Usually with the kind of graduation losses the St. James High School boys’ basketball team is currently dealing with, the term “rebuild” is bandied about.

Instead, St. James has its eyes on more championships.

St. James is to compete in the Dixon Jamboree Tuesday, Nov. 18. The Tigers are to open the season the weekend of Nov. 20-21 at the Rolla High Bluefish Shootout.

Led by a veteran group that included six seniors, St. James soared to the Missouri Class 4 District 3 Tournament championship last season before falling to eventual state tournament runner-up Clayton in the sectional round. The squad had a 21-8 overall record - an eight-win improvement over the previous season - and also finished 5-2 in the Four Rivers Conference.

From that squad four starters must be replaced.

However, in the Four Rivers Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, St. James is tied with Union as the favorite to win the league title. Both St. James and Union finished with 10 points, with four 1st-place votes each in the poll, while Hermann was third with 25 points; Owensville and Pacific tied for fourth with 28 points each; St. Clair sixth with 31; New Haven seventh with 45, and Sullivan eighth with 47.

In short, St. James figures to be in the mix again.

“They work hard,” said Ben Smith, entering his 23rd season as head coach of his alma mater with a 354-246 record at the school. “They are very unselfish and competitive. So they’re similar (to last season) in some respects. We have a little more length this year, but I don’t know if we’re quite as fast. We do have guys who can move. The biggest difference is that experience factor. But we’ll look similar to last year.”

Tiger starters lost to graduation are guard Aiden Boone, guard Nick Gleason, forward JV Meurer and Tiger all-time career scoring leading guard Tate Gruver.

However, a large number of returning varsity lettermen and key players from last season’s 19-1 Tiger junior varsity squad return.

Leading the returners is 5-10 junior point guard Isaac Smith, who averaged 10.4 points, 5.8 assists, 3.9 steals and 2.3 rebounds while shooting 47 percent from the field and made 37 three-pointers as a point guard. He earned All-Four Rivers Conference and all-district honors and set single-season and single-game school records for assists and steals.

Other lettermen back are 6-3 senior forward Jaxen Spurgeon, 6-1 senior guard Owen Spurgeon, 5-10 senior guard Westin Ridenhour and 6-2 senior forward Karsten Driskell. Coming up from the junior varsity are 6-0 junior guard/forward Dom Giacolone, 5-10 senior guard Tripp Jones, 5-10 sophomore guard Easton Huffman and 5-10 sophomore guard Peyton Recker.

And a key component added to that mix is 6-2 junior guard/forward Caleb Brown, a transfer student from Cuba High School. Brown averaged nine points, 4.3 rebounds, shot 47 percent from the field, 37 percent from three-point range and blocked 17 shots for the Cuba varsity squad last season.

“Rotation-wise, we’re going to be deep,” Smith said. “Every kid on the roster brings things to the table to help.

“We’re going to get out and pressure defensively and run the floor on offense. We will add some new wrinkles. All of them can play on the perimeter. There may be more spreading people out; we’ve got guys who can play with their back to the basket.”

When St. James is strong under Coach Smith, a smothering defense is usually leading the way. That could again be the case this season, although preseason work must be done.

“What we noticed this fall is the defense has got to be better rotating, talking and doing a better job of creating defense into offense,” Smith said. “And we’ve got to rebound, although we have a little more size this year and that may help.”

Coach Smith feels his deep bench will help him play at whatever pace and style the opposition demands.

“Isaac will be in a little different role,” his coach and father said. “He’s got to get everybody involved, take care of the basketball and he’s going to have to look to score more. And be a little more of a vocal leader. Jaxen moved more to the perimeter this summer and is shooting the ball well. His length can create some problems. Owen is one of three guys with a lot of experience back. He can do a lot of everything. He can fill in spots where we need him and defensively brings grit to us we need. Caleb is a great addition. He’s a skilled athlete and is a really good passer. He gives us that strength we didn’t have without him. Westin is really athletic and makes a lot of plays on both ends.

“Tripp plays with a lot of effort. He always makes things happen. Karsten has a lot of length and finishes inside well and rebounds well. He’s coming off a hand injury this summer. Dom is athletic and has really improved skill-wise and in passing. He runs the floor really well. Peyton and Easton are both really talented players and shoot the ball well.”