Lafayette is really excited to start their basketball season this Tuesday at home against Lincoln County. Lafayette had a sub-par season last year after going 15-16, but the young Lafayette team from a year ago has grown up and progressed, as they have 57% of their scoring offense returning this year and they have some players coming from other district schools. Lafayette has a tough schedule this year; last year’s combined record of this year’s opponents was 258-130 at a 66% win percentage.

In addition, Lafayette has 15 games that were on the schedule last year and will be on the schedule this year too, they went 6-9 against those teams last year. But this isn’t that team from a year ago, they are much better than last years team, they have a lot of talent and a lot of potential. They are ready to give each opponent a fight and won’t back down to any team. To get a better look into the team, I sat down with Coach Mendenhall and asked him a couple of questions.

Last year, the combined record of this years opponents was 258-130, how will you prepare the players and game plan for a tough, rigorous schedule?

Mendenhall: Were really just trying to prepare to be ready in February, when the postseason starts. These first 30 games are just scrimmages to get us ready for our district tournament, and that’s why we schedule such a tough schedule so we can get these guys prepared for the postseason.

Also, Lafayette went 6-9 against teams that showed up on the schedule last year, are those games important for the redemption purposes?

Mendenhall: No, not really because every year is a different year. The only games that are big rivalry games are district games, and the other city games. But we schedule teams like Scott County and Trinity just to see where we rank against the best and let us know where we need to be come postseason.

Are there any games that are specifically circled on the calendar?

Mendenhall: All of our district games. Those are 8 games that we have every year, we play each team at their place, and then at home also so those are the big ones.

One of your players is suspended on opening night, how do you think that loss will impact the team and the game?

Mendenhall: Its going to be a big loss for us because its our starting point gaurd and one of leaders of our team, in Evan Dreux. But i think weve got the guys that will step up and fill that void, and luckly its only one game.

How do you think the new players coming in from the other district teams will integrate and contribute to the team?

Mendenhall: I think they are going to be big contributors to the team, especially the Diallo twins, i think theyre going to have a big impact. I think its going to take them some time to learn our stuff, but once they do that and get comfortable in it, were going to see some major contributions from both of them.

What are you loooking forward to the most this year as a coach?

Mendenhall: Just watching these guys progress and get better and see where we can go, and what we can do at the end of the season.

Any predictions for how far were going to go, or is it too early to call?

Mendenhall: All we try to do is get out of our district. Our district is the toughest in the state, and by the end of the year probably 4 out of the 5 teams will be ranked in the top 20. We just try to survive that and see what happens in the region tournament.

I then said thank you to Coach Mendenhall for taking time to sit down with me.

Come out to Lafayette on Tuesday to see your Lafayette Generals take on Lincoln County Patriots! The starting lineup for Lafayette:

G Eric Powell

G Fousseyni Diallo

F Cameron King

F Devontae Hayes

C Ray Surratt

Lafayette should have a amazing year, and I´m predicting a 20+ win season, followed by a deep run in the playoffs! Can’t wait to see everyone pack the home opener, as the game should be very entertaining!