ESPN RISE

Bethesda-Chevy Chase (B-CC) has long been one of the top public high school basketball programs in Maryland. Though the Barons have not won a state championship since 1984, B-CC has been in the Final Four in three of the last four seasons, including the last two, and has produced a number of Division I college recruits over the years.

Even with the graduation of first-team All-Met Austin Cooley, head coach Steve Thompson is optimistic that this year's B-CC squad can replicate the success of last year's team, which went 18-8 and was ranked No. 20 in the D.C. area by the Washington Post.

B-CC has become accustomed to losing some of its star players to graduation. Last season's team advanced to the Class 3A Final Four despite the loss of All-County center Maurice Pearson, who averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds per game in both his junior and senior seasons. Pearson now plays basketball for Ohio University. Cooley averaged 16.5 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists for the Barons as a senior. Cooley is now a freshman at Niagara University.

"Austin was a great player, and he had a great senior season, but we have some good returning players, including [6-4 senior guard] Nate Koenig, [6-foot senior forward] Jake Kreigsfeld and a very good transfer in [junior guard] Gerome Seagers," Thompson said. "We could be pretty good. We won't be very big; we really don't have much height. We'll need to rely on guys like Jake Kreigsfeld to play tough up front against bigger teams, which of course Jake is pretty good at."

Koenig, a versatile swingman, has played virtually every perimeter position for the Barons over his three-year varsity career. He averaged 13 points, five rebounds and two assists as a junior and received Honorable Mention All-County honors, and he will be a candidate for first-team all-Montgomery County as a senior.

Kreigsfeld is a hard-nosed power forward who averaged 9 points and 4 rebounds as a junior.

"He is a pretty remarkable player," Thompson said. "He does a great job rebounding and defending against bigger players. He is just a tough, smart kid who goes out and works hard and gets the job done."

B-CC's inside game took a serious hit during the summer when 6-foot-4 junior forward Zaid Hearst transferred to rival Springbrook.

"Zaid leaving was definitely a loss because we already weren't going to be very tall and he is a pretty good player," Thompson said. "Fortunately, we got back a pretty darn good transfer ourselves in Gerome Seagers."

Seagers is a talented 6-foot-1 junior guard who averaged 18 points a game as a sophomore at Northwood High School and earned all-county honors. Seagers is generally regarded as one of the better pure shooters and more talented guards in Montgomery County.

"There is no question that adding Gerome is really big for our team," Thompson said. "He can score, and he'll fit in well with the players we have coming back and helping to replace the players we lost."

Three seniors who did not get significant playing time last year and who Thompson thinks will have larger roles are 5-10 guard David Williams, 5-9 guard Lukas Iraola, and 6-2 forward Alex Gunn. All figure to be starters or top reserves this year.

"David is super-quick, very athletic. Lukas originally attended DeMatha but transferred here. He is a very steady, smart player. He plays defense and is very solid. Alex Gunn is a good shooter. He will probably be our sixth man -- he got some minutes last year but should really do well this year with increased [playing] time," Thompson said.

Thompson is reluctant to predict how good his squad might be in 2008-09 but likes his team's potential.

"We'll miss Austin Cooley, but we got a couple players who are proven players, some seniors with experience, some quickness," Thompson said. "I think we could be pretty good, but we'll see how we play when it really counts. That's how [you know how] good you really are -- how you play when it counts."

James Quinn covers high school basketball for MDVarsity.com