The Glasgow boys return a majority of their scoring power from a year ago after going 18-9 the last two seasons.

Coach Mick Cropp returns to lead the Yellowjackets for the 24th year. During the offseason, he was honored with induction into the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association Class of 2025 Hall of Fame.

A Glasgow native, Cropp has built an outstanding 23-year career at his alma mater, leading his teams to a dozen 20-win seasons with seven conference championships and nine district titles. His teams have also won 22 regular-season tournaments.

Under his leadership, the Yellowjackets made six trips to the state semifinals, including back-to-back appearances in 2008 and 2009, finishing second and third overall, respectively. The team placed fourth in the state in 2009, 2012, 2017, and 2023.

The Jackets lost four key seniors from a year ago, including three-year starter Zach Sayler, Jackson Strodtman, Nathan Prenzler, and Finn Johnson, who combined to average about 17 of the team’s 60-point per night average.

This season’s team retains most of its scoring power, including senior Jackson Meyer, who averaged 20.4 points per game last year. Cropp calls him a “matchup nightmare.”

“His freshman and sophomore years, he was more of a spot-up shooter. Last year, he realized that he’s bigger than everybody and took his game inside and really flourished down there. And so now, we just find ways to put him in the spots where it’s a matchup problem for the other team. And he is really hard to guard,” Cropp said.

Senior 3-point shooter Bronson Foster also returns to the starting lineup. A threat from the perimeter, Cropp said he has improved at driving to the basket and on defense.

“He’s gotten stronger as he’s gotten older,” Cropp said. “He works really, really hard. He hustles all the time, and he’s got a lot of energy and drive and a lot of passion for playing hard and playing the right way. It’s a lot of fun to watch.”

Junior Kyler Kottman is another returner who is essential to the team’s offense and led the Jackets in assists last year. “We run basically everything through him,” Cropp explained. “He touches the ball pretty much every single time down the floor. He can distribute and he can shoot.”

Toward the end of last season, Cropp said Kottman and Meyer started taking advantage of their size and ability to shoot in a different offense. “We’re going to work a little bit more with that this year at the beginning of the year. They’re really a difficult matchup.”

Kottman’s length allows him to block a lot of shots. And Cropp said he does it smartly, avoiding foul trouble. “He plays hard and is an incredibly smart player. He’s hard to replace for us when he’s not in the game.”

Along with those three key returners are junior point guard Britton Barringhaus and guards Josh Sayler, a junior, and sophomore Parker Monnig, who round out a cadre of potential starters.

Barringhaus is a good defender. And bringing the ball down the court, he’s quick, distributes well, and can shoot when he needs to. He also started in a handful of games last season.

Salyer and Monnig will compete for the starting role in the final guard position. Cropp said Monnig works hard and is offensively driven.

“The thing with Britton, and especially with Josh and Parker, is they’re not going to have to look for open shots for those other guys on the floor,” Cropp explained. “They’re going to be open. They just have to knock them down. They’re more than capable of doing it.”

On the bench, Glasgow will have two backup big men, sophomore Gus Korte and senior Gavin Lawson. Both are tall and strong, providing solid backup behind Kottman.

Backing up at point guard will be junior Van Venable and sophomore Aidan Polson.

Cropp said he has a strong class of juniors who have done a nice job in practice so far in the preseason. They are Ben Gouge, Jaden DeMint, and Andrew Cropp, along with senior Seth Monnig.

On the floor, Cropp said his team will focus more heavily on defense this season. “While we can score, I don’t think we can just consistently outscore people,” he said. “We’re going to have to be able to defend. We have to buy into it. I would like to be a hard-nosed defensive team.”

Other than that, the Jackets will play much of the same style that has brought them winning seasons year after year. The team will be fast, scoring in transition and working opposing defenses all over the court.

“We’re going to run mostly the same stuff offensively. We’ve got a lot of the same kids back. We’ve got the same mentality. We want to do the same things. It’s not broken. I had a really, really enjoyable year last year coaching. And this team should be another one. It’s just a good group of kids.”

Today’s game boasts a more up-tempo pace than in eras past, when Glasgow held opponents to 40 points a game. And teams like deploy full-court presses for all or most of the game’s 32 minutes. For Glasgow, that has resulted in more 3-point shooting. Cropp said the plan is to maintain possession of the ball. “Teams can’t score if you have the ball. So, make them work and take tough shots and rebound.”

Glasgow once again returns to the CAC. Cropp points to Cairo and New Franklin as teams that stand a good chance to win the conference title, but contends that his team has a good opportunity to hoist the trophy as well. “I think every night in the conference is tough, especially when you go on the road,” he said. “I think we have as good a chance as anyone to win it. I think we also have as good a chance as a lot of teams to be in the middle of the pack. I don’t think there’s one obvious standout team, and I don’t think there are any real bad teams. It’s anyone’s conference trophy to win.”

Glasgow opened the season at home on Friday with a convincing 68-50 win over Meadville, a team that returned all five starters from last year’s 17-11 season. On Monday, the Jackets played their first road game at Brunswick, coming falling 60-53. They return home after the Thanksgiving break to host their annual tournament, which for yers has served as an unofficial start to the season and features eight of the area’s best teams.

Glasgow drew the top seed and will face eighth-seeded Marceline in the opening round at 6 p.m. on Monday.

After the tournament, the Jackets don’t get much of a break. They travel to Westran on Dec. 11, then return home to host Cairo on Dec. 12 and Pilot Grove on Dec. 16 to close out the fall semester.

“We play a really difficult schedule,” Cropp said.

Glasgow returns to action in the new year at the always challenging Salisbury tournament starting Jan. 5. From there, the Jackets dive into conference action, closing out January at the Slater tournament. The regular season ends with a stretch of seven games over 16 days heading into the district tournament.

“Once you get through the Slater Tournament, districts are right around the corner. And you start to get yourself ready and fine-tuned for that,” Cropp said.