As the season came to an abrupt ending last year due to coronaviruses, both the boys and the girls are ready be back on court. 

Starting preseason conditioning over the summer and continuing it up until dead week. Dead week is the week before tryouts basically we can’t do anything basketball related with the coaches or at the school. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays the girls are putting in work to prepare for their the season. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they are at Southeast lifting weights, running hills and running drills. The boys do the same but instead of Sundays they go Mondays.  

“It’s fun to interact with people. We run and scrimmage sometimes, to get up and down,” Soph. Asa Barnes said.   

On Sundays, the girls put in work on the court. Playing in a league at  Wichita Next Level Hoops Academy. They have split into two teams, the Gold team and the Black team. They each play two games every Sunday. To get in the groove and get the feel of playing with the  freshman and the players who come from other schools.

“We play like we been playing together for a while. The games we play are hard but we keep coming out with the dub. This Sunday is the last and I want to come out in first,” Sr. Katelyn Kennedy said.   

During the off season people have training, practices and games with their summer teams. You often hear a lot of coaches say how you practice is how you play. 

“I put in some work. Woke up went to the gym then I went home to rest went back to the gym the hit the hill. Went home next day repeat,” Soph. Kobe Smith said.  

Conditioning also gets players on the mental side of basketball. Not just talking about how high someone’s basketball IQ is. To push and play a physical sport for 40 minutes is also mental. When players get tired and want to stop push and take a break they all have something that keeps them pushing.    

“At the end I wanna win for my brothers,” Sr. Rone Smith said.     

 Last year the boys finished 15-7 with their top scorer Jr. Jackie Johnson, totaling  596 points. Johnson, however, is not attending Southeast this year. The teams second-leading scorer was Micach Jacques who has now graduated after scoring 166 points. Now the team will be looking for someone else to lead them in points and on the court. Rone Smith tallied 135 points returns for his senior year.  

“ (It’s) Bittersweet, I wish him the best at his future. But we have a lot of talent here. And I feel these guys will step up. I believe and have a strong senior cast as well as my younger kids,” head boys basketball coach Joe Mitchell said.

Last year the girls dominated on the defensive side. They could never break  points. This year the girls talk about how this year the energy on the court is different. How the game being played is enjoyable.

“This team is very different. We have 2 sharp shooter and just the Kennedy’s are dogs on defense. They make us want to push and work harder, I’m excited to see what we do,”  Sr. Dejanae Green said.