Roster turnover has put Savanna boys basketball in a rebuilding year.
The Bulldogs graduated all but one starter from last season’s team. The only returner, Aiden Totani, injured his knee during the football season and has missed the entirety of the basketball schedule to this point.
Advertisement
As a sophomore last season, Totani led the team in scoring and rebounding on his way to being named to the all-conference team. Without Totani, Savanna has looked to freshman Rhett Gibson.
“We’ve been leaning on Rhett pretty heavily,” coach Matt Murdaugh said. “Rhett’s a really good ball player.”
This season’s Bulldog roster is filled with youth. The team features one senior, five juniors, three sophomores and four freshmen.
With the players learning new roles and schemes, the Bulldogs have made their way to a 5-8 start as of Friday morning.
“It’s been a lot of ups and downs,” Murdaugh said. “We’ve done some really good things, we’ve taken some big strides and we have a long way to go but we’ve got it pointed in the right direction.”
Advertisement
Savanna will see Pittsburg in the first round of the Pitt 8 tournament. The Bulldogs and Panthers have already met twice this season with the teams splitting the series.
Savanna took the first game 46-43 to win the consolation championship of the Freedom Ford Shootout in December. Pittsburg took a 55-41 home victory on Jan. 13.
Murdaugh said his team will be challenged but it’s something he believes they can be successful with.
“When we start the game its zero to zero,” Murdaugh said. “We’ve got a job ahead of us and if we want to get to the next round on the winner side, we’re going to have to play hard. We’re going to play tough and do the little things.”
Advertisement
Savanna is one of two schools in the Pitt 8 conference which has a football team. The gridiron schedule means that basketball season starts later than the other teams in the conference.
Beginning the season later means the Bulldogs are still trying to get their footing under them. The Pitt 8 tournament will allow the young Savanna team to get valuable playing experience.
“We have to use each and every game to get better,” Murdaugh said. “The ultimate goal is to always win but if we go into a game and don’t leave feeling like we’ve accomplishing some small feat of getting better, then it’s really all for nothing.
“So our main goal is, we’ve got to use every game and every day that we get to find what is our weakness that we have to be working on for what we do when the playoffs start,” Murdaugh said.
Savanna and Pittsburg play 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Southeast Expo Center.
#PITT #PREVIEW #Young #Bulldogs #Pitt #tournament #rebuild #foundation