This season's Jefferson City boys basketball team has a lot to make up for.
The Jays will have the opportunity to repeat as district champs with many returning players, but the crucial pieces of last year's 18-8 team won't be able to offer much assistance.
There are plenty of holes to fill with the departures of O.G. Anunoby, now playing at Indiana University; Eysan Wiley, who transferred to Rock Bridge; and the graduated Isaac Roling.
"You're losing, you know, 35 points a game and 20 rebounds from two players," said Jefferson City head coach Blair Thompson, who enters his fifth season in the role as the Jays open the season at 8:30 p.m. today against Sedalia Sacred Heart in the Marshall Tournament. "So we're going to have to man up and guys are going to have to buckle down and play bigger than they are in places. Our big guys are going to have to play more physical."
Those returning pieces include seven letterwinners, five of them seniors - Rylin Spence, Seth Stegeman, Jacob Gourley, Tim Nahach and Caleb Burrus. There are four juniors in Kamari Balton, Gunnar See, Addison Brown and Chuck Cooper. Balton and Spence received all-district honors a season ago.
"They've been around my entire time here in Jeff City," Thompson said. "I've gotten to watch these guys grow up. I feel like amongst the coaching staff and players we're pretty close and have great relationships. It's just leaving you with wanting what's best for them.
"We'll do whatever it takes to give them the best opportunity to walk out of here knowing they did everything they could. These guys are not afraid of hard work. They're not afraid to put the time in and I think they do a really good job of playing for the next guy."
Joining the varsity are seniors Hunter Swanigan and Kent Uhlmann. Thompson hopes to see sophomores Charlie Wehmeyer and Rae-Quan Davis and freshman Hudson Nilges develop into contributors.
Thompson expects to rely on a collective effort this season.
"We'll plug in those gaps by committee and have a next-guy-up mentality," he said. "Our first seven to eight guys are all upperclassmen, a lot of seniors in that mix. Throughout the season we'd like to get in the bench a little bit and bring the younger guys up so we can take a look at them.
"A big part of that team is intact from a year ago, now the makeup of it's a little different. With the experience of being a year older, stronger, we can plug those gaps and help out in those areas."
In the first five days of their season, the Jays will play four games. They will take on either Battle or Marshall on Thursday in the tournament before taking on Lee's Summit North on Friday in the Norm Stewart Classic at Columbia College. On Saturday, the Jays will return to Marshall for the final game of the tournament.
"It's going to be tough physically and mentally," Thompson said. "We'll be on the bus quite a bit. That's not always the easiest thing to do, but we know we've got to do it. We could end up being better for it."
The current goal is to win the Marshall Tournament, Thompson said. But he knows there's a long road ahead of this group with trips to Columbia, Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield and Joplin all booked.
"In these times it's hard to get teams to travel here," Thompson said. "And we know with our location, we're going to be on the bus a lot."
The Jays will have to wait until the Great 8 Classic set for Dec. 28-30 to play in front of their home crowd. Notable home games include Helias, Rock Bridge, Hickman, Battle and Rockhurst. Not that the road bothers them.
"It's time to get on a bus and see what we've got," Thompson said.