 The Bemidji Boys basketball team has a bit of a bad taste in their mouth after being upset in the first round of the section tournament last year with a full arsenal at their disposal they're ready to take the next step. Despite losing some key contributors from last year's team the Jax return the majority of their starting lineup and will have a balanced team this year. While the experience will be there we got three starters coming back but the young guys are going to step up too pretty good this year. We've got seven or eight guys that could you know be our leading score on any given night and probably in the rebound department as well that's really nice nice to have. One big name to keep an eye on is six foot nine forward Spencer Konishni who is ready for the attention that a player of his skill and size can typically expect. You know if they start double-teaming and really focusing on me I'll be looking for cutters and kicking it out for open shots. We think he's gonna really show some new things this year on the offensive end his pulse moves have improved he's got really good feet so we're excited to see that he's stronger than he was last year and I think he's even a little bit taller. The Jax will use their athleticism to their advantage and aim to be a team that isn't a lot of fun to play against. I see our strength being on our speed we're gonna get down the court pretty fast and I think we're a really good defending team we got quick feet so hoping for that. Ten of the 14 players already got a taste of greatness in the fall as members of teams that made it to state and they're looking to build on that winning mentality this winter. But what we're seeing from those kids is they're ready to compete you know they've been competing all fall and they you know they've been competing and they're ready to continue it's just another day it's just another sport the ball's a different shape and they're ready to go. And they'll tip off on Saturday against St. Cloud Apollo. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland news please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.