The Iola Mustangs officially kicked off the summer season with the first of a four-day basketball camp Tuesday as they rebuild ahead of the 2025-2026 season.
After bowing out of March’s regional tournament with a semifinal loss to Caney Valley, the Mustangs have plenty to build off from last year but may need a few players to step up and fill the void of their five recently graduated seniors — including all-time leading scorer Cortland Carson.
“We wanted to get rolling right at the beginning of the summer and lay the groundwork for next season,” said Coach Luke Bycroft. “I wasn’t sure what to expect as far as numbers, but we had 19 show up, and those are good numbers.”
Bycroft began by retooling Iola’s offense. With underclassmen stepping up for next season, Bycroft adjusted Iola’s offense to better suit its smaller but speedier lineup.
“We’re going to be moving away from the ball a little bit more and relying less on ball screens,” Bycroft said. “We’ll still use ball screens but a lot of it is reviewing our defensive stuff. We’re starting over offensively and getting guys to understand the concepts and move to the reads. We have a lot of work, and we’re going to need every hour we have scheduled this week to get that work in.”
One player who welcomed the change was incoming senior Nick Bauer. Just over a week removed from leading the Iola baseball team to the regional semifinals, Bauer returned to the hardwood intent on getting the basketball team ready for a pair of jamborees at home and at Pittsburg State University, where they will showcase their new offense for the first time.
“I’ve been waiting for it since the last day of basketball,” Bauer said. “Basketball is my favorite sport. I’m pretty confident. I like our team this year. We should be able to create on our own, but we will be small. We should be able to run and play defense.”
Bycroft said he was impressed by the boys’ work ethic — something he credited recent IHS graduate Carson for instilling in the team.
“There are some guys that had been getting in the gym, but they were pretty limited on what they could do until the school year ended,” Bycroft said. “Now that we’ve hit summer, I’d like to see a lot more of that. As the gym is available, we’re going to get in a lot more skill work as a team and we’ll see who wants to put the work in in the offseason.”
