It was an unprecedented postseason run from the St. Joseph Knights last year not only winning the CIF Division I Central Section championship but also reaching the CIF State Open Division championship game where they came up just short against Harvard-Westlake.
With the historic run though comes even higher expectations under an even greater magnifying glass.
“We were pretty happy about our results and how we gave everything out there on the court," ESPN No. 21 ranked junior Tounde Yessoufou said. "It was really an amazing experience.”
“I think the thing with last year's team was there were a lot of ways that we could win," Head Coach Tom Mott added. "It wasn't just a one or two person show.”
But despite losing key seniors, they return the two most explosive weapons from last year, sophomore Julius Price who quickly made a name for himself this past summer and even the postseason as well as one of the nation’s top players in Yessoufou.
“That postseason gave me a lot of confidence," Price explained. "I think I took that confidence and it gave me a great experience."
The connection with Price, Yessoufou and the rest of the team is only growing stronger as the team is undefeated and about to embark on three separate road trips in the next month that will take them to Salem, Oregon, Pine Bluff, Arkansas and finally Anchorage, Alaska. It will be the most travel that any of Mott's teams have experienced.
“Getting to the state championship game, your emails start to get a little full with tournaments that want you to attend and all three of these tournaments will give our guys not only great competition but also get them to see different parts of the country.”
The Knights are still the most feared team in the Central Section and with Price averaging 22.3 points per game and Yessoufou at 37.3 as both are leading the charge to not only win a section title but make it back to the Golden 1 Arena in Sacramento and win State.
“A lot of people probably thought that was just one-year run and we're not going to be back there, but we're trying to prove everyone that we deserve to be on that type of stage,“ Price explained.
"Kobe always said when you when you get good, people will always hate," Yessoufou said. "That's one of the main things that we just got to just be locked in on and just keep moving forward.”
