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The James River boys basketball team has been a top area Class 2 team for years, but this season it will be like starting over.
The Knights graduated eight seniors from a team that was one win away from going to the state tournament last year. This year River has one player, Trey Taylor, who has played more than a handful of varsity minutes and only three total that have stepped on a varsity court.
“Trey Taylor and Matthew Alderson are our lone returning seniors,” said coach Ethan Humphries. “We’ll need tremendous leadership out of them. They both understand how we operate on a day-to-day basis, so they’ll have to help our young guys navigate that journey.
“Some of our new guys, I haven’t had the opportunity to coach or evaluate this off-season so we’ll have to figure things out quickly. We’ll play essentially one-third of our season by December 11, so it’ll be a race to find out how we can mature at the fastest rate possible. Time will be our most valuable commodity.”
The Knights open tonight at Parry McCluer and this weekend they’re in a Friday and Saturday tournament at Riverheads. The home opener is next Tuesday when River plays host to Parry McCluer.
“If we can finish every game mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted we’ll be in a good spot,” said Humphries. “The first step is finding out who we are. If we play as hard and as selfless as I believe we can, it’ll be hard not to like watching us.”
