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W.VA. PREP BASKETBALL PREVIEW: John Marshall Boys Will Be Young in 2021

GLEN DALE — As a big school in West Virginia, it’s important to have experience on a team. While the John Marshall boys’ basketball team has little, much of Chad Clutter’s team is going to be vastly green.

“We lost a fair amount of seniors,” Clutter said. “We only have four players that have varsity experience.”

Justin Fronapfel and Adam Miller were two of the Monarchs’ major time contributors from last year’s team that picked up their diplomas.

Seniors Cole Gilbert (forward/center) and Derrick Derrow (point guard) are the only Monarch returning in 2021 that have significant varsity experience.

Junior Jake Korngiver (guard) and sophomore Roman Gray (guard) got some playing time last year.

Although Clutter’s squad hasn’t seen a lot of court time at the varsity level, he is optimistic with his sophomore class, which will be half of the varsity roster.

“But we have a hungry group of sophomores and a couple of juniors that are ready to step up and we are looking forward to what they do,” Clutter said.

“It’s great we have a hungry group of men. They’re going to be energetic. We got a few shooters now, some things that we haven’t had consistently in the past. We have a combination of things that can be done. I think we are going to be better defensively this year, at least quicker, be able to get up and down the floor if we contest more shots, hold teams to fewer points and then if we are shooting well then we are going to put ourselves in a spot to win a ballgame.”

The Monarchs got a day-late start to the season as the first schedule day of practice was canceled due to weather. Clutter and Co., though are back on track and are slated to start the season on time.

“A lot of places in the state didn’t get to practice on Monday, which took a little bit of air out of the tires, but we bounced back and we’ve been going strong ever since,” Clutter said. “Everything looks good weather-wise and I think we’re going to be fine and ready to go (Friday at Weir).”

The remaining sophomore are twins Brennan Sobutka (guard) and Braden Sobutka (guard), Isaac Ott (point guard) and Cody Hartman (guard).

There’s also a couple other sophomores that Clutter hasn’t moved up to the varsity team yet that he sees potential in and could see minutes as well.

“There are about nine or 10 sophomores that have been playing together for a long time and they’re pretty excited about basketball at John Marshall and I’m excited to give them a chance,” Clutter said.

“It would be nice if they had a year of JV to get under their belts, but some of them are going to be fed to the wolves and have to grow up real fast. But, I think they’re ready for the challenge.

“At the Triple A level, it’s tough to play that many young and inexperienced guys. It’s probably going to be bumpy early, but hopefully in a month in a half, when we roll into sectionals we’re ready to take on Park, Brooke and Morgantown.”

Juniors Nate Menendez (guard/forward) and Grant Neiswonger (forward/center) round out the varsity roster for the Monarchs.

“We’re a really young team,” Clutter said. “I still think we have what I call 50-50 games on there. What’s interesting about a AAA schedule is that you can’t look at it and say you have eight wins on the schedule. So we look at we have eight or nine 50-50 games on here. Whoever those teams are, if we show up, we will win and if not, we will most likely split with that group. We have 50-50 games, and we have underdog games, so we’re just going to do the best we can to get to .500 and improve. But obviously the opponents in our section are in our radar.”

Clutter is assisted by Justin Eikleberry, Jason Eikleberry and Keith Knapp.

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