Summer reps benefit bulldogs
HARDIN – As he prepared Hardin-Central to start the 2021-2022 varsity boys basketball season, coach Brent Behler had an advantage over last season.
COVID wiped out the Bulldogs’ hopes of getting summer workouts in 2020, Behler recalled after practice Nov. 11 in the Hardin-Central gym. This summer, they got in shootouts at Hale and Polo, and played in a summer league at Lawson, he said.
“We got 14 games in,” Behler said. “And we got to work on man defense, which they … said they hadn’t played in high school – they just played a lot of 2-3 and a lot of 3-2 zones. So it gave them the chance to play 14 games, just playing man and playing the game – not a lot of (extras).”
Offseason reps “helped a lot,” Behler said. They showed the Bulldogs what aspects of their man-to-man defense and base offense needed honing, he said.
Mason Freece and Korbin Pugh saw the offseason games as helpful.
“(We got) a lot better over the summer,” Freece said. “Had multiple people make over 1,000 shots over…