The Bakersfield College men’s basketball team, which is coming off an appearance in the community college Final Four, comes into this season with a young team.
The Renegades finished last season 22-15 overall and 7-5 in the Western State Conference and are striving for another chance to the state tournament.
“You’re glad that you get there (to the Final Four), but you’re unhappy when you don’t win it all especially when our conference opponent won it,” head coach Rich Hughes said.
“They’re (the three sophomores) motivated to get back there and have another shot at winning state.”
Hughes mentioned that having his sophomore returners back will help the new players to play within their system.
The three sophomores who are returning this season are: Jamar Harrison, guard Darrin Dorsey and center Alex Olcott.
Hughes said that he and his coaching staff makes their practices hard in order to better prepare his team for a game.
“We try to make practices as tough as we can, so, when we get into games, we are prepared,” he said. “Some practices are harder than others, but that’s where we develop our mentality of go hard or go home. We expect and demand our guys to play hard and to practice hard.”
Hughes feels that the strength of his team will be their defense, and he feels that shooting will also be strength.
“I think we’re better defensively because we have more speed, and we’re more athletic than we were last year. On the defensive side, we are hoping to see an improvement from last year,” he said.
“I think we’re going to shoot better that a lot of people think we will. We have a lot of guys who can contribute each night, and that’s going to make us tough.”
Although Hughes thinks the shooting will be strength of his team, he mentioned that the offense needs some work.
“We’re a little behind offensively. It’s going to take us a little bit of time to learn all of our plays and to get comfortable with one another,” said Hughes.
“The offense may be a little bit behind, but it will catch up as we get going.”
During the off season, Hughes hired his brother Jeff, who was a former assistant and head coach of the Renegades, to help out with the team.
“He’s got a wealth of knowledge. He’s been to the Elite Eight with three different teams. He won it as an assistant at Columbia,” he said. “I was happy that he decided to help me out because he brings a lot to the table. He’s very good defensively. He’s going to bring a little bit more toughness to us defensively.”
Hughes mentioned that the team breaks their goals down into three seasons.
“We always break it down into three seasons. The first season is the preseason. We’re going to try to win as many tournaments as possible and get to the finals of tournaments, “said Hughes.
“In conference we would like to get back to a conference championship. Lastly is the playoff season. We want to get back to where we were to get to the Elite Eight and challenge for a state championship.”
The Renegades enter this season ranked thirteenth in the pre-season state coaches poll.
The Renegades’ first action will be at the Ventura Tournament Nov. 7-9, while their first home game will be Nov. 13 against Allan Hancock at 7 pm.