The Grosse Pointe South Varsity Basketball team is back for the winter 23-24 season. And with every season comes a new roster with different expectations and goals. Last year, the Blue Devils went 15-5, playing successfully throughout their run in the Macomb Area Conference. Head coach Steve Benard said he has high expectations for his roster this year, hoping to win several events as well as winning first in their MAC division.

“We’re hoping to win the MAC Red, beat Grosse Pointe North and win the State Championship,” Benard said. “Last year, we were 15-5 and we’re looking to improve upon that record with our new roster. We’re aware of what we need to work on with the new team and getting everybody up to speed with the older members of our roster.”

This season’s roster is full of new talent from classes ’25 and ’26.However, with these new players comes the problem of integrating new players into the roster every year. The process starts at the beginning of their freshman year when they begin to play basketball and eventually work their way to becoming a starting varsity player. Earlier this year, players went through tryouts to create the best roster for Grosse Pointe South. Assistant Coach Nate Schwarze outlined that there are significant difficulties in the process of integrating new players into varsity each year.

“It’s always a challenge to integrate more and more people into a roster every year, we’re thankful to have the opportunity to begin coaching them as early as freshmen year,” Schwarze said. “Mixing our current players with new talent allows us to experiment with different people and lets the players motivate each other to perform.”

With high expectations and a new roster, it can be very hard to keep up a great mentality when playing each game. During a game, especially when you’re trailing by a lot, it can be easy to doubt yourself and perform poorly. For many players on the varsity team, they find their motivation and drive with each other, always looking to lift each other up in the process. Greg Fannon is a senior and has played with many teammates in the past.

“Keeping a great relationship with teammates is key in any sport, not just basketball,”. Shooting Guard Greg Fannon ’24 Said. “It’s not always common that you end up with a team that supports you, and I’m very thankful for the people I play basketball with that continue to drive me to do my best for the team.”