| The team was winning, -- Wahoo was 6 - 0 when they reached January, but at that point , a change was made in the starting lineup. Usually coaches make such changes either because the team isn’t winning, or because a particular player is falling far short of expectations. But such was not the case for the 1992 Warriors. Wahoo had just knocked off a highly regarded Raymond Central team and was gearing up to face Mount Michael, a team with a stingy 1-3-1 defense of its own and a 6 - 2 record. It was a contest in which Wahoo might need a little more firepower.
Enter Mike Hancock. Hancock was a 6’0” sophomore in the fall of 1992. As a freshman he had seen a little varsity action when fifteen players suited up for the Fort Calhoun game and he scored 7 points in the fourth quarter. But most of his freshman season had been spent playing for the freshman and junior varsity teams. He led the frosh team in scoring and set a school record with 52 points in one game. Obviously, scoring was Hancock’s strength. And yet, he was barely mentioned by Coach Anderson in preseason interviews and started the season coming off the bench for the Warriors. Hancock’s performance off the bench had been adequate, but not necessarily eye-popping. He had scored 37 points through the first six games, with one outstanding performance, scoring 16 against Arlington.
Typical of Anderson’s coaching philosophy, the move to insert Hancock into the starting lineup against Mt. Michael was founded on defense. While Hancock’s scoring prowess was unquestioned coming into the season, it remained to be seen if he would play defense up to the Warrior standard. Obviously, in games and in practice, he did. In his first varsity start, Hancock scored six points against Mt. Michael (two threes). He would start the rest of the season except for one game (Todd Kaiser started in the regular season game against Conestoga). There wouldn’t be gaudy scoring performances every night out, but Mike did score 26 in the Conference Tournament Championship against Raymond Central (including seven three pointers). He finished the season with just under a 10 point average and also contributed defensively with nearly 3 steals per game.
Sometimes a lineup change can disrupt a team, causing conflicts that can’t be resolved. But for the 1992 Warriors, Ryan Glock took up the sixth man role Hancock had filled and the team continued to win.
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