The Carroll Boys Basketball team is set to tip their season off this Wednesday, November 22 against South Bend Adams before returning home for their home opener on Saturday, December 2 against Goshen in non-conference play.

However in the mean time, here is some insight into this years team to help get you ready for upcoming season:

THE MINDSET

During the off-season the Chargers focused on fixing attitudes for the upcoming season, emphasizing the value of your teammates and being a good teammate.

“We really want to focus on being a good teammate and helping your teammates out” said Head Coach Marty Beasley.

Going into this season Beasley has some standards for the team, one of them being that he hopes his team plays with more mental toughness than they have in the past and translate that in to not giving up whether the team is winning or losing.

“Compete all the way through no matter the circumstances, up, down, or whatever” said Beasley.

In addition Beasley wants this years team to be determined to not let the little things bother them.

“Be determined to release, refocus and go on” said Beasley.

He also is holding this years team to a higher standard of unselfishness and integrity both on and off the court.

Another thing Beasley likes so far this season is that the team is holding itself accountable and instead of just saying they’re going to do something and doing something different, Beasley says that they’re now actually doing it along with acting the right way and saying the right things together.

While it is still very early on, Beasley says that the team is currently meeting his standards.

“The locker room is really good right now, there’s always work, it’s always a work in progress, but, the work in progress in the right way” said Beasley.

THE ROSTER

With Jacob Redding graduating, the Chargers were already looking at a big gap to fill in their lineup. That problem only grew with the transfers of Jacob’s younger brothers Senior Dillion and Sophomore Michael to Wayne, as well as 6-9 big man Jared Hoffer enrolling at Blackhawk Christian over the summer.

However the gap up front doesn’t seem like it will be a big problem this year, as Seniors, Riley Perlich and Nathan Fish return to the Charger front court this season alongside Junior David Ejah.

David, in fact, is one Beasley’s players to watch this season, hoping that he can improve on his 4.3 PPG last season.

“(David is) athletic, he’s big, so he can do a number of things” said Beasley.

Then beyond those three, waiting in the wings is 6-3 Sophomore Hunter Perlich as well as Juniors Preston Shearer and Luke Relue.

The back court for the Chargers will be filled out this year by Senior Guard Arius Jones, as well as Junior Dan McKeeman, both of whom contributed just under eight points per game last season.

Senior, Reece Swoverland also returns this season and he will be joined by Junior, Blake Pocock and Sophomore, Richie Gross.

Overall Beasley believes that the team has lots of depth, citing the play of the 9th and 10th players off the bench for his team in last Thursday’s scrimmage against New Haven as evidence.

“I think we got a lot of depth, I think that we got 11 guys, 12 guys… if somebody’s not doing the job they (need to) do, we’re going to be able to sub and I think we’re not going to lose too much” said Beasley.

THE PLAY STYLE

Last season the Chargers allowed an average of 13 more points per game than they did in the 2015-16 season. Beasley hopes to get the team to refocus on defending as a key to success this year, as last season, of the 10 games the Chargers lost, six of those were single digit losses.

“We had six games of those 10 that we lost that were in single digits so that’s a huge difference right there” said Beasley.

In turn Beasley is hoping that the Chargers can use their improved defense to create offense at the other end and play with quickness off the fast break.

“We’re going to defend at a high level and hopefully our defense will turn in to offense and we can get some steals and layups and push the ball a little bit in that regard” said Beasley.

Luckily for the Chargers, their top steal man from last season, Arius Jones, returns and will likely carry the steal total for the team yet again this season with the graduation of Jacob Redding and Antony Martin, who rounded out the Chargers top three for steals and were the only other members of the team besides Arius to average a steal or more per game last season.

Arius also led the team in defensive rebounds last season and Riley Perlich will be back to assist in that category with the two of them combining to average over a third of the Chargers defensive rebounds last season.

KEY GAMES:

TBD @ Penn: This game was originally scheduled for November 25 but was moved due to the Penn football team making the State Finals. The Chargers will be tested early this season, with only their second game of the season coming against preseason #19 Penn on the road.

December 27-30 SAC Tournament @ Wayne: This will be huge for the Chargers in terms of where they stack up this season in conference play. Success at this early season tournament could add to the Chargers already strong motivation and put them on the right track to a top three finish in the SAC.

February 23 vs. Warsaw: While this game isn’t against a big name team, a beat down of what looks like a rebuilding team could be a great win to finish out the regular season and give the team a nice tune up before going into sectional play where a run to regionals would likely pit them against defending State Runner-Up North Side and ESPN 60s #21 recruit for the Class of 2019, Keion Brooks.

Stats and Schedule courtesy: http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/carroll-chargers-(fort-wayne,in)/basketball/home.htm