Published: April 16, 2016
2015-16 DAILY NEWS ALL-COUNTY BOYS BASKETBALL TEAM
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Germantown’s Juwan McCloud
Senior keeps tradition going for Warhawks
STORY BY NICHOLAS DETTMANN ■ DAILY NEWS
Juwan McCloud wasn’t intimidated — he was eager to do whatever he could to help his new teammates.
“It wasn’t anything I wasn’t capable of doing,” McCloud said. “I accepted the role.”
Then he got hurt.
In his sophomore year at Germantown, McCloud, who played his freshman
year at Menomonee Falls, suffered a stress fracture on his tibia in his
left leg.
He missed nine games.
Once cleared to play, he had two games to get ready for Brookfield
Central, who beat Germantown to end its thennation- leading 69-game
winning streak.
Two
games later, McCloud was in the starting lineup for the first time for
the Warhawks after four teammates were suspended for code of conduct
violations. One of the players suspended was the team’s leading scorer,
Lamonte Bearden.
McCloud was Bearden’s backup at point guard.
“I wasn’t nervous,” McCloud said. “I was actually really excited. I
had a lot of confidence. I felt it was an opportunity to show my work.”
He scored 14 points and it was the start of a legacy for McCloud with the Warhawks.
McCloud, committed to the University of Northern Iowa on a basketball
scholarship, was voted the 2015-16 Daily News All-County Boys Basketball
Player of the Year.
“He’s a great example for the kids in the program to do what he’s done,”
said Mark Adams, who coached Germantown last season but has since
retired after he replaced Steve Showalter — the Warhawks’ coach for 15 seasons.
“He’s got some range,” Adams added. “The last few years, he’s put the time in. He’s got a nice little teardrop.
“His 3-point shooting has really evolved. He’s gotten more consistent as far as his scoring.”
Scoring and assists were two things McCloud wanted to improve on, saying those are the aspects that define a point guard.
This season, he scored 577 points — 23.1 points per game.
In his freshman season at Menomonee Falls, McCloud scored 253 points — 11 per game — which was second on the team.
McCloud joined Germantown’s program after his family moved to town because his parents work in Germantown.
When McCloud arrived, it was at the height of Germantown’s reign in
high school basketball. The Warhawks were in the midst of a 56-game
winning streak and had won the previous two Division 1 state titles.
In addition, it had just graduated the state’s Mr. Basketball award
winner — Luke Fischer. But still on the roster was Bearden, among others
either committed to Division I programs or being recruited by D-I
programs.
Bearden eventually signed with
the University of Buffalo and is the Bulls’ leading scorer for a team
that made its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance last month.
In a way, it was the right situation for McCloud to come into.
“I think it was a lot easier with the eyes being on Germantown,” he
said. “The way it all happened, it helped my game. It allowed me figure
out how to be a role player.”
After his first start, which was Jan. 24, 2014, against Whitefish Bay,
McCloud did what he needed to do — he averaged 7.5 points in 12 games.
McCloud wasn’t intimidated by what had already happened at Germantown and who was before him.
“Being in that program, everybody has to get used to a pecking
order,” Adams said. “I think he was ready for it. One of the reasons he
was, it was because of the confidence he built over time.”
Adams was familiar with McCloud; he was the coach of
Brookfield Central when the Lancers beat the Warhawks to end the
historic winning streak. Plus, Brookfield Central and Menomonee Falls
are in the Greater Metro Conference.
“As a sophomore, I thought he had a lot of potential but at that point, from a physical standpoint, he wasn’t close to physical maturity yet,” Adams said. “He was pretty lean.”
Adams also thought McCloud needed to work on his range. He got the
chance to help when then-Germantown coach Steve Showalter added Adams to
his staff during McCloud’s junior season. Adams worked with McCloud and the other guards for Germantown.
“A lot of what I was trying to get him to do was understand what to do
and what not to do as far as shot selection,” Adams said. “He was a
very unselfish player before I got there. The desire he had for the
importance of getting other people involved — he was very comfortable
with that.
“But with his talent, he had to work on doing things himself.”
Adams also worked on Mc-Cloud’s defense.
“I don’t think he ever looked at himself that way,” Adams said. “He
had to push himself on both ends of the floor. There’s nothing harder
than trying to get someone to play defense.”
Adams helped transform Mc-Cloud into a complete point guard, which
included McCloud averaging more than 2 steals per game last season on
top of his offensive production.
As for his range, McCloud made seven 3-pointers his sophomore season. This year, he made 61.
McCloud finished with 1,148 points in less than three seasons at
Germantown. If you count his Menomonee Falls totals, he had 1,401
points.
“I think I
prepared myself in the AAU season,” McCloud said. “I really developed a
scoring mentality. It was being ready for that moment.”
HONORABLE MENTION Colin Biesterfeld, sr., Kettle Moraine Lutheran
Jacob Bolwerk, soph., Living Word Lutheran
Tyler Reinhardt, sr., Slinger Derek Sabin, soph., Slinger Charlie Witek, sr., Kewaskum
Reach sports editor Nicholas Dettmann at ndettmann@conleynet.com.
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