First in a series
By RICHIE HALL
A group of freshmen college basketball players, including four kids from Hamilton County, came on to the DePauw University men’s basketball team in the fall of 2017.
When they joined the Tigers, those freshmen were behind a roster of upperclassmen, waiting their turn to play. It wouldn’t be long before their turn came: Two years later, those freshmen have completed their junior season, and have become solid contributors for DePauw, both in basketball and on the campus in general.
“That class is the heart and soul of our team,” said Tigers coach Bill Fenlon. “They are pretty talented players, but also unbelievably good teammates. All of them are also really good students.”
Fenlon said that the junior class are the poster boys of being DePauw athletes. “We’re lucky to have those kids,” he said.
There are seven men in that class, and the four Hamilton County players are all familiar names to local basketball fans: Nolan Ginther (Noblesville), Matthew Godfrey (Guerin Catholic), Caymn Lutz (Hamilton Heights) and Aaron Shank (Hamilton Southeastern). The other juniors in the class also came from Indiana schools: Nick Felke (Plymouth), Ken Decker (Crown Point) and Josh Hall (Bloomington South).
Ginther, Lutz and Shank played in all 26 of the Tigers’ games this season. Unfortunately, Godfrey tore his ACL and was unable to play for the year; however, he stayed on as a student assistant and expects to be back on the court for DePauw next season.
“I’ve played against these guys ever since I was little growing up in AAU ball and in high school,” said Godfrey. “I was actually on Caymn Lutz and Aaron Shank’s travel team, so it was pretty exciting when we all decided to play for DePauw.”
That county foursome could have been only a threesome had it not been for a last-minute change by Lutz, who was planning to attend Indiana University.
“Initially, I was just going to go to IU,” he said. “Last-minute, my mom suggested I go visit DePauw, so I could have the option to play basketball.”
Once Lutz visited, he quickly changed his mind.
“From the moment I stepped on campus, I had an amazing experience for the first time and I was just stoked from that,” he said.
Shank and Ginther both had similar feelings once they made their visits to Greencastle.
“I wanted a school that was academically challenging,” said Shank. He already had decided to major in kinesiology, which is offered at DePauw, but not at some other schools.
“After visiting DePauw a few times it just seemed like the right fit for me,” said Shank.
Ginther was in the same boat: He was looking for a school where he could either play basketball or major in actuarial science – “and DePauw offered both,” he said.
The class spent its freshman year waiting their turn behind what was then a senior-heavy team. But the players made the most of their opportunities. Ginther played in 18 games, starting in one, and scored in double figures in three of those contests.
“It was a good experience,” said Ginther. “We didn’t have the best season that year, but it was good experience getting younger guys more playing time.”
Meanwhile, they were also watching and learning from the upperclassmen.
“We got experience on the court and leadership that we needed,” said Ginther.
Godfrey played in 11 games as a freshman, while Shank played in three and Lutz one. All of them were anxious to take the court, but they were also willing to do the work and wait their turn.
“Aaron and I were in the same position in that we knew we could go out there and compete,” said Lutz. He said he “grew a lot” during his freshman year, and also played hard in practice.
“I learned a lot from it, it really expanded my game and knowledge of basketball,” said Lutz.
Shank did the same thing, saying he “took that year to really work on my game, learn as much as I can, just try to compete every day and show coach that I was deserving of getting minutes.” Meanwhile, the coaches were reminding both men that their opportunities were coming.
“He didn’t play a lot, but got some experience on the practice floor,” Fenlon said of Shank. The coach said Shank was a good contributor off the bench as a sophomore, leading him to a solid junior season.
It was the same for Lutz, as he found his way during his sophomore season after having to make the big adjustment from high school to college basketball.
“He ended up the second half of his sophomore year becoming a solid positive contributor on the court for us,” said Fenlon.
With the improvement, the opportunities came fairly quickly for the sophomore class. Shank played in all 27 of DePauw’s games during his sophomore year, contributing 6.2 points per game, with Ginther becoming a regular starter, in 24 of the 26 games he played. He averaged 13.1 points and 4.8 rebounds, leading the team in both of those categories.
Godfrey played in 25 games, starting most of the second half of the season and averaging 50 percent from the 3-point arc. Lutz played in 21 games, adding 5.5 points per game and making 41.7 percent of his 3-point attempts. They helped the Tigers to a 17-10 record.
“As we became sophomores, we got a little more accustomed to the style of college basketball and we really started to gel a little more,” said Godfrey.
“He’s unbelieveable,” said Fenlon. “He’s just an amazing kid. He’s incredibly involved on campus.”
While Godfrey had to sit out with an injury as a junior, the other three county juniors stepped up. Ginther continued as a regular starter, and was the leading scorer (14.7 points) and rebounder (6.5) and second with assists (2.5).
Ginther said he didn’t expect to be the leading scorer, “it just happened to be that way,” he said. The Tigers’ offense runs through its post players, “so I get a lot of touches. It’s something I’ve been working on.”
In addition, Ginther has been named to the Tiger Pride Honor Roll all five semesters; that’s given out to student-athletes with a 3.5 grade-point average or above.
“We’re offered a lot of study tables,” said Ginther. “At DePauw there’s a lot of resources you can go to.”
Ginther said that the professors are helpful with office hours and email, making it easy to talk with them about homework and tests.
“The campus environment is just very helpful in aiding your academic success,” said Ginther.
Shank and Lutz also continued to improve. Shank was third on the team in points, averaging 8.6 per game, and second with rebounds, pulling down 4.7 per game. He also made the Tiger Pride Honor Roll last semester. Lutz added 4.3 points per game, and was fourth on the team in assists (0.9) and fifth in rebounds (2.2).
“I think most of it is just confidence, just getting more minutes out there,” said Shank. “I feel like I’m shooting the ball better. It just feels more natural to me.”
Ginther was named to the All-North Coast Athletic Conference team this season; Fenlon calls him one of the “top five most competitive guys we’ve had in this program.”
In addition to the Hamilton County players, Felke averages 14.0 points per game and Hall adds 11.2 points per game. With all of this talent back for a senior season, as well as the return of Godfrey, this class will be ready for next year.
“Our class keeps getting tighter and we have a lot of expectations for next year,” said Godfrey. “Our goal is to win a conference championship, we haven’t done that in a few years. That’s definitely our aim for this upcoming season.”
Great story for all young people to read?