Redmen aiming for another conference title

MARQUETTE — Few teams in the Upper Peninsula lost as much talent as the Marquette boys basketball team. Two All–Conference First Teamers, the conference Defensive Player of the Year…all gone but the Redmen are not one bit worried about falling the ranks.

The team has reloaded, bringing back four players who played major minutes on a team that won 20 straight games last season before falling in the district semi–finals. Many feel that the seniors laid a great foundation for this year’s team.

“It really had a good impact on my game and they were always leading me out on the court and always looking to inspire us to do better, always encouraging us to be the best that we can out here. That’s what I’m going to try to do this year with all my fellow teammates, try to be a leader out here,” senior Treylon McFerrin said.

“We did lose a lot of scoring from last year, but we did bring a lot of kids that had a lot of minutes last year that are high-quality athletes and basketball players. We look to continue the success that we had, but we’ve got a long way to go to get to that point,” head coach Brad Nelson said.

The Redmen have been in the gym for almost a month now and the practices have been simple, but meticulous in their design.

“For now, just control what you can control: defense, rebounding and hustle. The rest of the pieces will fall into place. That’s something that I got to get through to these kids that on a day-to-day basis and night-to-night basis, those three things will never waiver. That’s what we’re going to do. That’s what we’re known for. The X’s and O’s will take care of themselves,” said Nelson.

Marquette will open their season next weekend at the Petoskey Invitational.