Conference: 7A-6A East
Coach: Jim Summers (fourth year as Searcy head coach)
Assistant coach: Bryant Turney
Record: Sixth last year in the conference, final 8 in state, 16-14 overall.
Returning starters: Dezmond Stegall and Johnathan Powell
We’d like to improve on last year, but we lost a lot of firepower to colleges. We lost two Division 1 players, to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and to Ole Miss. We also lost Chris Blakley, who was our glue, and Jordan Hopper, who was a 3-point threat off the bench. That’s a pretty good chunk out of us. The conference that we play in, you have to be really, really good to even compete. With us doing a rebuild, we’re looking for new guys to step in.
Best inside players: Senior Johnathan Powell is a 6-5 forward who last year averaged about 5 points per game and 6 rebounds. Powell is our biggest kid on the court.
Backcourt players: Dezmond Stegall is a 6-2 senior guard who averaged 8 points per game last year. Javien Reynolds, Antwan Arnold and Cam Woodruff, all juniors, got a little playing time last year, so they have some experience.
Strengths: One thing I think we do have this year as far as hustle, grit and mental toughness — we are mentally tougher this year than last. The kids have grown up a little bit. They work hard; they’re gonna go full-tilt all the time. The experience level is down, but they will try to make up for that with hustle.
Weakness: It’s gonna be our inexperience. Losing three guys — that made up 90 percent of our offense every night. We’ve got to find that 90 percent somewhere. We’re going to be searching. We have a lot of guys who also excel in football. A lot of our evaluation of who will play will be fast and furious when these guys join us.
Games to watch: Just about any game in the 6A East. Last year we had 10 or 11 kids sign with colleges to continue their playing careers, and four of those went D-1. Any night, it’s going to be as good of basketball as you will find around the state. Every game is just so tough in this division. You don’t get a break. Mountain Home is probably our biggest rivalry. We’ve been in the same conference awhile now, and when we play each other, we kind of have to switch gears. We always have a good rivalry; it’s like a chess game between us.
Nutshell: Like I said, we’ve got to find some guys to fill some big shoes. We’re hoping everybody comes out of football healthy, we’ll do a quick evaluation, and we’ll play a lot of kids this year. Last year we played seven kids, but this year we might go 10 to 12. Especially early, we’ll give everybody a shot.