Delta Boys Basketball Preview

Conference: Scott-Mississippi & Mississippi Valley

Coach: Robert Vazquez, 2nd year

District: Class 1 District 2

Schedule:

Date Day of Week Opponent Location Time

November 25, 2014 Tuesday East Prairie Away 6 p.m.

December 1-5, 2014 Monday-Friday Woodland Invitational Tournament Woodland TBA

December 9, 2014 Tuesday Oak Ridge Home 6 p.m.

December 12, 2014 Friday Greenville Away 6 p.m.

December 16, 2014 Tuesday Meadow Heights Home 6 p.m.

December 19, 2014 Friday Oran Away 6 p.m.

December 26-30, 2014 Friday-Tuesday Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament Show-Me Center TBA

January 2, 2015 Friday Scott County Central Home 6 p.m.

January 6, 2015 Tuesday Eagle Ridge Christian School Home 6 p.m.

January 9, 2015 Friday Zalma Home 6 p.m.

January 13, 2015 Tuesday Scott City Home 6 p.m.

January 16, 2015 Friday Bell City Away 6 p.m.

January 19-24, 2015 Monday-Saturday Scott-Mississippi Conference Tournament Oran TBA

January 27, 2015 Tuesday Marquand-Zion Away 6 p.m.

February 2, 2015 Monday Richland (Essex) Away 6 p.m.

February 3, 2015 Tuesday Woodland Home 6 p.m.

February 6, 2015 Friday Kelly Home 6 p.m.

February 17, 2015 Tuesday Chaffee Away 6 p.m.

February 20, 2015 Friday Leopold Home 6 p.m.

Roster:

No. Player Year Height

1 Charlie Ledbetter 10 5-9

3 Jeremy Perry 12 5-10

5 Bryan Schoen 11 5-7

10 Cameron White 11 5-10

20 Destin Carroll 11 6-1

22 Dillon Eaker 11 6-1

23 Adam Hodge 9 5-9

32 Andrew Hess 9 5-10

34 Garrett Miller 10 5-10

44 Justin Lawson 11 5-9

50 Austin White 11 5-10

55 Triston Perry 10 6-0

Returning starters: Austin White

Starters lost: Trevor Glaus, Brandon Gaebler, Jesse Nance, Alex Lashley

Last year's record: 0-20

Postseason result: Lost to Leopold 22-87 in a Class 1 District 2 quarterfinal

Last year's leaders:

Points: Alex Lashley (12 ppg)

Rebounds: Jesse Nance (5 rpg)

Assists: Trevor Glaus (3 apg)

Team outlook

The Delta boys basketball team will have to overcome its youth to improve on its winless season a year ago.

The Bobcats lost four starters and will have just one returning senior starter.

Second-year coach Robert Vazquez said that will most likely create problems for the struggling program.

"It just makes us that much younger. I only have one senior returning, and he's the one guy that has experience starting at this level," Vazquez said. "Losing those guys pretty much took away our whole team. I did have some younger guys that stepped up and played some quality minutes, but for the most part we're going to be scrambling to get some game minutes and that experience we need right from the first game. If we don't find a way to play well as a team, we're in for a long season."

Another lingering issue the Bobcats will face is a lack of chemistry. Vazquez said only two of his players trained together over the summer, leaving most of his team with a lot to learn.

"We really didn't even have summer. Those two guys showed up consistently to things, but that was it," Vazquez said. "The chemistry. Yeah, we're still trying to figure that out. It's more of trying to find a leader, I guess, to rally behind. With us being so young we need someone just to step up into that role. Like I said, we lost all of our senior leadership from last year."

Vazquez isn't sure who that leader will be, but until they find one the Bobcats will have to rely on their athleticism. Delta does not have much height, according to Vazquez, but they are quick.

"We just have to use it to our advantage," Vazquez said. "We don't have a whole lot of height and we don't have a ton of experience. We've got guys that haven't played in a long time that have come out, so they're just trying to get back into the routine of things like we all are in this beginning part of the season. I'll know more once we start playing games, like what I can expect from them and stuff like that."

The Bobcats will rely on their speed and athleticism to run their offense.

"We will have to beat a lot of people to the ball and prevent turnovers," Vazquez said. "We've kind of been the team that turns the ball over more than the others. Eliminating those will be huge for us if we can do that. We'll try to run out of fast breaks and beat people down the floor most of the time. Once we get down there we have a set of plays that we'll use."

Vazquez said his defense will have to step up much more than it did last year. Delta allowed an average of 74.5 points per game and scored about 29 points per game.

"We'll definitely be mixing it up a lot. It can't just be one thing because that won't work for us," Vazquez said. "We'll try to guard some teams man to man and we'll try to play different types of zone against other teams. If we play the way that I know we're capable of playing, I think we will see a great improvement."

Vazquez said he is already seeing improvement.

"I just preach to my guys that, 'Hey, we're getting better,' And we're already better than we were last year," Vazquez said. "We're going to get better looks than we did last year. We didn't really have a player that could attack the rim last year, and this year I think I could put a couple guys out there that could really penetrate and get balls by other teams. I think we're going to get a lot more looks at the rim."

District breakdown

Advance and Oran will join Delta in Class 1 District 2 this season.

"We still have one of the tougher districts, especially with Advance and Oran coming down," Vazquez said. "Those teams and Risco have been good for so long. You hear people say that those schools are all rebuilding and we are too, so I think it will be interesting."

Looking back

Delta finished last season with an 0-20 record, but Vazquez believes the Bobcats have moved past their mistakes.

"There was just not much to play for last year. We didn't win a single game. We went 0-20, so that right there tells you that there isn't much to take away from last season," Vazquez said. "I guess right now we're just trying to learn from the mistakes that we made. We only competed in maybe two of those games that we were actually in, so I mean it's definitely been a humbling experience for me."

This season, Vazquez is ready to help the Bobcats improve.

"Last year was kind of a stepping stone for all of us, I think," Vazquez said. "I had come into this program not really knowing what to expect from my players, and I'm not sure that they really knew what to expect from me. Hopefully the guys that I have coming up now and myself can get that bad taste out of our mouths and really turn this team around.

"I'm very competitive and I think most coaches are the same way. That's why we get into the job of coaching," Vazquez said. "We just want to go out there and win games, it's not fun to lose. Last year was an experience that I don't want to have again and to change that, it starts with me. I can't say that my guys are going to go out and win a championship because that's just not realistic, but I can tell you that we will be competitive and we will do our best to win some games."

-- Ben Striker