CHARLOTTESVILLE — All five starters are gone.
The top seven scorers have graduated. Everyone who played more than 15 minutes per game has graduated. Out of the 61.5 points per game they scored last year, returning players account for just 7.6 of them.
This year’s Eastern Hancock Royals will have a much different look from last year’s Mid-Eastern Conference champions, a team that went 17-6 overall and 8-1 in conference.
There are a lot of moving pieces and some question marks until the games begin, but this is still a confident basketball team that is looking forward to defending its conference title.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
“We’re a good team, being how young we are,” senior Peyton Gray said. “I think we can definitely win conference again, back-to-back. I think we can make some noise for ourselves in sectional. Just gotta keep getting better.”
Given the roster turnover, the Royals might be a bit of an unknown this season.
That’s just fine with senior guard Skyler Schrope, who steps into a leadership role this season.
“I don’t really feel any more pressure. I think people understand that we lost quite a few seniors, so they’re putting us under the radar,” he said. “I’m approaching it like that — as the underdogs, and just going out and proving everyone wrong.”
Schrope said he learned a lot last year from the seniors ahead of him.
That includes names like Addison True, A.J. Muegge and Brycen Napier, three huge pieces to the Royals success a year ago.
They taught Schrope good leadership and gave him the building blocks to help the team this year in their absence. Then a junior, Schrope played in every game but averaged just 12.6 minutes per contest. He scored 1.1 points per game and pulled down 1.2 rebounds per game.
“I was able to sit back and have not as big of a role, see how they led the team, how things are supposed to be done,” Schrope said. “This year has been an easy transition.”
New faces
With a huge number of new faces, Schrope and Gray will be looked to as leaders for the Royals.
They each averaged a dozen minutes per game last year. Four other Royals on this year’s team played last year, but they combined for just 22 minutes of varsity basketball.
“Peyton and Skyler played a good role for us last year,” Eastern Hancock coach Aaron Spaulding said. “Both of them started for us at various times last year for our team that won the conference. So we look to them to be our leaders.”
Spaulding has been in this situation before. Entering his 20th year as head coach of the Royals, he had a team advance to the state’s final four that was senior-driven, the 2002-03 squad.
All five starters from that team graduated, too. His young squad the following year was still competitive.
He expects the same this year, and that starts with his senior leaders. Schrope is a guard, while Gray, who is 6-foot-8, will man the inside.
“Both are real good, vocal kids, positive kids,” Spaulding said. “Peyton has really developed. He’s a big kid and has really improved every year. We’re expecting a little bit of a breakout year for him this year, to be kind of the anchor inside both offensively and defensively. Skyler’s just a good, solid leader, probably our best perimeter defender. We’re going to look for them, and some other kids, to step up as well.”
One of the other players the Royals hope to see contribute is senior Brady Stephens, who Spaulding said he is expecting big things out of after he has excelled in practice.
Fellow seniors Ian White and Cameron Denis could contribute. Juniors Joey Starrett and Brady Smith will figure into the rotation. A pair of freshmen, Cole Rainbolt and Landon O’Neal, could play a role for the Royals.
“We’re looking pretty good so far,” Schrope said. “It’s definitely a challenge getting the younger guys with the inexperience to adjust to the varsity level. So far we’re doing pretty good.”
Building blocks
The key for the Royals this year might be patience.
With so many new faces, with a lack of varsity experience, it could take some time to develop a strong chemistry on the court. Gray said that as a leader on the team, part of his role will be to facilitate that patience, to help his teammates grow throughout the season.
This year will see a bit of a different Eastern Hancock offense, a change driven by personnel. The Royals have a good deal of size this year with Gray, Starrett and Stephens.
“Last year we had a bunch of guards, so it was more drive and kick for three. We had a bunch of shooters,” Gray said. “This year, they are kind of focusing more on big guys in the post.”
That doesn’t mean there aren’t any shooters, though.
“We have a junior, Joey Starrett, he’s a really good shooter,” Gray added. “He can make some quality shots for us when the game is on the line.”
The team is filled with hard workers, and their coach said he could see improvement come fairly swiftly.
It helps that the young players on the team come from a winning background, as both the JV and eighth-grade teams last year were highly successful.
“I know we can be very competitive. We’re going to have to see how well we can do once it comes time to win or lose basketball games," Spaulding said. "It’s going to be execution. They don’t have a lot of varsity experience. We’re going to have to see once we’re in those situations how we react to them.
“You’ve got to take it one game at a time, improve every game and see where you’re at. I think we’ve got some good building blocks. We’ll see where that takes us.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Scouting the Royals” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Coach: Aaron Spaulding
Last season: 17-6, 8-1 MEC, lost to Shenandoah in sectional opener
Top returnees: Skyler Schrope and Peyton Gray, seniors
Key newcomers: Ian White, Brady Stephens and Cameron Denis, seniors; Joey Starrett and Brady Smith, juniors; Drew White, sophomore; Cole Rainbolt and Landon O’Neal, freshmen
What to expect: The Royals have, by far, the biggest turnover on the roster of any county team this season, making them a tough team to predict. Returning players account for less than 5 points per game, which provides a big challenge. Eastern Hancock has to find a way to replace nearly 60 points a game from seven graduated players, and will rely heavily on Peyton Gray and Skyler Schrope, the only two returners with meaningful varsity experience, to lead the way. The Royals have good size and have some athletic players and promising shooters. Repeating as conference champions will be a challenge but isn’t out of reach. Bringing home the team’s first sectional title in 10 years is possible if the team finds consistent scoring. Win totals could dip a bit, but this could still be a highly competitive team.
[sc:pullout-text-end]