One era ends, another begins.
That's the way of college basketball, though no one, especially not Whitworth coach Jim Hayford, wanted to see the Bryan Depew era end for the Pirates.
Why would he? Depew finished his four-year career last spring as the Pirates' all-time leading men's basketball scorer. He was an NCAA Division III All-American. And the senior class he graduated had the most wins in school history.
"It would be real easy to look backwards," Hayford said, "because those were some great guys, but I can't, I've got to look forward. And I am excited when I look forward, and you have to look forward because we have such a young team."
So what era officially started last weekend when the Pirates traveled to Massachusetts to play in the Gordon Tip-Off Classic?
Take your pick:
-- The Guard Era: Whitworth returns three sophomores with promise in the backcourt, all of whom have already shown their abilities.
There's 6-foot, 1-inch Bryan Williams, who started every game last year at the point, led Whitworth in assists and 3-point shooting percentage and is counted on by Hayford to be "a premier player in the conference. If not, we're sunk."
There's Jon Young (6-3), who set a Whitworth record last season with 80 3-pointers made and served as the Pirates' one-man zone buster. And there is J.J. Jones (6-1), who redshirted last season but is considered by Hayford to be the team's most dominating defender.
"We have three outstanding sophomore guards," Hayford said, "that have been in the program that we can build on."
-- The Era of the Transfer: Two players entered the program from community colleges (Josh Parker, a 6-2 guard from CC Spokane and George Tucker, a 6-4 forward from Diablo Valley College in California) and one from a four-year school (Lance Pecht, a 6-3 guard from Lewis-Clark State).
"Lance is our best athlete," Hayford said. "George is our best rebounder and Josh adds a steady influence and versatility in the backcourt."
-- The Freshmen Age: The Pirates have a trio of true freshmen that Hayford expects will be the foundation of the program's future. They come from the east (6-3 forward Rob Simons from Helena), the west (6-5 power forward Adam Bennett who played on South Kitsap's State 4A runner-up team last season) and the Valley (6-6 post Derek Taylor from Central Valley via a year spent studying in England).
"All three of these guys, as they gain experience, will end up having great Whitworth careers," Hayford said.
-- The Local Kids Stay Home Era: "We're reaping the benefits of probably three of the best years of GSL basketball ever, from what I've been told by people who've lived in Spokane a lot longer than I have," Hayford said. "What's exciting to us is these guys found Whitworth College and what we represent academically and then our basketball program as worthy of them staying in town."
The preeminent stars of that period have moved on to upper-tier Division I schools, most prominently Gonzaga University. But three of the players who were a notch below decided on Whitworth instead of other options.
Williams was the second-leading scorer to GU-bound Adam Morrison when they were on the State 4A-finals team at Mead. Parker was the second-leading scorer to GU-bound Sean Mallon when they were on the State 4A-finals team at Ferris.
And Taylor, the leading scorer in Central Valley history, passed his cousin DePew while moving up the scoring ladder.
Add in Pecht, who played at West Valley High, and the local connection is deep.
Whatever era it is, the Pirates face a monster of a schedule this season, one that even Hayford is unsure about.
"The schedule really isn't fair," Hayford said. "All eight of our non-conference games are on the road and you have a young team. Any coach will tell you that's a really bad combination."
To combat the road nature of the non-conference schedule, the Whits took advantage of an NCAA rule that allows a foreign trip once every four years. Of course, in Division III, foreign means Canada, Alberta to be precise, where the Pirates played "really well," according to Hayford. There was also a recent exhibition game at Idaho (an 87-61 loss) and an intrasquad scrimmage, all before the first road trip with games that count in their record.
The early season road trips will be painful for Hayford personally, because basketball isn't the only thing on his mind right now. His daughter Jayme, a fourth-grader who has battled Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia for years, recently had a relapse and is hospitalized.
As practices began, Hayford had to spend his time shuttling between Sacred Heart Medical Center and Whitworth.
When his thoughts were on basketball, he looks at a team that has only a few experienced players returning.
Williams, Young and 6-6 forward Mike Larkin all started at some point last season, when the Pirates finished 19-6 overall and 12-4 in the Northwest Conference, second behind league champion – and this year's favorite – University of Puget Sound.
"UPS is the team to beat again," Hayford said. "They're No. 6 in the nation and deservedly so. But I think now their (extremely up-tempo) style of play, it won't be as successful, as a whole, because the conference's coaches will be a little more ready for it. I really don't think they are going to go 15-1 again."