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BOYS BASKETBALL PREVIEW: Bogan leads unsettled Bluejays into new district
CHARLESTON -- While they bring back one of the top players in southeast Missouri, the Charleston Bluejays enter the season with little else settled as they try and replace most of last year's starting lineup.
Reigning SEMO Conference Player of the Year Delfincko Bogan will lead a young Bluejay squad that hopes to gel in time to contend for their fifth-straight district title.
Among those graduating seniors from last season, Charleston will certainly fill the biggest sting in the absence of Shandor Webster and Robert Bogan.
Webster was the team's leading rebounder last season, averaging 7.2 per-game to go with 12.9 points while Bogan was their best defender, averaging 8.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.8 steals-per-game.
Mike Kellum, Timontrell Horton, Demontrail Clark, Austin Hailey, Michael Coleman round out the list of the seven departed seniors.
With that group providing so many of the Bluejays' minutes last season, Charleston head coach Danny Farmer said it hasn't been easy filling those vacated roles.
"They're very unproven," Bluejays' head coach Danny Farmer said of his team. "That's what I have to find out, if I have the kids to replace them. Right now I don't think so. Especially with what everybody else has coming back in our conference. What we're going to work to be is a good Class 3 school in our district, hopefully by the end of the year."
One extremely bright spot for Charleston is Delfincko Bogan coming back after establishing himself among the elite scorers in the area. His list of awards last season include SEMO Conference Player of the Year, first-team all-state media team honors and the Standard Democrat Player of the Year.
He averaged 24.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.3 steals and 2.8 assists a game while guiding the Bluejays to the Class 3 quarterfinals and a 22-8 record.
Along with an overall stronger game that comes with a year of experience, Farmer hopes Bogan can take advantage of the chances he gets at the charity stripe this season.
"I think he could probably become a better free throw shooter," Farmer said. "That's going to be important because he's going to get fouled a lot."
Along with Bogan, junior Kelvondre Moore returns after opening last year as a starter before Clark took over the role. Seniors Jameal Nelson and Tyler Craig are others expected to contribute heavily this season.
"(Practice) started out kind of bad, but it's getting better here at the end," Farmer said. "We're just to the point where we need to play. We have to put it on display to see what we can do."
After battling with the likes of New Madrid County Central and Caruthersville for the Class 3, District 1 title in recent years the Bluejays make the jump to District 2 this year.
On paper the path to a district title looks easier as they'll contend with the likes of defending champions Clearwater, East Prairie and Scott City among others for the crown.
The Bluejays won't have to wait long to be tested opening the season at the Riverbend Classic and soon after find themselves in the always tough SEMO Conference tournament. For the first time in a long time they find themselves on the bottom half of the bracket as the sixth-seed and will face third-seed Sikeston in the opening round.
"Early in the season we want to be competitive," Farmer said. "It's going to be a challenge for us to be competitive. So if we're competitive with everybody that's a big goal for us. We're the sixth seed this year and open up against a real good team. We're just going to have to toughen it up and try to keep improving."