Carson McMichael ‘26, first year captain for the team, is gearing up for a stellar season. After dominating the past two years, including a game winning three versus St. Paul Academy in his freshman year, McMichael is excited for the student body to see the team play. He said, “A couple of games that I am excited for and think people should attend are our season opener vs Minnehaha on Dec. 3 and vs Breck on Jan. 7.”

Omar Kaba ‘25, second year captain, added on saying “A lot of home games land on Tuesdays but we love to see people come and support us at our games. It really means a lot to us when people take the time out of the day and watch us play.” Last year, the team beat Minnehaha Academy in amazing fashion, beating the Redhawks for the first time since 2014. With the team’s growth from the previous season, this matchup is primed to be a great game.

The team doesn’t just have a goal of winning these key rivalry matchups; their goal is to win state. McMichael said “The main goal going into the season is to win state. It will be a hard goal to achieve but we all believe in our ability to do so.” Moreover, the team not only hopes to win state but believes that they can.

McMichael went on to say, “The players we have this season have a lot of experience at the varsity level and we believe that we can compete with anyone in the state.” Many players on the team not only have multiple years of varsity basketball under their belt but also have many years of experience playing with each other. Through playing together for multiple years, the team has grown as a group. McMichael expanded on this by saying, “Throughout the years of playing together, we have learned how to trust each other, play with resilience, and be willing to do whatever it takes to win.” Kaba said “We have lost Drew Dillon ‘25 and Grayson Okoronkwo ‘24 but besides that everyone is returning and we have all played with each other before so…that helps with chemistry.”

After multiple years of playing together, the team has learned many lessons through different situations. Kaba said “The biggest lesson the team has learned is how to bring energy and focus onto the court. We are all getting better at bringing our all every game and not focusing on how much we score or who's watching…It has been a long journey to this, it takes knowing your role and being okay with not scoring the most as long as the team wins.” With the chemistry and years of experience this team has, it makes this season different from others. McMichael said, “What makes this team different than teams in the past is the time we have put in together to make this a special season. We have all worked very hard over the offseason and will continue this during the season.”

Kaba explained more about the offseason when he said  “Over the summer, we held open gyms and Varsity practices in order to have competitive scrimmages and play in summer tournaments against other schools. During the fall we held multiple captains practice and open gyms, as well as playing in a fall league against other schools.”

The team wants to leave their mark, not just in the record books but in how the team is remembered. McMichael said, “This year's team wants to be remembered as a hardworking and resilient group.” Kaba added on saying “I…want to set a standard for what our culture is within the program. I want other teams to emulate the growth and maturity that we show off the court.”