A youth movement swept through the Youngsville boys basketball program last season.

With a new head coach, Jesse DeLoof, not that far removed from playing days himself and a crop of freshmen who occupied 80 percent of the starting positions by season’s end, a new generation of Eagles basketball had arrived.

With a year of experience under their belt, that generation is ready to turn things around for Youngsville. The Eagles haven’t had a winning season in 15 years, but if the atmosphere around preseason camp is any indication, that could change in a big hurry.

“The change in energy is huge,” Nyko Mercado, the team’s lone senior, said. “Everyone’s a lot more focused and it seems like everyone’s more excited to play.”

DeLoof has seen a big jump from Year 1 to Year 2 as well.

“Their basketball IQ has improved,” he said. “Their progression, their ability, they’ve turned themselves into better players. That’s a testament to them.”

The players admit DeLoof’s guidance has been a driving factor in their improvement.

“He knows what drills to do, which ones not to and what’s going to help us,” junior captain Gage Hendrickson said. “He knows what we should do and shouldn’t do. Everything’s more focused on what we need to get better at.”

DeLoof’s philosophy is a simple one, “be better today than yesterday, be better tomorrow than today.” While it might sound cliched, it’s the type of incremental approach that allows such a young group to see a progression, even in defeat.

“There was buy-in from the start,” DeLoof said. “They want to improve.”

That want included a willingness to take a new approach to offseason conditioning. Workouts were focused on improving all-around athleticism, not just basketball skills.

“I just feel more athletic,” Hendrickson said.

” They saw the progression through the season (last year),” DeLoof said. “There was good and bad, but a lot of that was due to youth.”

If the Eagles’ progression was plotted on a chart, there would be peaks and valleys, but as long as the median line continues to point in an upward direction, the team knows it’s doing something right.

Mercado said one of the biggest differences he’s seen is the way the players are assuming leadership roles.

“There didn’t really seem to be leadership other than the coaches,” he said. “Since Coach Jesse started, you’re starting to see more leadership now and that’s how we’re getting better, through the leadership of both the kids and the coaches.”

Part of that leadership this year includes a new assistant coach, but a familiar face in Warren County basketball.

Dave Sherman comes to Youngsville fresh off an undefeated season with Beaty’s 8th-grade girls team in 2017. Sherman was a regular at Eagles games a year ago and was impressed by what he saw from both coach and players, and wanted to be a part of it.

“There were two main reasons (for coming),” he said. “One, the kids wanted to improve. They make eye contact when we’re instructing and you can tell they’re listening. Two, I believe in Jesse. He’s a great teacher first. It wasn’t that long ago that he was in their shoes and he can really relate to them.”

Mercado and Hendrickson both said the team has a specific goal they want to reach this season.

“We want to go over .500 and go to the playoffs,” Hendrickson said. “We have a different mindset this year. We’re going out there and expect to win.”

To do that, they’ll have to find a way to make a 7-game improvement from last season’s 4-17 record.

DeLoof and Sherman, while pleased with the lofty goals and expectation to win, both said they didn’t want to attach a specific number on which to measure success.

Given the team’s record and total point differential last year (-343), Sherman said, “we could improve that by 250 points and six wins . . . and still only be 10-11. But who would say no to that kind of improvement?”

DeLoof’s goal is more succinct.

“I want to be practicing the day after our last regular season game with Eisenhower,” he said. “We won’t practice that day if we don’t deserve to.”

Deserving that opportunity will mean these young Eagles will have overcome not only older, more experienced teams, but the lasting culture around the team.

“The biggest obstacle is the culture,” Sherman said. “We’re fighting the negativity daily and it’s easy to fall back on bad habits.”

“They have playing experience,” DeLoof added. “They were thrown to the wolves last year and came out better.

“There’s no reason Youngsville can’t be elite,” he continued.

“We’re not any different than teams like Ridgway. We’re not there yet, but we’re going to do the same things they do. Take care of the ball, play team defense, just do the right things. I know that’s possible here.”

Changing that culture will require more than just the already present desire to win.

There are 15 players on the Youngsville roster, most not even old enough to have their driver’s license, and young teams often grow most through adversity.

When the tough times come, these young guns may want to look to their senior for how to push forward.

“We’re not going to give up,” Mercado said. “Even if we’re outnumbered or outmuscled, or not capable of beating (a team), we will still put up a good fight and make it a good game. No matter what.”