MVP Titans

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We are talking Mt. Vernon-Plankinton Titan hoops! MVP enters the season with a new look, plenty of fresh faces, and high expectations for what this group can become. After graduating 15 seniors over the past two seasons, Coach Jason Helling will lean on a number of players moving up from the JV level to take on expanded varsity roles. Helling is a true basketball junkie who loves teaching the game and helping players improve. His passion for the sport is evident in the way he approaches the program, and this year's group will have an opportunity to take another step forward.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Last season, the Titans made significant progress and finished the year playing some of their best basketball. Defense was their calling card, using relentless pressure and aggressiveness to create opportunities on the offensive end. This year's team may have more scoring options and a more balanced attack, but the identity will remain familiar: dictate the pace, apply pressure, and make opponents uncomfortable. [player_tooltip player_id='3880758' first='Walker' last='VanGorp'] brings a high motor and the potential to be a disruptive defender, while [player_tooltip player_id='3430567' first='Mason' last='Degeest'] could become a key presence on the glass. There is also an exciting young group on the way, led by stud freshman [player_tooltip player_id='3102620' first='Sawyer' last='Williams'], with [player_tooltip player_id='3880991' first='Colt' last='Hegg'], [player_tooltip player_id='3881038' first='Tyce' last='Bruns'], and [player_tooltip player_id='3881016' first='Sutton' last='Fristad'] among the young players to watch.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Competing in a challenging Region 5, the Titans will have their work cut out for them against teams like Lennox and Wagner. However, Coach Helling believes this group has the talent to make some noise if it continues to develop, embraces its roles, and consistently handles the little things. With a new group of contributors, added scoring options, and a coaching staff committed to building the program, MVP hoops should be an interesting team to follow this winter. The biggest key will be how quickly these young Titans grow into their roles at the varsity level.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":3880750,"width":"203px","height":"auto","sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"media"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><a href="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/11/mvptitans.jpg"><img src="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/11/mvptitans.jpg?w=288" alt="" class="wp-image-3880750" style="width:203px;height:auto" /></a></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"style":{"typography":{"fontSize":"20px"}}} --> <p style="font-size:20px"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">Player Comments from Coach Helling</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='3880758' first='Walker' last='VanGorp'] -6'2” - Senior - F: </strong>"<em>Walker is going to be our BIG this year. He is a kid who plays with a relentless motor and uses his athleticism to his advantage. We are going to need him to rebound the basketball for us as we lack a true bruiser.</em>"</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='3880754' first='Hudson' last='Schmidt'] - 6'0” - Senior - G: </strong>"<em>Hudson is a shooter by nature. We will look for him to hit some timely shots for us this season. Hudson is a long guard who can use his length to disrupt passes on the defensive end of the floor.</em>"</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='3028027' first='Trysten' last='Eide'] - 5'10” - Junior - G:</strong> "<em>Trysten has put a lot of time in during the offseason on getting stronger and I look for him to make the jump to an impact player for us. He is a quick guard capable of getting to the rim and we are going to need to have him pick up a lot of the scoring load that we lost off of last year's team.</em>"</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='3430567' first='Mason' last='Degeest'] - 6'3” Junior - F/G:</strong> "<em>Mason is one of those kids who can do a little bit of everything. He is a capable perimeter shooter, has a nice inside game, and can really rebound the basketball. Mason's basketball IQ may be his strongest attribute.</em>"</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='3102620' first='Sawyer' last='Williams'] - 6'0”- Freshman - G:</strong> "<em>Sawyer is ahead of the learning curve. He is a very intelligent kid who understands the game. He is going to be relied on to handle the basketball and serve as our floor general. He does a nice job of using his body to score and is a more than capable shooter. I really look forward to seeing how he develops over the course of the season.</em>"</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":2511663,"width":"367px","height":"auto","sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"media"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><a href="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/QA.jpg"><img src="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/QA.jpg?w=865" alt="" class="wp-image-2511663" style="width:367px;height:auto" /></a></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"fontSize":"medium"} --> <p class="has-medium-font-size"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">With Jason Helling</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">PHD: Could you write a couple sentences summing up last season?</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"<em>We really started to come into our own at the end of last season. We continued to build throughout the course of the year, although at times we were a little too reliant on 1 person to score. This caused us to struggle to execute as a team in the half-court. Our defense helped create for us and seemed to always have us in the game. I was proud of our growth last year and we took a lot of positive steps as a program.</em>"</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">PHD: Does your program/team have any non-negotiables?</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"<em>Effort/aggressiveness. We hang our hat on being a relentless defensive team that constantly applies pressure. If we have to coach effort, our program will struggle.</em>"</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">PHD: What will your defense "hang its hat on"?</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"<em>That relentless defensive pressure. We don't sit back. Everything should be attacking and dictating what the offense is doing.</em>"</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">PHD: How does this year's team differ from last year's?</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"<em>We are going to be a very different team. In the last two seasons, we have graduated 15 seniors, so a lot of players on this year's varsity roster will be key contributors from our JV program. I would say we were more of a defensive team last year and had to rely on that to score the basketball. This season, we probably aren't at that place yet defensively, but as a whole have more options scoring the basketball. I honestly think our scoring will be distributed much more evenly, as we have a number of players who can score the ball. Our ability to do the little things consistently, as well as our mental toughness will dictate how this season will go.</em>"</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">PHD: How did the offseason go for your team/program?</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"<em>In addition to summer workouts, we competed in a couple of team camps. A number of our boys played summer ball as well.</em>"</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">PHD: Who are some players you expect to take on expanded roles this season?</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"<em>Honestly, our entire starting 5 will need to take on expanded roles. It will be a process, but if they buy in, we could have a very successful season.</em>"</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">PHD: Who are a few of your top defensive players? </span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"<em>[player_tooltip player_id='3880758' first='Walker' last='VanGorp'] can be a defensive menace for us. He plays with such a high motor. If we can get him to play defense a little more under control, he is going to cause a lot of problems for the opponents.</em>"</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">PHD: Who are a couple of up-and-comers to look out for in the near future?</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"<em>[player_tooltip player_id='3102620' first='Sawyer' last='Williams'] has a chance to be a really special player by the time he is done at MVP.&nbsp; For a freshma,n he is already ahead of the learning curve. The part that excites me about Sawyer is he isn't satisfied with where he is as a player and will continue to put in the work required to be great. Some other names to watch are ([player_tooltip player_id='3880991' first='Colt' last='Hegg'], [player_tooltip player_id='3881038' first='Tyce' last='Bruns'], [player_tooltip player_id='3881016' first='Sutton' last='Fristad'])</em>"</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">PHD: What style of play can fans expect on both ends of the floor?</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"Controlled pace. We are a very aggressive team in both the full and half-court. We want to make sure we are dictating what speed the game is played."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">PHD: Who do you think will be your best rebounders?</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"<em>We are going to need to be a team that sends everyone to the glass. [player_tooltip player_id='3430567' first='Mason' last='Degeest'] has a chance to be a really good rebounder for us.</em>"</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">PHD: What are your team goals this year?</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"<em>Grow. We have a lot of talented, inexperienced players who are going to need to adjust to Varsity basketball ,but if we continue to grow throughout the season, we have a chance to make some noise.</em>"</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">PHD: Who are some of the top teams &amp; players in your Region?</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"<em>I think the two “favorites” in our region would be Lennox and Wagner. Wagner returns a ton of players from a very competitive squad last year and Lennox is one of those towns that seems to have quality basketball teams year after year. Players: [player_tooltip player_id='2132820' first='Jesse' last='Zephier'] (Wagner), [player_tooltip player_id='2706232' first='Michael' last='Koupal'] (Wagner), [player_tooltip player_id='2078157' first='Aiden' last='Hanssen'] (Lennox), [player_tooltip player_id='2132810' first='Ben' last='Wiebersick'] (MCM), [player_tooltip player_id='3880856' first='Andrew' last='Sabers'] (MCM), <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='3028027' first='Trysten' last='Eide']</strong> (MVP), [player_tooltip player_id='3430567' first='Mason' last='Degeest'] (MVP).</em>"</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">PHD: Can you tell us about an assistant coach and the positives they bring to the team?</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"<em>Aj Kortemeyer is an assistant coach for us. He is also our Head Football coach and throwers coach. Aj brings toughness to our team and has really helped develop a number of our “big guys". Aj does a great job of promoting the weight room to our players, which was a focus for us after the season last year. Ben Nebelsick has also joined our staff this season and has a lot of familiarity with the program as an alum and player who has been through the MVP basketball program.</em>"</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"style":{"typography":{"fontSize":"25px"}}} --> <p style="font-size:25px"><strong><em>BEST OF LUCK TO THE TITANS THIS SEASON!!</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":3880750,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"media"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/11/mvptitans.jpg"><img src="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/11/mvptitans.jpg?w=288" alt="" class="wp-image-3880750" /></a></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->