By Billy Swartzfager | [email protected]

The Bingham High School boys basketball team is back on the court, ready to defend its 2015–16 state title and make another deep run into the postseason. 

The Miners only lost two games last season, once to Copper Hills early in the year and another to Overland, an out-of-state team Bingham played in the Tarkanian Classic, a tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada As far as region matches went, Bingham handled all its opponents by a large margin. They were actually able to avenge the loss from earlier in the year to Copper Hills by beating them in the title game to take the crown, 61-44. And, the team has a lot of returning varsity players to make the 2016–17 version every bit as hard to beat.

According to Max Preps, Bingham will have seven seniors and five juniors who logged varsity minutes returning from last season’s team. Senior guard Lleyton Parker had a very productive year last season, averaging 11 points per game and leading the team with 44 steals on the season. Senior point guard Dason Youngblood will also be a heavy contributor. He led the team in assists last season with 73 and added eight points per game as well. Branden Carlson, a 6-foot-11-inch senior, will also play more minutes this season at center and power forward, after having scoring close to 100 points last year.

Tryouts for the year were held the week of Nov. 7, and official practices began the following week. The first official game was on Nov. 30, against a Las Vegas team, Centennial. The team will play preseason games and tournaments, such as the Utah Elite 8 and the Tarkanian Classic, through December. Region matches begin the first part of January. The region will be tough this year, with Copper Hills, Brighton and West Jordan always able to play tough and looking to grab a win or two from the Miners. 

Although almost an entire season away, Bingham will be gearing up for the end of the year. State tournament play begins at the end of February and will wrap up March 5. Bingham hopes to be playing for another state title at Utah State, Utah Valley University and Weber State when March rolls around. They have the talent to get them there, they have the experience to be able to handle the expectations, all they have to do is continue to work together to play well during region games and even better when they are playing in tournament brackets. If the team can do those things and stay healthy, they truly have a shot at contending for a second straight state championship.