DARLINGTON — The Redbirds feel primed for a memorable season. Darlington finished 22-3 overall, and 12-2 in the SWAL — both losses coming against league champion Cuba City. This year, the Redbirds return four starters that come packed with some punch.

Leading the way is senior forward Carter Lancaster, who was the conference MVP as a junior.

“Carter Lancaster passed 1,000 points last year and has a chance to break the school record if we can play a full season,” said Darlington coach Tom Uppena, who was the league’s coach of the year. “He is being recruited by quite a few D2 and D3 schools.”

Lancaster averaged 20.7 points per game last year, third most in the league, and brought down 7.4 rebounds per contest. Fellow Class of 2021 forward Cayden Rankin (14.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg) was a first-team all-conference player last year for the Redbirds, and sharpshooting classmate Curtis Stone (10.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg) was honorable mention. Stone hit 50 of 142 (35.3%) of his 3-point attempts in 25 games last season. Junior Easton Evenstad (7.5 ppg) was a starting guard last year as a sophomore and is also back this season. 

Other returning letterwinners include seniors Parker Fitzsimons, James Hartwig and Matt Ruf, and juniors Hunter Hardyman, Braden Davis, Ethan Hendrickson and Ethan Schuchart.

“We have a lot of experience coming back and have the potential to have a great season. We just need to make sure our work ethic matches that potential,” said Uppena, who added that depth will be a strength, but that his concern is a potential lack of “having a killer instinct.”

With the season already shortened by the WIAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Uppena said that outside forces will play a major factor this winter.

“Challenges will be making it through the season with as little interruption as possible. It is going to be a challenging year in many different ways, so we need to be flexible and ready to adapt,” Uppena said.

He expects Cuba City, which was unbeaten at 25-0 last year, to again challenge for the SWAL title. The Cubans return two first-team all-conference players in UW-Green Bay commit Brayden Dailey and guard Jack Misky, who has a college scholarship offer from Mount Mercy of the NAIA.

“Our goals are to compete for a conference championship and to try to make a deep playoff run,” Uppena said. “Cuba City will be the favorite once again as the No. 1-ranked team in D4, but top to bottom the conference will be very competitive as usual.”