Bredesen leads Comets this season
By Greg Seubert
Matt Bredesen only has one game under his belt as coach of the Waupaca boys’ basketball team, but he likes what he has seen so far.
“The kids have great work ethic and we’re getting better every day,” said Bredesen, who is replacing longtime coach Ron Weber. “It was a good opportunity for me to come in and work with kids who are passionate about getting better. They come in every day wanting to get better.”
The Comets opened their season Nov. 29 at Winneconne and will compete with Clintonville, Denmark, Fox Valley Lutheran, Freedom, Little Chute, Luxemburg-Casco, Marinette, Oconto Falls and Wrightstown in the North Eastern Conference.
The Comets were 7-16 last year and 6-12 in conference play.
Bredesen hasn’t coached in the North Eastern Conference before, but he’s familiar with the teams the Comets will face twice each season. He is in his first year as an at-risk teacher in the New London School District and has six years of basketball coaching experience.
“My assumption would be the best teams in the league this year would be Luxemburg-Casco, Little Chute and Wrightstown,” he said. “I would expect those three teams to be the best. I’ve watched tape on a bunch of those teams. I spent one year at Green Bay West, so I scouted Luxemburg-Casco a lot last year as a potential playoff matchup.”
Waupaca hosted a scrimmage Nov. 17 against several teams, including Iola-Scandinavia and Wild Rose.
“We did a lot of things well and there were a lot of things we can improve on,” Bredesen said. “Like I just told the team, what we need to do is take the things we do well and become great at them. We need to take the things that need improvement and get better at those.
“In the end, basketball is a simple game,” he added. “If you make less mistakes, you’re probably going to win more than you lose. Basketball season’s a marathon. Where you start is not important, it’s all about how you finish.”
Waupaca lost Tony Blackwell, the team’s leading scorer and a unanimous first-team all-conference player, but has a handful of players with varsity experience.
“I think we’re going to get a big year out of Brandon Wanty as a sophomore,” Bredesen said. “He’ll probably be running the point for us. Ryan Dayton is returning and he’ll be our shooting guard. We are not real big inside, so Logan Bunge in the post will be asked to play a big role with rebounds and scoring in the paint. Justin Vaughn came up from JV and I think we’re going to get a lot of good things from him, especially as he gets used to that varsity pace. Stephen Johnson will come back and that’ll probably be the starting five you’ll see in the beginning.
“I think it’s a positive that we have young kids,” he said. “Young kids really want to play. I came in and got younger kids who don’t have a lot of varsity experience. It gives me the opportunity to kind of mold them to go in the direction we want to go. They have the desire and the work ethic to be good. I know they understand that in the beginning, the speed’s going to be way different than JV, than freshman (basketball). We have kids coming straight from freshman to varsity. They know it’s a transition.”
Bredesen and his staff that includes varsity assistant Brad Bogard, junior varsity coach Nate Tomlinson and freshman coach Ethan Dayton have 31 players to work with.
Dayton and Tomlinson played for Weber and Bogard has been an assist for several seasons.
“It’s a plus to have guys that have been around, have been in the program and know the kids,” Bredesen said. “I worked with them all summer, so I knew everybody who was potentially competing for varsity spots. I saw kids that were pretty dedicated and came to all the summer league stuff that we offered on Tuesdays. I threw in three varsity tournaments that I used contact days on and coached them.”
He admitted it’s hard to get kids thinking about basketball in the summer.
“You have to if you’re going to build a program,” he said. “There has to be that offseason commitment. That’s another thing that we’re going to work to build here. We’ll lift (weights) twice a week during the season and then we’ll have them on a program that they also should be on during the summer as well. We want them to be complete athletes, we don’t want them to just be basketball players. I’m a big multi-sport guy. I believe kids shouldn’t specialize. Kids should play multiple sports and weightlifting’s a huge thing for all sports. Kids need to compete and the way to help kids compete is to make them complete athletes. The first day, we started practice at 5 and the balls came out at 6:30. We did agilities, we did core. I stress anything that makes you a better athlete.”
Bredesen puts a lot of emphasis on defense.
“You will see us defend,” he said. “At least half of every practice has to be dedicated to that because it doesn’t take a lot of talent to be a good defensive player. It takes heart, it takes passion, it takes desire. We need to make sure we’re taking time every day at practice to develop that. We have access to three shooting machines and the kids have used them as well. It’s great for development. When I got hired in May, I started running open gyms and skill sessions right away. Anything you can do to get the kids in the gym to work on those individual skills is great.”
Waupaca Boys’ Basketball
2016-17 Schedule
Varsity
Thursday, Nov. 17 – Scrimmage vs. Iola-Scandinavia, Laconia, Montello, Tri-County, Wautoma, Wild Rose, Wittenberg-Birnamwood, 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 29 – at Winneconne, 7:15 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 2 – vs. Luxemburg-Casco, 7:15 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 6 – at New London, 7:15 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 8 – at Clintonville, 7:15 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 13 – at Oconto Falls, 7:15 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 16 – at Little Chute, 7:15 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 5 – vs. Fox Valley Lutheran, 7:15 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 7 – vs. Marinette, 2:45 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 10 – vs. Berlin, 7:15 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 13 – vs. Freedom, 7:15 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 17 – at Wrightstown, 7:15 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 20 – vs. Denmark, 7:15 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 24 – vs. Clintonville, 7:15 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 26 – at Luxemburg-Casco, 7:15 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 30 – vs. Oconto Falls, 7:15 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 2 – vs. Little Chute, 7:15 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 4 – at Marinette, 2:45 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 10 – at Fox Valley Lutheran, 7:15 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 14 – vs. Merrill, 7:15 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 16 – at Freedom, 7:15 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 20 – vs. Wrightstown, 7:15 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 23 – at Denmark, 7:15 p.m.
Junior Varsity
Friday, Dec. 2 – vs. Luxemburg-Casco, 5:45 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 6 – at New London, 5:45 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 8 – at Clintonville, 5:45 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 13 – at Oconto Falls, 5:45 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 16 – at Little Chute, 5:45 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 5 – vs. Fox Valley Lutheran, 5:45 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 7 – vs. Marinette, 1 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 10 – vs. Berlin, 5:45 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 13 – vs. Freedom, 5:45 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 17 – at Wrightstown, 5:45 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 20 – vs. Denmark, 5:45 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 24 – vs. Clintonville, 5:45 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 26 – at Luxemburg-Casco, 5:45 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 30 – vs. Oconto Falls, 5:45 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 2 – vs. Little Chute, 5:45 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 4 – at Marinette, 1 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 10 – at Fox Valley Lutheran, 5:45 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 14 – vs. Merrill, 5:45 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 16 – at Freedom, 5:45 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 20 – vs. Wrightstown, 5:45 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 23 – at Denmark, 5:45 p.m.
Freshman
Friday, Nov. 18 – Scrimmage at New London, 4:30 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 2 – vs. Luxemburg-Casco, 5:45 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 6 – at New London, 5:45 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 8 – at Clintonville, 5:45 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 13 – at Oconto Falls, 5:45 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 16 – at Little Chute, 5:45 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 5 – vs. Fox Valley Lutheran, 5:45 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 7 – vs. Marinette, 1 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 10 – vs. Berlin, 5:45 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 13 – vs. Freedom, 5:45 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 17 – at Wrightstown, 5:45 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 20 – vs. Denmark, 5:45 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 24 – vs. Clintonville, 5:45 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 26 – at Luxemburg-Casco, 5:45 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 30 – vs. Oconto Falls, 5:45 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 2 – vs. Little Chute, 5:45 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 4 – at Marinette, 1 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 10 – at Fox Valley Lutheran, 5:45 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 14 – vs. Merrill, 5:45 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 16 – at Freedom, 5:45 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 20 – vs. Wrightstown, 5:45 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 23 – at Denmark, 5:45 p.m.