Varsity boys’ basketball kicked off the season a couple weeks ago and is looking to have a memorable season. The team looks promising and consists of seven seniors, five juniors, one sophomore and one freshman.

The captains this year are senior point guard Ryan Parent, senior shooting guard Dason Miller and senior wing Ian Smith. Other players to look out for are junior point guard Jake Hoffman, junior power forward Peter Stanton-Shepherd and freshman point guard Khairi Hyde.

In the first game of the season, the boys had their home-opener against the Northwest Jaguars on Dec. 7. The student section was lively, and everyone was excited to see the first live basketball game in over a year. Despite an energetic student atmosphere, the Jaguars offensive presence was too much for the boys to handle, as they fell 78-63.

Hungry for their first win and some redemption following the Northwest loss, the team traveled to play Walter Johnson. The Wildcats, who are projected to have a solid squad this year, hosted the boys in their home opener, which had a crazy atmosphere. The Wildcat student section was rowdy and the cheers after every WJ bucket rumbled the entire gymnasium. 

The boys couldn’t pull off the win against the tough WJ team and lost 65-58. Junior forward Ryan McGraw had a great game, scoring 10 points. With this loss, the boys started the season 0-2. “It was a hard fought game and we improved as a team. There are definitely areas we can and will improve on, which will make us victorious in the future,” senior Dason Miller said.

In the most recent game, the team hosted Seneca Valley on Dec. 14, which was a competitive battle, but eventually resulted in a loss for the team as they fell to the Screaming Eagles 70-63. This pushes the boys losing streak to three, and they now have a 0-3 record. However, Parent had a great game, scoring nine points in 13 minutes off the bench. “It felt good to go into the game and give my team a spark off the bench. We lost a close game but I think we got better as a team,” Parent said. 

With the first three games of the season all turning into losses, questions have started to arise on what seems to be the problem. The boys, who before the season were projected to have a great, well-rounded squad this year, don’t seem to have it together just yet.

On the other hand, the season has only just started and there will be many more games to play. The current state of the team is undoubtedly nowhere near where the team will be later in the season. All teams experience failure at some point or another, and the boys at this time are still working on syncing up.

Is it unorganized rotations coming off the bench? Poor rebounding? Bad job at moving the ball around and working the defense? Not finding enough shot opportunities? The answer is unknown.

There are always things that need to be improved in everyone’s game. The boys are still working on getting on a roll where they will be able to tackle any team that comes at them, and they will get to that point without a doubt.