The LBCC men’s basketball team have begun preparations for their two tournament games, which are the first two games of the season, on October 31 and November 1.
Last season, the Viking basketball team finished off with an overall record of 20-5, and in their division they were 9-1.
The players are starting to become comfortable and confident about the upcoming season, since last season they made the Sweet 16, which is an NCAA tournament that starts with 64 teams.
Jace Bass, a 6’2 Guard for the LBCC Vikings was being scouted by the head coach of Louisiana Tech, Erik Konkol, on Oct. 2.
Bass didn’t let the attention of Konkol distract him from the Coach’s goal for this season, which was to reach the Final Four and/or win state.
The team feels like they’ve made the appropriate changes for this season, according to guard Aaron Jelks.
“We feel more athletic and we’ve begun to work on our defense, which we see as the key to success,” Jelks said.
“If we’re able to tune up our defense, we’ll become unbeatable.”
Bass pointed out another factor that the team has worked on this offseason, “We’ve become more conditioned and we look and feel like we’re in shape.”
With the improvements stated by Aaron Jelks and Jace Bass, Guard Kester Ofoegbu states that, going into this season, “We are the Vikings. We have a chip on our shoulder, so we have a lot to prove.”
Coach Barnes has high expectations for this team, “I think with the team we have, the chemistry we have, we could win state.”
Along with the confidence Barnes has in the team, Barnes added that Bass will be a large factor in their success this season, “I think with a player that’s as great as Jace, we could do even better than 20-5.”
Jelks added to Coach Barnes’ confidence in the team and Jace “It’s simple, we have Jace and our team is amazing, why wouldn’t we be able to win it all this year?”
The LBCC Vikings’ season kicks off on October 31 vs. Santiago Canyon in the Santa Ana Tournament at 7:30 p.m.