Varsity basketball remains strong

Varsity basketball has had massive success (i.e. winning back-to-back State Championships) in the past years, but after losing star players: Courtney Ramey and Carte’are Gordon, the success of the teams been doubted by some.

Senior Dallas King tries to capture the ball at a game. Photo by Jaden Fields

Last season, the team won State for the second year in a row. The score was 101-90 against the Chaminade Red Devils. This win was mainly due to alumni Ramey, R.J. Wright and Gordon.

Gordon and Ramey have left their mark on the basketball team, as can be seen from Webstergrovesathleics.com which states, “Webster will lose arguably its greatest player ever in Courtney Ramey…will also lose one of the most dominant players in history in Carte’Are Gordon.”

In the 2017-2018 season, USA Today listed Webster Groves Varsity basketball preseason rank as number 13. However, with the loss of Ramey, Wright and Gordon, the USA Today’s 2018-2019 preseason rank list left Webster Groves completely out

Despite the loss of these players, some players remain positive about the upcoming season.

Malachy Simpson, senior and number 30 on the team, said, “I’ve been telling people I think we’re gonna surprise them. They look at last year, who we’re losing, player wise, and they kinda count us out, but I just feel like from being at practice with these guys, we have some good players.”

Senior Ray Adams, number 10, agreed with him, “I think we relied a lot on them last year, so everybody did not get to show their full potential so we have a lot of secret weapons.”

To counteract the loss of some of the team’s players, the team has been practicing since Oct. 29, along with two-and-a-half hour regular practices. The team also has the option of working out whenever it wants.

Stevie Wright, senior and number 21, said, “I think this season will determine if we are mentally tough enough without our best players on the team, but I think we had enough days and practices that we should be ready. I think we will be good.”

The team showed success in the recent game against Christian Brothers College High School in the 19th annual Webster Classic Championship, where it won 73-68. It also won games against Gateway Tech (81-69) and Lee’s Summit (60-42).

Simpson said, “For this season, I think we have a lot of potential–it’s just about putting in the effort everyday to devote to it. [We] just [have] to see how far that takes us, take it one at a time. There’s lots of good competition around. We can’t take any game lightly, [can’t] be like, oh, this game is gonna be easy; we can’t do that…We have to take every opponent seriously.”