Winter is upon us, bringing with it snow, the holidays, and the highly anticipated 2016-17 Men’s Quaker Basketball season. With the season fast approaching, the players are feeling the excitement and nerves that come with the start of the season. This year, Men’s Basketball is fighting to top their 10-10 season from last year, hoping that will put them in contention for a state tournament position.

Since the team has not made the state tournament since 2013, many believe that they are due for a postseason run. Last season was the Quaker’s best attempt at clinching a spot in the tournament since their successful run in 2013. Lead by captain Quinn Kirkpatrick ’16, their 10-10 record put them right on the doorstep of the playoffs. In order to improve on the season from last year, head coach Chris Loeffler has one thing in particular he would like the team to focus on: “I think the biggest improvement we need to make is mental, knowing that we can play with anyone. I think we realized that through the year, but we should go into the season knowing that. We went into the season with questions last year, and we answered a few of them, but the biggest improvement we need to make is going into the games with the confidence that we are going to win them.” Loeffler stressed that the team needs to improve their mental game just as much as any other aspect of their play. Along those lines, a few players echo Loeffler’s sentiment for mental improvement. Ryan Chompre ’18 commented, “Our team needs to make better decisions and trust one another in game situations.” It is clear that the mentality the Quakers take into the season will be important, especially in their more challenging games.

One of the toughest teams Friends will face this year is Mount Pleasant. Despite Mount’s loss of eight seniors, four of whom started, they remain a force to be reckoned with in Delaware basketball. Jordan Perkins ’17 considered strategy for the Mount game: “We should be very familiar with their style of play since we played them numerous times during the off season, whether it be in summer league or fall league. I believe if we play hard, play together, and play to win, we will have a strong chance of beating them this year.” Perkins believes that with the team’s combined knowledge of how Mount Pleasant plays and how they themselves play, they should have a good chance of beating the Green Knights.

Despite the difficult road ahead, the team enters the season with high hopes. Ethan Moser ’17 commented: “At the end of last season, I was slightly discouraged about how this season would go because of the seniors we were losing, but once I saw our play in summer league my opinion started to change. . . The younger players, especially the big men, have made a lot of strides, and I’m confident that they can make up for the height we have lost. We have a really good group and I’m looking forward to having a great final season at Friends.” With the season well under way, the promise this team has is becoming clear. Armed with with the promising combination of a lot of height and a deep bench, Quaker Basketball seems ready to end the three year postseason drought and make a playoff run.