’re going to need some help with rebounds,” Kramer said. “You can’t coach quickness or size, and those two guys will give us some size.”
Senior Alex Pomeroy saw a bit of time last season and could get more, while junior Brandon Baskin and senior Mark Nowak could also step up.
In addition to the DuPage Valley Conference schedule, the Redhawks will participate in the Addison Trail Invite, Wheeling’s Hardwood Classic and trek to Loras College in Iowa to play Dubuque Senior.