Staff file photo / Brian Yauger. Warren JFK guard Didi Ryan puts up a layup during a home game against Southeast last season.

In Marc Morgan’s first season with Kennedy, the Eagles went from a 9-14 record the year prior, to an 18-7 campaign and a win away from a district championship.

With all but one full-time starter back from last season, and emerging stars like Didi Ryan and Gianna Pompelia with another year of high school experience, hopes are high for Kennedy in the 2024-25 season.

Now that there’s familiarity between the players and Morgan and his system, it’s all about progression.

“The first season with pretty much any team that I’ve ever been the head coach of, is mostly focused on the concepts of what we do and learning that,” Morgan said. “It’s just like when I deal with the freshmen that are coming in. They just don’t understand yet the way we play, so getting them to learn and buy into how we do things is the most significant part of the program.

“I think that at this point, we’re close enough that I don’t have to reteach things anymore. … It’s not a beginning lesson. It’s basically like I’m teaching in the third or fourth quarter of a school year, instead of starting off at the beginning. That’s where we are, I think, as far as the team goes.”

That means a greater focus on the team’s identity and the systems put in place by Morgan and the coaching staff.

“I would say, (our identity is to) play as fast as you can,” Morgan said. “I am of the mindset that it is about possessions. If you can score with us, great, but in my mind, it’s, ‘How many possessions can we get against you?’ If we can get 70 or 80 possessions in a game, outstanding. That is what I try to get them to do. … If we’re in a circumstance where it’s a 50/50, chance of whether we can stop the shot or foul, or any of that, I’m trying to get them to understand too, it’s okay if they score the basket. Just get the ball back in and get down the other floor the other way. That’s what I’m trying to get them to do, is play at a speed so we out-pace people. Meaning that there’s going to be times where the game is close, only because I’m trying to bring the team out of their regular or normal pace and make them play at ours for four quarters.”

Kennedy returns two of the team’s three top scorers. Ryan, who averaged 14.6 points-per-game, and Pompelia (13 ppg.), both of whom are expected to take a leap this season.

A big theme of this group is experience and gaining more of it.

Last season’s 52-49 defeat at the hands of Springfield in the district title game was just that, experience. While a defeat, Kennedy’s young players got a chance to see what basketball is like on the big stage, and it’s something Morgan is glad they got as they enter this season.

“The experience of being in it,” Morgan said. “You could clearly tell the Springfield kids had been in that predicament before, been in those situations. And I thought down the stretch we struggled because we missed free throws, we made some dumb plays down the stretch in a big game like that. In a big scenario, and your kids have never been in that, you don’t know how they’re going to react. I think that, in itself, will help us throughout the season and hopefully going into the tournament again, just because now they’ve been through it. They understand the magnitude of a game like that, and what you have to do in order to prepare yourself for it.”

The 2024-25 schedule features a rematch with the Tigers, just after Christmas, as Kennedy hosts Springfield on Dec. 27.

The tests won’t end there, with games against Boardman, Massillon Perry, a pair of games with Rootstown and the team’s regular season finale against area power West Branch.

“Traditionally, in my mind, I always like my most difficult game of the year to be one of the last ones before the tournament,” Morgan said. “I don’t need a win to run into the tournament. I need a tough game that we have to battle in. (These) teams are traditionally that kind of team. Like they’re going to play physical, they’re going to play smart, and you’re going to have to outplay them in one of those areas in order to beat them. And so if, if I think we’re doing any good, that’s a great bar for us to finish the season on.

At press time, Kennedy sits at 2-0 with games against Youngstown East and Canton Central Catholic.