A new basketball era began for Moraine Valley last year when the Cyclones welcomed first-year coach Kyle Hoppe. A season filled mostly with successes ended far too abruptly and left a program looking hard for answers, changes, solutions. With a new season approaching, the Cyclones feel they have done the right things.

They’re about to find out.

Despite finishing 17-14 and making the playoffs, the team’s post-season ended abruptly in the District A semifinals to South Suburban College, leaving a sour taste in the mouth of sophomore forward Amarion Johnson.

“It did leave a chip on my shoulder,” he said. “It motivates me because I remember the team we had last year since they (South Suburban) ended the season short.”

Coach Hoppe looked back at his rookie coaching year at Moraine Valley and recognized some of the mistakes he felt he had made. He aims to improve those oversights this season. He specifically mentioned the team’s preparation, especially in away games.

“We didn’t show up on the road as we needed to,” Hoppe said. “We need better preparation; I want to get the guys to school earlier and be ready to go. There were times where we were asleep in the first half and woke up too late in the second half.”

The Cyclones have almost an entirely new roster this season with 11 of the 16 players being freshmen. Among the returning players, guard Deven Jiles and Johnson might be most notable.

The two were top six in minutes per game on the team last season, with 22.7 and 24.7 respectively. Jiles and Johnson are expected to come back this season with a vengeance and help lead the team again. 

Jiles knows the importance of this season and has been putting in work over the summer in preparation. 

“I’ve really been pushing myself a lot in the weight room so my body can be more conditioned,” he said. “I’ve found myself shooting more and dribbling more just so I can have extra skill when I’m on the court.”

One of Johnson’s biggest issues in the 23-24 season was his shooting ability, shooting just 17.6 percent from three-point range. He worked on that in the offseason and feels he has made great progress.

“It’s coming along great,” he said. “I feel like putting the time in really gave me the confidence to shoot more in games and also extended range to help the team.”

One of the biggest reasons for the large roster change in the new season has been players moving on to new schools after their sophomore seasons. Their biggest loss comes in the form of former guard Enari Thomas. 

Thomas was a key player both on and off the court for the Cyclones last year. He was a leader in the locker room and in games for the team. But it wasn’t just mentality for Thomas. He was also the leading scorer for the Cyclones, averaging 20.8 points per game in the 23-24 season. 

Coach Hoppe recognizes the significance of Thomas leaving but has a plan.

“I don’t think we’re going to have anyone average 20 points per game. It’s going to be someone different every night, which can be better. We won’t be as one-dimensional because the defense knew Enari would be the bulk of our scoring.”

The team is trying to find other options on offense, but that will take time. They’ll have to score by committee and play rock solid defense to win. With the staff and players still learning about each other, things aren’t coming easy for them.

Coach Hoppe weighs in on some of the struggles they’ve had through camp.

“We’re trying to figure out who we are, figure out each other’s strengths with the new guys and guys who are coming back,” Hoppe said. “The staff is learning about these guys too. I think we’d all have three different lineups if the season started tomorrow.” 

As far as leadership goes, Hoppe mentioned a few returning players like Johnson and Jiles. However, he also mentioned a freshman, Guard Jelani McGregor out of Victory Rock Prep. 

McGregor is expected to come in and make an immediate impact, and he is ready for the challenge.

“It gives me a lot of confidence, especially playing with sophomores that have been here already for a year,” he said. “It gives me comfortability playing and leading the guys, telling them what to do and where to go.”

One of the biggest strengths last season for the Cyclones was their 9-5 record in conference games.

Despite the Cyclone dominance, their conference is not an easy place to play, and Hoppe recognizes this.

“Conference is the measuring stick,” he said. “We have the best region in the country competition-wise, and most of that comes from our conference. Those games are always at a premium. We want to be the best version of ourselves going into conference games because every single game is going to be a battle.”

This team is slated to have another good season. However, with the amount of new players coming in, the team is raw and there is still work to be done, according to Hoppe.

“We have talented individuals,” he said. “If we never ran a (designed) play, we could win a decent amount of games. We’re just stressing learning playbooks and being able to execute.” 

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PHOTOS BY NIKI KOWAL