Many fresh faces will comprise the Gallatin High boys basketball lineup this season.
Sophomore post Zool Kueth is one of Gallatin High’s post options this season.
That’s because after losing seven seniors to graduation from last year’s squad, the Green Wave will have no seniors on this year’s roster.
For head coach Bobby Luna, a new challenge awaits.
“This’ll be the youngest team I’ve ever had,” Luna said. “No seniors … we have none. We have no players who started every game.”
The Green Wave advanced to the Region 5-AAA Tournament last season before being eliminated by Clarksville and finishing with a 19-12 record.
There are three players who saw playing time last season – juniors Marlon Mitchell, Dakota Bailey and Nigel Black – and all are expected to not only play considerably, but to also provide leadership to a very young squad.
It will be the least experienced team in District 9-AAA.
Mitchell, a forward, has the most experience of the group.
“He started six or eight games for us last year,” Luna said of Mitchell. “He was a solid player early in the year, but going from a role player to a guy who needs to be able to carry a little bit of the mail is a bit of a step up.”
Along with the departure of so many seniors goes so much of last year’s production, which someone will have to provide.
“We have to replace 95 percent of our scoring from last year,” Luna said. “It is what it is.”
Other juniors expected to contribute are guards Anthony Woods and Dezmond Chambers, along with post player Mark Brummett.
Luna said Brummett could be more of a dual threat with his shooting ability as opposed to being a standard inside player.
“We’re probably going to be a guard-oriented team,” Luna said. “But we do have some guys who I would consider to be post players, different types of post players. We don’t have the guy who’s going to go down and live on the block and turn and score.”
As for naming starters, Luna said that’s not in the cards yet. In fact, the starting five could change on a nightly basis simply based on match-ups.
Gallatin High junior forward Marlon Mitchell is one of only three returning players who received playing time last season.
“I think everybody that’s come in to practice feels like they’ve got a chance to play,” Luna said. “That’s a good thing from a practice standpoint. We might be more willing to pick a top 10 when it’s all said and done instead of a top five. If we have five guys that step up, that’s great, because players want to come to the gym knowing what their role is.”
In the sophomore class, forward Zyun Mason, along with guard Collin Minor and post Zool Kueth, could step in and assume key roles as well.
“We are young,” Luna said. “But the positive is that if we continue to make progress, everybody will be back next year. We do have a solid group of freshmen, a solid group of sophomores and a solid group of juniors.”
The Green Wave are going about their preseason work a little differently than in past years with so many questions left to be answered, but it’s a challenge the coaching staff has been willing to assume.
“That’s a lot of fun, it really is,” Luna said. “It challenges you as a coach to do something different. Granted, there are things I’d love to do, but when you get into coaching, you’re looking for challenges … and heck, this challenge is finding a place where the players are happy, playing hard and being successful.”
Luna said that while the Green Wave find their identity, it’s hard to put expectations on such a young group.
“The effort has been really good,” Luna said. “We’ve made some mistakes, but they’re eager to learn and do things right. They’re willing to battle and compete. I won’t even consider putting a standard on where I think we could finish. I don’t even know where to start.”
Luna said he has no idea on where the Green Wave could finish, especially in a district with two teams that advanced to the sectional round last year (Mt. Juliet and defending District 9-AAA and Region 5-AAA champion Station Camp).
Instead, the Green Wave have enough on their plate in putting the best five on the floor on a game-to-game basis.
“Everybody we’ve got on our team has a strength,” Luna said. “Maybe everybody has a weakness or two, so from a coaching standpoint, we’ve got to find that combination at all times. We expect to play a lot of people. If there are mistakes, we just hope that we learn from them.”
The Green Wave will open the regular season with a Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association Hall of Champions game at Rossview on Tuesday, and they will begin district play at Portland on Friday, Dec. 4.
Reach Chris Brooks at cbrooks@tennessean.com or at 615-575-7118. Follow him on Twitter @CB_SumnerSports.