With the loss of eight seniors from last season to graduation, Libby’s boys basketball team will need to use the first few weeks of the season to give valuable varsity experience to a new crop of starters.

But experience can only be gained a game at a time, so Head Coach Wally Winslow will have to maintain ball control and shot placement to maximize the talents of his athletes until that experience and maturity is there.

“We are going to have to make good decisions with the ball,” Winslow said. “How we are going to beat teams is with defense and not turning the ball over.”

Likely starters are returning first team all-conference selection junior guard Jared Winslow, 6-foot 2-inch senior center Kraig Nelson, senior guard Danny Leggins and senior forwards Will Reichel and Barak Lapka. 

Senior guard Lane Luscher, who broke his arm against Havre during football season, will be the key sixth man when he returns sometime in December. 

Coach Winslow, a self-proclaimed defense-first coach, said he’s spent more time than ever with his team practicing offense. 

While his starters lack a great deal of height, some bench players will get quality minutes and will bring some quality elevation with them.

Juniors Tarasik Krisanov, 6-foot 4-inches, and Cody Black, 6-foot 6-inches, will come off the bench to help try to shut down opposing offenses while posting up some shots of their own.

While height will play a factor, as it invariably does in the sport, Coach Winslow is more concerned about ball movement and getting the right athletes to take high percentage shots than he is about having towering sequoias in Libby blue and gold. 

The best teams in the league, Columbia Falls and Polson, will give anyone they face a run for their money, but Winslow is confident that his team, even with minimal varsity experience, will remain competitive.

“I expect the kids will improve every practice,” he said. “I expect them to compete every time they touch the ball.”

Libby will play Bonners Ferry next Tuesday at home at 6 p.m. The first conference game will be held at 12:30 p.m. Dec. 22 at Columbia Falls.