19-20 First Look: Austin

<p>The Austin Packers have been to state six of the last eight seasons, will it be seven in nine?  Certainly. Not just because the Packers are going to be very good but because the section changes have led to the Packers being the easy favorite among the group. </p> <p><strong>Moving On</strong>: The Packers graduated five players from last year's eight man rotation including four starters.  Leading scorer Medi Obang has graduated as has Gavin Owens and the Deng brothers Ngor and Dongrin.  LaHenry Gillis also graduated and he was one of the first players off the bench. Obang scored nearly a 20 game leading the Packers to 25 wins and the state tournament plus Ngor was the team's third leading scorer. </p> <p><strong>Returning Starters</strong>:   <strong>Agwa Nywesh</strong>.  Agwa isn't just the top returning scorer on the team, he's one of the elite guards in the state in a 2020 class that is arguably the deepest pool of talent in state history.  Agwa scored 18 plus a game handling several roles including ball handler, wing scorer, trapping defender, and transition terror. </p> <p><strong>Reserves Playing a Bigger Role:   </strong>Last year's top bench players <strong>Moses Idris</strong> and <strong>Teyghan Hovland</strong> are both more than capable of handling big roles.  In fact both could become two of the state's most improved players.  Idris is an improved shooter and one of the more explosive players in the Big nine.  You can expect Idris to score 4-5 times around the bucket, with some foul shots, and a jumper or two a game.  Hovland is a three sport standout that plays quarterback on the football team and is a top baseball player that helped his team to state.  Hovland is also the type of tough basketball player that can play several spots and be trusted to do so. </p> <p><strong>Potentials from the JV:  </strong>The senior class will step in with support at the guard spot.  Players like <strong>Pierre Lilly</strong>, <strong>Ayden Manahan</strong>, and <strong>Ochan Obany</strong> all ready to stop crushing teams on JV and ready to make varsity contributions.  The Austin JV was mostly all juniors last year so many of the underclassmen are still names that will be learned at a later date.  That said, sophomore <strong>Emmanuel Manyuon</strong> is a player that really impressed us this fall. </p>