Courageous is a term the Indian basketball team has become familiar with as it prepares for the upcoming season with one returning varsity player and a new district which includes perennial region opponent Estacado.

“Courageous is based on Deuteronomy 31:6,” Coach Paul Page said. “It’s just for them to understand somewhat, going into the new district, having to replace the seniors and having Estacado in our district. It’s important to play fearless and have courage in the game and in life with the decisions they make. So they all have wrist bands that say ‘courageous’, and it has the date of the first district game on it.”

Even with a new district, high expectations are still being determined.

“District is going to be tough,” senior guard Noe Molina said, “but regardless, our goal is the state championship. We would have had to meet up with those teams any way.”

The Indians will meet Estacado in Seminole on Jan. 11 to start the district season.

“I like the new district,” senior guard Isaac Rangel said. “I want to play Estacado because we are going to beat them in district to get the losing streak out of the way with them.”

Estacado has a four-year undefeated district winning streak, and the Indians have a three-year undefeated district winning streak.

“Besides the fact they’ve beaten us out of the playoffs, either our…winning streak or their…winning streak is going to end,” junior post Blue Franklin said. “It’s going to be one of the biggest if not the biggest game of the regular season.”

For Page the result of that Jan. 11 game will be just another stepping stone factoring into the overall standings in district.

“It’s going to be tough,” Page said. “There are not going to be any nights off. Everybody in district is going to be competition and capable of winning.”

Although several varsity players are still in football, the team has been playing area league games that have built up strengths.

“We’ve been playing since spring of last school year after basketball season ended,” Franklin said. “We’ve all sort of realized what we need to be doing to make the team better, and the only real problem is doing that and staying consistent.”

Franklin said the Indian post game is a strength if they can stay healthy.

“We’ve got some of the best posts on this side of the state in Hunter [Weishuhn] and Sam Shirley,” Franklin said.”Those two have been so good within themselves that it opens up for the rest of the team to score.”

Rangel is the only returning member of last year’s squad, so the team lacks varsity experience.

“Having to replace a successful senior class from last year will be important for us,” Page said. “Our weakness is overall experience. We lost the majority of our team to graduation.”

Shirley had surgery to fix a torn patella tendon in his knee in October.

“It shouldn’t [affect me playing],” Shirley said. “I should be ready to play for the beginning of the season or quickly after the start.”

The team does have the experience of a veteran coach in Page.

“Coach Page is a great coach,” Franklin said. “I’m glad to play for him. He knows what he’s doing, and he knows where our strengths and weaknesses are.”

Senior guard Juan Mendoza said practices are going well.

“We still need work,” Mendoza said, “but we are working hard, and that’s what counts.”

When the missing pieces come from football, the team should begin to click.

“We are not focused enough now,” Franklin said. “There is not enough leadership yet.”

With everything the team has had to overcome, its expectations haven’t changed.

“Our expectations are always the same,” Page said. “They are for us to win the district championship and put ourselves in a position to go deep into the playoffs.”

Mendoza said this year will be better than any year because he’s worked harder to improve.

“I’m looking forward to a good season,” Mendoza said, “and hopefully a new record for this school.”

Franklin hopes this season will go better than people expect.

“Everybody thought we were not supposed to do well because of last year’s seniors leaving,” Franklin said. “The juniors and seniors stepped up, and we are ready for whatever the season throws at us.”

Molina said the team knows what its goal is; it’s just a matter of preparing for it.

“[Courageous means] just to do more stuff than you would before,” Molina said. “It’s going to go as well as we prepare for it. I expect the team to not hold anything back.”

The Indians have their first scrimmage with opponents still to be determined on Nov. 6.