Tanner Buck is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Saguaro High School for AZPreps365.com.

Scottsdale – Saguaro basketball sets to venture into their season excited with the chemistry built upon returning players with the mentality set by head coach Lucas Ramirez.

Several of the returning players who made key contributions for the Sabercats last year are sophomore guard Pierce Harrington and senior captain guard Justice Hinds. Both players combined for over 180 points last season and plan to have big roles coming into this season. 

“Its the same group of guys who played last year so we just built chemistry over the summer, offseason and fall.” Harrington said. 

There was a unique reason why Ramirez had high praise for the chemistry his team had and what makes them a squad to be reckoned with. 

“They genuinely love basketball. I think big time competitors like being around other big time competitors,” Ramirez said. “It’s a really special group that you got to appreciate because they’re all about the same age and all about the right things.”

Those right things would be playing together as a unit that understands the importance of making sure every player has the ability to radiate well on the court with their play. 

“We can all eat on certain nights and whoever's got it going that night is going to eat, and we are going to feed them,” Harrington said. 

The mutual feeling of unity by players comes from the standard that Ramirez sets for the guys he coaches to be more than just a team.

“We usually go by La Familia or just family,” Hinds said. 

The idea of family is not only in the symbolic term itself of unity but as an important meaning that is set by Ramirez in what each letter stands for. 

“We talk about family as the acronym for Forget About Me, I love you,” Ramirez said. “It’s not about the individual, it's about the team, it's about collaboratively everyone having success.”   

“We just love to see each other succeed,” Hinds said. “We get along on and off the court, it's a new incentive for sure and makes us better.” 

As a team captain, Hinds has seen importance in the message that Ramirez has sent. 

“Since he came here, he has been preaching that family unity mentality,” Hinds said. “That's our motto and that's what we go by.”  

The example set by the leaders of the team trickles down.

“I mean you have a senior leader embracing it, It's easy for everyone to follow suit,” Ramirez said. “The guys do a great job by just worrying about the team, putting the team first.” 

The kinship among each player really is going to make the Sabercats an elusive, dangerous squad to face on the court once they start playing. 

“This group's just special, they embrace our culture, they embrace our mentality,” Ramirez said. “This group of kids, they really jive with that and it really meshes well.”