The Warrenton boys basketball team is off to a delayed start. However, Head Coach Mark Thomas anticipates another winning season this year.

“If we can get in shape and we can learn this stuff and we’re hyper-focused, I think we should have a chance to still be at that positive record mark,” Thomas said. 

The Warriors ended the 2024 season with a 16-13 record. This was their first winning record since the 2018 season. 

The basketball team is slightly set back due to football making a postseason run. Currently, Thomas has only two varsity players that are not on the football team. 

With uncertainty about when he will have all the varsity players back, Thomas hopes the boys can get into basketball shape quickly and digest the team’s material. 

“We want to get as much stuff in as fast as possible and keep it as simple as possible,” Thomas said. 

The team anticipates its first game against Priory on Dec. 9. Warrenton did have to back out of their jamboree and Winfield Tournament, as well as move around a couple of games to later dates. 

Thomas noted that not having the jamboree is difficult since it is often used for teams to see where they are at and what they need to work on. However, he is hoping the late start to the season will not have too much of an impact. 

“It puts us a little behind, but I think these guys have played enough this summer that as long as we get in shape, I think we can make the basketball side of things work out,” Thomas said. 

He does expect they will have a slow start due to the vast difference between being in shape for football and being in shape for basketball. This will lead Thomas to sub more and utilize all of the team to keep everyone fresh. 

The Warriors currently have around 11 guys on the varsity squad, including Brandon Johnson who made his return after taking a year off. 

Thomas is hopeful the team will be able to shoot well but noted defensively, the team might struggle at the beginning of the season. 

“That will probably be our biggest hindrance. We just haven’t had time to do any team defense,” Thomas said. 

The Warriors did lose five seniors from last year, including standout Troy Anderson who is now at Truman State University. However, Thomas noted the junior class is strong and he specifically named Deadrick Forrest as a player he expects to step up. Forrest averaged 9.9 points per game in his sophomore year. 

“We expect Deadrick to take a big step for us in a leadership role, as well as a scoring role,” Thomas said. 

The offense will look different this year and will focus on more of a holistic team style. 

“Hopefully that will hold well with being able to make everybody a threat on the floor, but I think Deadrick has to step up and be good for us. We just have to get them all through football healthy to see where we’re at,” Thomas said. 

The team does not have any current set goals for the upcoming season due to the unknown team dynamic and not having seen most of his varsity squad play since the summer. 

“I already told them before they left on Friday to go down to West Plains, I said you’ve already been gone this long, you might as well go win it because what’s another three weeks,” Thomas said. “We just got to figure it out really quick when we get them all back.”