WARDSVILLE - A lot is expected of the Blair Oaks boys basketball team, as the Falcons return several key contributors from last year's team that made it to the Class 3 quarterfinals before falling to state runner-up Strafford.
That's OK, because the expectations began from inside the team a long time ago.
"We said a while back that we didn't want to be exactly the same as players the first week of December as we were when we walked out of Springfield last March," Blair Oaks head coach Ryan Fick said. "We wanted guys to improve and I think we have guys who have done that."
The work began with a successful summer schedule.
"The summer was huge, because we got to play 20, 25 games and saw guys increasing their roles from last year or sliding into different roles," Fick said. "Every year, regardless of how many you've got coming back, it's a new year, it's a new puzzle, and trying to fit all those pieces together is why you get to play 25 games before they count."
The early part of this year's schedule will be especially important, as the team will be looking to develop some cohesiveness. Half of the team's 12 players were part of the football team which finally saw its season come to a close a little more than a week ago with a loss in the state semifinals.
"Conditioning is a factor, just because it's a different type of conditioning for the football guys," Fick said. "But all the football guys are returning varsity-level kids, which plays into our favor. They can hit the ground running because everything is a review, rather than an introduction. You've got guys who have been in the program and understand what we're trying to accomplish."
Still, the week or so with a full team has featured vastly different practices than what the team's other players saw since starting work on Nov. 2.
"It affects these first several practices (with the football players) because we try to get up more shots than we typically do in a practice, and we get guys in before and after practice to try to get into a rhythm," Fick said. "But as far as X's and O's go, we try to do basically what we're going to do and eventually it will start to look better."
The season starts today with a 4:30 p.m. game against St. Elizabeth in the Eugene Tournament. The Falcons are the top seed and the Hornets are the eighth seed.
"We haven't been able to do as much breakdown stuff at this point in practice that we would have if we had had everyone since Nov. 2," Fick said. "We've had to get more to the 5-on-5 stuff so we're ready to play a game.
"I would have liked to been able to get those guys in and go at a little slower pace to review, and there will be some things we will introduce new, we're just going to have to play some games first and then do that over time."
After three games in the tournament and then a home game Monday against Eugene, the Falcons will have some time to slow down.
"After that, we have an eight-day window before we play again, and those eight days are going to be important to take a look at what we saw in the first week and maybe pinpoint areas of concern or things we need to improve on."
One thing the Falcons know is there's a good chance all 12 members will see significant playing time early on.
"You never know what may happen in the season, you may have injuries or things like that, so the more depth, the better," Fick said. "That's maybe the biggest positive I took from the Jamboree (at Helias a week ago). We may have only had six guys there, but it made me feel better about our depth watching those six guys play. We were missing five or six varsity guys that night, and when you throw them in the mix, we've got 10 to 12 guys that have an opportunity to earn some varsity time."
The roster includes six seniors - guards C.J. Closser and Jordan Hair and forwards Owen Luebbering, Kellen Griep, James Bishop and Garrett Kliethermes. Joining them are five juniors - guards Cody Alexander, Dylan Skinner and Thomas Verslues and forwards Jason Rackers and Clayton Backes - along with sophomore Tim Fick.
"The good thing about the Eugene Tournament is you get to have three games in four or five days and can try some different combinations out and see what works best," Ryan Fick said.
It's one of three tournaments on Blair Oaks' schedule, joining the St. James Tournament, a perennial mainstay on the slate, and a newcomer, the Tri-County Conference Tournament, which will be held this year on Jan. 2-9 at Eldon.
"One of the things I like about (the Tri-County Tournament) is there will be eight teams in it," Fick said. "It seems like tournaments these days are struggling to find eight teams that can make it work. So you're going to get three games, and you don't have to fill it with somebody's JV or something like that.
"I think it's going to be fun for the communities. All of the first eight games, boys and girls, are going to be on one day, so if you're a fan of basketball, you're going to get your money's worth
"... I'm interested to see how it goes and I'm looking forward to it since it's new. We will try to make it better each year."