The Nocona boy’s basketball team head into the season with a lot to prove.

After two seasons of top ranked play against some of the best teams in the state, including making a run to the regional semi-finals in 2017, that group is gone and graduated, including Coach Bret Botard, who left for Quinlan Ford.

In steps a new group with a new coach who are eager to prove themselves. Coach Colby Schniederjan takes over his first head coach job after three seasons serving as an assistant under J.D. Sullivan at College Station High School.

He also has run basketball camps for the Boston Celtics and Celtic player Marcus Smart this summer.

He inherits a team where most of the production from the past two years is gone. Botard did not play close to his full bench in close games to say the least last year as Carter Horn and Hunter Fenoglio are really the only returners who saw regular minutes off the bench.

Schniederjan sees this as an opportunity for players to get a fresh start.

“They are mostly older, unproven kids, but I know they are hungry,” Schniederjan said. “I know they are ready to compete. They are ready to start anew. That’s who I have to play with.”

Read the full story in the weekend edition of The Bowie News.