WARSAW – The dawn of a new era.

That’s definitely the case for the latest edition of the Warsaw boys basketball team.

The Tigers will feature plenty of newcomers as they begin the 2017-18 campaign.

While there are a lot of new names, it will be the same old standard for the tradition-rich program. The bar remains high for a program that boasts a tradition of excellence under coach Doug Ogle.

Ogle is excited about seeing how this team does after graduation took eight seniors from last year’s 18-10 squad. That team won a second straight Class 4-A sectional title and went 7-0 in the Northern Lakes Conference for the third straight year, the first time that has ever happened in the illustrious history of the league.

“I’m anxious to see if our program is in a position for us to still be good this season,” said Ogle as he enters his 16th season as head coach. “I think that it is.”

“I like this group of players. They worked hard in the offseason and have worked hard in practices so far.”

Ogle led the Tigers to a 61-17 overall mark the past three years. He relishes the challenge of coaching such a young team this season that lost its top five scorers from last year and returns just 182 points from the 1,438 that Warsaw tallied last year.

“It’s an interesting challenge as a coach with so many young players,” said Ogle. “It’s invigorating though. There’s a lot of teaching that’s needed. But I like and enjoy that. That’s where you earn your money as a coach.”

“It’s a challenge to see if we can win the NLC and the sectional again with this team.”

The Tigers said so long to a group that featured Kyle Mangas, who was the Ink Free News Player of the Year the past two seasons. The clutch guard led the Tigers in basically every statistical category last year, including averaging 22.6 points-per-game. Mangas, who is now a starter at Indiana Wesleyan, finished fourth in program history with 1,450 career points and was an Indiana All-Star. Warsaw also lost Jeremy David, was was second on the team in scoring and rebounding, to graduation. Also, Asher Blum, who was third in scoring last season, moved to Fort Wayne with his family.

Warsaw returns the quartet of senior Zach Riley, junior Nolan Groninger and seniors Jack Rhoades and Jack Grose as its most experienced players. Riley made 18 starts last season and averaged 2.1 ppg. Groninger averaged 2.3 ppg. and was third in assists, while Rhoades averaged 2.2 and Grose played in 13 varsity games. Rhoades has been slowed in the preseason due to a back injury.

“I definitely think that we will be more balanced scoring this year,” Ogle said. “I can’t say for sure how that will look. I’m curious to see where our scoring will come from. It could be different guys each game. I feel like we do have several players who can shoot the ball from distance for us.”

Ogle’s team will need to defend and hit its free throws, two staples of the program year in and year out. The Tigers allowed just 42 points-per-game last season and outscored its opponents 276-256 from the free throw line.

“Defense and free throw shooting will be a key again for us,” said Ogle, who is 236-111 in charge of the Tigers.

“But I’m more concerned about our assist to turnover ratio. Our guys, all of them, turn the ball over too often right now in practice. They are rushing. They have to slow up and pay more attention to ball handling and execution. That’s an area that we have to get better in.”

Warsaw finished last season with 303 assists as a team to 276 turnovers.

The Tigers will also likely count on a plethora of players who were on the junior varsity team a year ago. Nine of the players on the varsity roster played mainly for that JV team that was 17-4. Among the group are junior guard Landon Ferber, and junior forwards Tyler Metzinger, who stands 6-7, and Jaylen Reese, who is 6-4. Ferber led or tied for the team lead in scoring 10 times for the JV squad last season. The Warsaw freshman team was 18-3 last year.

The Warsaw roster also has seniors Deondra Adkins, Dane Stookey and Nick Marsh, along with juniors Trevor Rumple and Trenton Sands and sophomore Brian Elliott.

Ogle thinks that his team will improve as the season goes and be one to be reckoned with in both the conference and the postseason.

“I do think that we can win the NLC again,” said Ogle. “Right now, our streak is at zero. I do think that Goshen is probably the favorite this year in the conference. They have size and the best player (senior Will Line) in our league.”

Warsaw opens the season at Tippecanoe Valley Wednesday night and then plays at Columbia City Saturday evening. The home opener is Dec. 1 versus Homestead with the NLC opener at home against Wawasee on Dec. 15.