Community R-6 boys basketball wants to see improvement starting this season.

Coming off two years with eight combined wins, the Trojans have a new head coach Chris Ellersieck and 11 boys eager to start a new season. All of those boys expect to play varsity minutes this season.

Ellersieck said seven of the 11 players have extended varsity minutes, but there isn’t a clear starting five that stands out to him.

“I feel like I have eight kids who are going to get a lot of varsity minutes,” Ellersieck said. “There are eight kids who are going to be really important role players for us on this team. I wouldn’t say there is a starting five. I feel like I have a starting eight or starting seven.”

KaTavyn Wheeler and Caden Thomas each have handled the starting point guard role over the last two years, and Rett Curtis and Clayton Eikel each started in the front court a season ago. Ellersieck said Brett Beamer and Layton Wright are returning varsity players who will help the team, and Jude Curtis and Coltin Cope are freshmen who can contribute to the team.

Thomas, Beamer and Eikel are the oldest kids on the team since there are no seniors with this team. Ellersieck said the upside is he expects everybody back next season, but it also means the Trojans will be young and have growing pains.

“We really want to be competitive night in and night out,” Ellersieck said. “We’ve got some experience in our youth, but we’re still extremely young. We’re still learning the game of basketball.”

In the time Ellersieck has spent with them, he has noticed his players have the ability to drive to the rim. However, that doesn’t mean any Trojan should try to score alone but rather use teammates. Ellersieck said this mentality translates to defense, including forcing turnovers.

“Sharing the basketball is going to be important for us this year and learning how to become a good defensive team,” Ellersieck said. “We really want to make sure everybody gets an opportunity to touch the ball and gets a chance to put it in the hole. Our offense is going to come from how well we play defense.”

Like his players, Ellersieck wants to see the wins come back to the program, and he aims to teach his players how to play and act the right way. He said the games they played before he was hired also has taught them lessons he hopes they can apply to this season.

“What’s most important to me when you talk about extracurricular activity is the way we represent ourselves and our school,” Ellersieck said. “When you’re teaching young people, you’re really looking to see that we’re representing things the right way. I feel confident we have a good solid bunch that has learned a lot from some of the things they’ve gone through over the past few years.”