The Big Walnut basketball team's returning letterwinners are (from left): row one-Anthony Zarcone, Jason Almendinger and James Storey; row two-Kenton Comstock, Evan Walker and Joe Reed. With as exuberant as the Big Walnut football team's recent regional-final excursion was, it didn't do much to aid the boys basketball squad.

Several hoopsters were factors on the football field, including returning basketball letterwinners Joe Reed and Anthony Zarcone, who started on the gridiron.

The deep football stampede has cut into on-court practice time, but it's a great problem to have for the school's athletic program.

"Joe Reed hasn't been to practice yet," said eighth-year coach Steve Comstock on Friday. "We're really in the molding stages."

Zarcone, a 5-foot-8 junior guard, injured a shoulder in the regional final loss to Kettering Alter and is expected to miss six weeks or more.

The Eagles are coming off 2005-06's 13-8 campaign, which saw them contend for their first league title since 1996-97 before finishing tied for second with Franklin Heights in the OCC Capital behind Pickerington North (7-3).

Big Walnut swept the Panthers, but fell twice to the Falcons before losing to Eastmoor (54-59) in a season-ending Division II sectional final.

Gone are senior starters Josh Mason and Dan Gore, along with role player Cory O'Brien. Mason was the team's leading scoring his last two seasons, contributing 14.7 points per game as a senior and hoisted most of the big shots. Gore, a defensive stopper, averaged 4.9 ppg.

"We had three nice seniors last year," Comstock said. "They all contributed in a variety of ways.

"Josh Mason is playing at Otterbein right now. He did a lot of scoring, ball handling and was a real leader. He had a real nice year."

Gore, also the Eagles' top wide receiver in 2005, played football for Erie Community College in New York this fall.

This year, six lettermen will lead, including seniors Jason Almendinger (5-10, G) and James Storey (6-0, G/F), and juniors Reed (6-4, F), Zarcone, Kenton Comstock (6-3, PG) and Evan Walker (6-4, F). Almendinger and Storey will serve as co-captains.

"Both guys have a lot of experience," coach Comstock said. "They're good seniors, good kids, good people to be captains."

Almendinger (13.8 ppg.), Comstock (10.7) and Reed (6.5) started a season ago. Almendinger buried a team-best 45 three-pointers.

Newcomers should also bolster Big Walnut and provide depth. Senior post Brad Driscoll (6-4) tore an ACL as a sophomore and didn't play in '05-06, but has returned, though he's fighting an unrelated knee injury.

Juniors Garrett Koehler (6-1, G/F) and Mark Riggs (6-0, G/F) have stepped up from the junior varsity squad.

"I think we'll have very balanced scoring this year," coach Comstock said. "We'll score inside and outside. I think that'll be one of our strengths."

With a revamped OCC Capital, the Eagles will need that scoring diversity. Dublin Scioto and New Albany have joined, while Pick North (OCC Central) and Dublin Jerome (Cardinal) have relocated.

"I think the league is very balanced," coach Comstock said. "I know Dublin Scioto has a good basketball program under coach (Tony) Bisutti. New Albany went to the regional (finals) last year and they have key players back from that team.

"Franklin Heights has as much talent as anybody in the league; a real tall post player and good perimeter people. (Olentangy) Liberty is our big rival and they have real scrappy guards, kids that can shoot the ball."

At least a couple other programs are surely facing Big Walnut's football-basketball conflict, as four OCC Capital teams reached the playoffs, with New Albany advancing to a D-III state semifinal.

The ball hits the court for real at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Westerville Central in the opener. BW hosts Marion Harding at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and league plays begins Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m. when Watkins Memorial comes to town.

In all, the Eagles play 14 D-I teams, which can't hurt come D-II tournament time.

"We're not going to look ahead," coach Comstock said. "We're going to keep working on improvement as the season goes on. We're definitely going to get better as time goes on."