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MOUNDSVILLE -- There will be a lot of familiar faces taking the court this year for the John Marshall boys' basketball team.
In fact, four returning starters are back for one more go around for coach Chad Clutter's Monarchs.
John Marshall only lost one senior to graduation, however, Clutter and his squad will still need to work hard to fill the shoes of that one player.
"Grant Neiswonger had a great football, basketball and baseball season for us last year," Clutter said. "There was a big difference from his junior year to his senior year. He was a solid, hard to move type of guy in the middle. He was our leading rebounder almost every game and he did the little things that you want your big guy to do. He helped us win some games and if I could, I'd welcome him back with open arms. We were blessed to have him step up for us last year."
So who will step up to fill that void this year?
Well, there are many options in an eight-man senior class that includes four returning starters.
"Ty Rogers is probably going to be in that 5 spot," Clutter said. "He had a good summer. Junior Brody Williams could help us there too. Those are our two bigs. We do have eight seniors who can really do some damage though. Roman Gray, the Sobutka twins (Brennan and Braden) and Cody Hartman will also be back out there. They are all hard-nosed players and pretty good shooters."
Three more seniors who will help the Monarchs are Tyke Muldrew, JD Wells and James Schlick.
"These guys get along really well and they will run through a wall for you," Clutter said. "Some of these guys played football and they had a tough schedule there and they fought every step of the way. I think they will continue to do that here. I could see us having three or four solid starters. A lot of these kids have played three years already so hopefully it will be a little bit easier for them."
Conor Fitzpatrick and Jacob Simpkins are the other two juniors who will be looking to have an impact.
Fitzpatrick played a key role off the bench last season and could make an even bigger splash this year.
"Conor plays with so much fire and he plays with a lot of heart in practice," Clutter said. "Something good always happens within a few minutes of putting him in a game. He'll either get a steal, take a charge or sink a 3. He provides a nice spark for us."
John Marshall also has a plethora of young talent with 10 players coming from the sophomore and freshman classes.
Hayden Gaiser and Kaden Bungard are the sophomores and the freshmen include Skylar Linebarger, Jackson Helms, Cooper Berlin, Jesse McDowell, Cain Martin, Kayden Knapp, Donavan Jones and Jayden Astipolitis.
While the regular season wins are always important, Clutter and his squad are not only hoping to earn a spot in the OVAC Tournament but they are aiming to make some noise in the sectional tournament as well.
"We play a lot of OVAC games so we'll try to make the OVAC Tournament but our goal is to get through our section," Clutter said. "It's always tough with Park, Morgantown and Brooke. Maybe we can try to figure out what we need to do to beat them and practice that against other teams throughout the season. In the section everybody has a chance. They have a reason to fight all the way until the end. Morgantown is going to be loaded this year so we're going to try to just move up the ladder."