With the start of a new season, comes a fresh opportunity for The Dallas College Richland’s basketball team to make their mark.

“Being able to stay resilient, stay tough, stay mentally tough and continue to move forward despite some setbacks is paramount towards being a good team,” Jon Havens, head basketball coach for Richland said.

After a tough 1-3 start to the season, the Thunderducks are showing signs of becoming the team they were expected to be. As they continue to build momentum, they are ready for the challenges ahead.

“Reality is you’re going to face some adversity so how you respond to it and move forward is going to be indicative of how good you are,” Havens said.

“I know Coach Havens is a really good coach. He’s a hard-nosed coach. He’s going to stay on those guys. Practice is going to be hard. He just has no choice but to improve and get better,” former Richland basketball player, Jhi Jackson  said.

As the team draws inspiration from last year’s incredible run, they are relying on their returning players to lead the way forward. While the Thunderducks sit at No. 13 in the NJCAA men’s basketball rankings, they know that, rankings aside, every team has a chance of winning it all.

“I think with any coach you ask them, ‘you don’t need to be great now. You need to be getting better’ and you play your best basketball as the season moves on,” Havens said.

You never focus on what you want. You focus on what you need to do. The Thunderducks know exactly what they must do and are committed to executing their plan for the season.