Seventh-year Warsaw boys basketball coach Doug Ogle said he likes the idea of being the favorite.
He said it tells him that he's got a pretty good team.Returning all five starters and players off the bench from last year's sectional championship team, as well as adding a couple key components from the junior varsity team, the Tigers will be favored in most of the games they play this season.
"In most of the games, at least on paper, we're going to be the favorite," said Ogle, whose Tigers were 14-9 last season without a senior on the roster. "That's a different dynamic for us. I want to be the favorite, that means we have a pretty good team. But we better be ready to go every game, we can"t just show up."
Because they only had one starter returning and because they didn't have a senior on the roster, the Tigers flew under the rader last season, as Ogle put it.
He knows that won't be the case this year. Warsaw received 15 votes in the preseason AP poll, ranking them 17th in Class 4A.
"We're under a different set of circumstances this year," said Ogle. "Last year we had a lot of uknowns, we flew under the radar a bit. This year, with all of our parts back, the expectations are much different."
The Tigers open the season Wednesday when they host Kosciusko County rival Tippecanoe Valley.
While Ogle knows what horses he has in his stable, it's veteran Valley coach Bill Patrick that comes to the Tiger Den with the question marks.
"We're looking forward to playing Valley," said Ogle. "It's a game that I hope is well attended. They're a bit of an uknown, but this isn't Coach Patrick's first rodeo, he'll figure something out. It's hard to know what to expect from this Valley team, but they're a program that has been successful, I'm sure they'll be ready to play."
Valley's roster does inclued Zach Owens, who played on Warsaw's junior varsity team last year as a sophomore.
While Warsaw returns all five starters from last year's team, Valley must replace its entire starting lineup from last year's conference championship team.
Though he was just a freshman, point guard Nic Moore burst onto the varsity season last year and led the Tigers in scoring with 17 points per game. The ultra-talented 5-foot-9 Moore shot 54 percent from the floor and 37 percent from three-point range.
As if last year's effort wasn't impressive enough, Moore now has a year of varsity experience under his belt - great news for the Tigers and not-so-great news for Warsaw's opponents.
"I thought he'd be a good player, but I don't know that I expected him to be that good as a freshman," Ogle said of Moore. "He went from eighth-grade basketball to the varsity level and did a great job."
Ryne Robinson is back for his senior year after averaging 16 points per game last season.
While Moore had a breakout game in last year's sectional semifinal, scoring 29 points and dishing out seven assists, Robinson scored 28 points and hit the game-winning shot in the sectional championship game last season.
What highlights they provide for Warsaw this season remains to be seen, but it's safe to say that Moore and Robinson will be a handful for the Tigers' opponents, starting Wednesday with Valley.
"We're very fortunate in that our two best scorers are also very good and willing passers," Ogle said of Moore and Robinson. "It makes your team a lot more dangerous when your two best scorers are such good passers. We have a number of skilled players. The challenge is to get the players to give themselves up for the team. We can be a very good team if the players will have a humble attitude, stay coachable and play unselfishly."
Joining Moore and Robinson in the starting lineup will be seniors Taylor Long and Chase Byerly and junior Justin Clemens.
Long scored five points per game last season and tied Moore by hitting a team-high 28 three-pointers for the year.
Clemens averaged seven points and five rebounds per game, while Byerly averaged nearly five points and four rebounds per game.
"People are going to focus on Nic and Ryne, but our other guys are very solid," said Ogle. "We're going to create some matchup problems for teams. We have the pieces to be a very good basketball team."
Coming off the bench will be junior Andy Conrad, who averaged seven points per game last season, senior Kyle Tucker and varsity newcomers Zack Linky and Josh Anglin, both juniors.
"Andy Conrad is versatile enough to play on the wing or in the post," said Ogle. "Zack Linky gives us another outside shooting threat. Josh Anglin is our best back-to-the-basket player. Kyle Tucker is the consummate team player, he can do a little of everything. I'm glad he's part of the program. We have a talented group of starters, but we also have some very talented kids we can bring off the bench. We're deeper than this year. We definitely have more depth this year."
Warsaw's varsity roster features nine players. By season's end - or maybe even sooner - that roster could include the names of talented freshmen Lucas Grose, son of 1985 Mr. Basketball Jeff Grose, and Jordan Coon, and sophomore Jalen Roscoe.
Following Wednesday's season opener, the Tigers will be in action again Saturday at home against Columbia City.
Warsaw will open Northern Lakes Conference play Dec. 19 at Wawasee.
A game early in the season that fans are sure to talk about is the Tigers' home game with Penn on Dec. 13.
Former Warsaw coach Al Rhodes returned to his high school alma mater, and his team's mid-December matchup with the host Tigers will certainly draw some attention.
"Our schedule is dotted with a lot of good basketball teams," said Ogle. "I'm sure that the game with Penn will draw a lot of attention because of Coach Rhodes and everything he's done for Tiger Basketball."
