Last season was a learning experience for the Tamaqua boys’ basketball team, one that provided tremendous growth for a squad that was still finding its way and learning together.

That process continued through a dedicated offseason for the Blue Raiders, something that has head coach Jim Barron excited and optimistic about the season ahead.

“I think we had a pretty good offseason, a pretty good turnout this summer,” said Barron. “We’re already in a better place than we were last year without getting to have a preseason; the kids got a lot better, took a lot of big steps and they’re going to be really improved this year.”

Tamaqua entered last season having graduated many of the players that had helped it put together a historic run in the state tournament, one that was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, a year earlier.

“Two years ago we were loaded with seniors, and last year we had almost no varsity experience coming back besides Nate Gregoire,” Barron said. “Without having that offseason last year, it kind of took us half the year to get to where we needed to be, with learning plays and being comfortable with where we needed to be.

“So those guys that were sophomores last year really took a step forward this summer, and then even the younger guys coming in, they were able to get themselves to a point where they were going to be able to get a little bit of varsity experience and really step in and help us this year.”

Gregoire led the team with 14.05 points per game last season as the Blue Raiders finished the year 3-19 and 2-12 in Division 1 of the Schuylkill League. Gregoire also drilled 47 three-pointers last year, good for fifth-best among area players.

“Having Nate Gregoire back is huge for us,” said Barron. “He’s a three-year returning starter, so he’s our leader out there. He sets a good example out there and we follow him.

“But we also return Brady Sherry (5.73 points per game), who is another one of our seniors. He really took a step forward and stepped up, he’s ready to be a leader this year, too. We have some young guys like Zander Coleman, who will provide some size. Connor Dillon, who dressed and played some JV as a freshman last year, he’s grown a little bit and he’s taken huge steps forward. We have Steven Hoffman, who came on as a sophomore last year really late in the season, and he was our leading scorer over the last four or five games of the year. Those guys are all going to help us, whether it’s coming off the bench ... they’re going to see a lot of time. We’re going to play a lot of guys this year.”

They will have to help replace the likes of Luke Verta, who averaged 9.55 points per game last season.

So far, Barron has liked what he’s seen on both ends of the floor.

“We had a scrimmage last night and our defense really surprised me with where we’re at defensively,” said Barron. “We have a lot of athletic kids and our defense really stepped up last night. We’re quick; we were able to get a bunch of steals, we were able to get out and push the ball. Our defense is going to help lead to our offense. We’ve got a lot of kids who are really playing hard defense, they’re athletic, they get hands of balls, they dive on floors. We’re going to be a team that hustles.

“I’ve always preached defense to our teams. We had some guys who can really score a couple years back. I’ve had three 1,000-point scorers that have played for us. I don’t think we really have a guy that’s going to go out there and contribute a consistent 20 points a night. But we do have probably 10 guys who are going to go out there and put it all on the line on defense for us.”

Cian McLaughlin, Cam Lewis, Mason Ligenza, Luke Kane also figure to be in the mix for playing time throughout the season for Tamaqua.

“I think just the depth that we have this year has been surprising to me,” said Barron. “There’s a good chance we have 12 people see the court every night, just because, we have a couple of guys that are standing out for us like our seniors, but we’re really deep with what we have. We’re very consistent; there’s not a big gap between our No. 4 guy and our No. 12, 13 guy.”

And that could be a winning combination for Barron and the Blue Raiders.

“This year, everything’s brand new. We get to turn the page, we get to start all over,” said Barron. “We’re all ready, and I’m really excited to put our fingerprint on this season and really turn it around. I think we’re going to surprise some teams from where we were at last year and where we’ve come to this year.”