The boy’s basketball team is coming off of its best season in a while, finishing third in the State and taking home a United Kansas Conference championship.

With the success of last season, naturally, they lost a lot of key seniors that lead the team throughout the whole season. This year, they are going to be starting with a much more inexperienced lineup. 

The biggest obstacle to overcome will be the team’s lack of size compared to last season. Head coach Matt Rice is prepared for the challenge.

“We are going to change the way we do things. We have had short teams in the past, so that’s nothing new,” Rice said.

However, there is nothing to worry about in regards to the success of this season. Junior Antonio Sullivan says they will rely on their shooting throughout their games.

“Shooting is our strength. That’s one of our primary things is to try to get a shot off,” Sullivan said.

The team is going to need some great leaders to bring this group’s success throughout the season. They will find this with their seniors Tyler Shultze, Ethan Shultze and Cole James. 

Tyler Shultze has the experience and demeanor needed to be successful, while Ethan has the potential to have a breakout season. James will be the big post presence they will need to fill in for their size disadvantage.

Another key aspect of the team will be if last year’s JV players can step up and make the transition after a successful season last year.

“We have several kids that are talented coming up [to varsity]. We will see if the guys make a transition from a really solid JV team last year,” Rice said.

The future of the basketball team is looking very bright as they have a lot of young talent, both on JV and varsity. 

“We have a bunch of young guys that are playing JV this year and those guys will be able to fill spots next year as well,” Sullivan said.

Rice hopes for the team to simply improve every day throughout the season. Hopefully, if they can do this, they will be in the running for a UKC title and a second straight State tournament appearance.

“We want to be better at the end of the season than we were at the beginning of the season,” Rice said.  “The goal is to get them as good as they can be.”