The Aberdeen Central boys’ basketball team will look to continue its aggressive style of play this season, it will just be spearheaded in a bit of a different way.

The Golden Eagles will once again try to get out in transition and push the ball. However, it will look a bit different this winter.

“We’re always going to try to do that, just because I think in AA basketball you’ve got to find some easy baskets. That’s the best way we’ve been able do to that,” said Central coach Brent Norberg. “We play our offense better if we come fast into transition, so that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

However, the squad will no longer have graduated point guard Spencer Barr to push the pace.

“What we don’t have is the really experienced point guard,” Norberg said. “The guys that will play there have not played a ton of varsity point guard, so that will be interesting. We’ll have to do it by committee.”

Barr not only was Central’s primary ball handler, he also led the team in scoring and was the team’s go-to player in crucial situations.

“We’re not going to replace him. He’s one of a kind. We’re not going to get another one of him for a while, probably,” Norberg said, “but we have a lot of guys that played significant minutes last year that need to step up. We’re a different team. Last year, when we got in trouble, he kind of would bail us out.”

Norberg believes that there are players on this year’s squad who are ready to step up and rise to the occasion.

“We have guys that have more experience now. We should be able to play together, but we don’t really have that one guy to just hand him the ball and make some phenomenal plays, which is fine,” Norberg said. “I think that will be a positive for us in the long run, but early on, I’m hoping that we realize, we look around, he’s not there, we have to makes plays ourselves, because I think our guys are ready to do that.”

The Golden Eagles will be lean on seniors Parker Lemer, Jett Carlson, Cooper Eisenbeisz and Camden Fauth, all who are coming off solid fall sports seasons in football and soccer.

“It’s good that they were able to do some good things in the fall and compete and step up, and kind of step into a leadership role,” Norberg said. “That’s what you always wonder when you bring juniors back to seniors is, will they step up and take that role?”

All of the aforementioned players saw major time for the Eagles last season.

“We had guys that played a lot of minutes. We also had some guys come off the bench. Camden Fauth did a nice job off the bench for us at times last year,” Norberg said. “We’re going to lean heavily on those guys with experience. We’ve also got a lot of athletic juniors that are long and looking to try to get on that floor.”

Central will feature solid size with five players 6-foot-4 or taller. That does not even include 6-foot-3 post Grant Fritz who also started a year ago and who Norberg said “plays a lot bigger than he is.”

That length and athleticism will likely big a key asset for the squad this season.

“We’re pretty long on the perimeter as well at some places,” Norberg noted. “That will help you defensively, hopefully.”

Central, which opens its season Friday at Rapid City Central, and Saturday at Rapid City Stevens, will be looking to get back to the state tournament after coming up short in the SoDak 16 the last two seasons. While the Eagles would like to be able to host that game, it hasn’t always worked out the best for the team in recent years.

“Right now, we’re just trying to get better. We’re focused on going out west and trying to play well. Every game you play you’re going to try to win, and we’re going to try to get better every day,” Norberg said. “Obviously, a goal is to have a (SoDak 16) home game. Oddly enough, the only one we’ve won was on the road. We’ve lost two that we had at home. They were both very close games.”

For the present, Norberg is trying to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of his current team and then will focus on the postseason when the time comes.

“Everyone wants to play that (SoDak 16) game at home. You want to get as high a seed as possible,” Norberg said. “Right now, we’re more focused, early on in the year, what do we do well, what don’t we do well?”