The ADM boys basketball season is just two days old, but Tigers head coach Aaron Mager expects his players to be locked in from the opening drill to the closing huddle of practice. An early theme for this year’s team is to rectify an issue that at times plagued last year’s 6-16 squad: discipline.

Mager said he’s happy with the effort his players are giving so far, and was quick to add that he too has been showing some mental fatigue while the team gets back in gear with practice in the morning and afternoons. That said, Mager wants his team to be the type that is able to grind through that type of simulated adversity, rather than one that is significantly hampered by it. He said that for the most part, he’s seeing that.

Next, he’d like to see better and more consistent attention to the finer details of the game, even with the grueling early-season schedule.

“It takes that kind of a discipline and that’s what we’re hopefully progressing toward,” Mager said. “But also before that and first and foremost, it takes buy-in, and guys seeing the need to make that change, and then saying, ‘OK, I’m going to commit to making that change.

“And we’re kind of in that middle ground — are we going to do that, are we not? Are we going to settle for bad habits or non-successful habits, or create some better ones? And that’s hopefully what we’re moving towards. Time will tell.”