Last year, the team ended with an impressive 21-7 record, but lost to Chaminade in the district finals.

After losing seven seniors last year, including MCC player of the year Brandon McKissic, the team has brought in seven underclassmen looking to fill their shoes.

“It’s a different group,” said senior Sam Ratterman. “It’s going to be a different team this year, and I’m excited to see how it plays out.”

“They’re developing well so far; they’re hard working, and it seems that they will do whatever they can to win,” said senior captain Matt Leritz.

With such a young core, the six returning seniors look forward to stepping up as leaders this year.

“We have a lot of young guys on the team who have never played varsity basketball, so not only are we trying to help them on the court,” said Leritz, “but we are trying to set a good example for the years to come.”

“We want to set an example of how varsity basketball plays, and we want to lay the foundation of how SLUH basketball plays and continue the winning culture,” said Ratterman.

“I’m looking forward to leading this team as a senior and continuing the success and legacy of winning that we are used to doing and playing for David (Jackson),” said senior captain AJ Hardin.

Although the team consists of many new faces, the expectations for the Jr. Bills stay the same.

“We set the bar really high for ourselves so we want to come away with a district championship and see what we can do from there,” said Leritz.

Two weeks ago, the Jr. Bills previewed what is to come with two huge scrimmage wins against Soldan and McCluer, but despite the victories in the exhibition matches, the team looks to improve before they head into the regular season.

“It definitely felt good to see that we won the games, but we didn’t play our best,” said junior Tripp Dolan. “It just means we can get better, and we have a lot of room to grow.”

The team looks to continue its success and will travel to Kansas City Dec. 7 to play its first regular season game against Wooddale High School from Memphis, Tenn.

“This year we are considered the underdogs, so nobody is thinking SLUH is going to be a powerhouse in St. Louis, and we’re excited to prove them wrong,” said Ratterman.