Entering the 2024-2025 season, the Boys’ Varsity Basketball Team welcomed back only four players; nine of last year’s 13 players graduated in the class of 2024. However, Student Activities Coordinator and Head Boys Varsity Basketball Coach Connor Merrill had prepared to rebuild much of the roster. The team’s newcomers include four new juniors – Elijah Webb ’26, Chuck Haight ’26, Owen Babb ’26, and Harry Miles ’26 – as well as two post-graduates – Tate Bannish ’25 and Jackson McBride ’25.
While the addition of new players is typical for any team, especially for basketball, it is uncommon to lose so many players in one year. For instance, varsity football only brought in two new juniors to their significantly larger roster.
However, with the intention of pursuing a balance of multiyear players and post-graduates, it is not unusual for coaches to accept a large portion of juniors new to Deerfield.
Nevertheless, Mr. Merrill said that if the team “plays teams in a league with a bunch of 15 to 16 year olds, that’s probably not going to go too well just because of the level of talent and the level of physicality.”
Thus, repeat juniors Harry Miles ’26 and Elijah Webb ’26 serve as important additions to the team this year, both showing promising talent already. Particularly, Webb stands at 6’9”, who’s “working his butt off and making big steps, so he’s showing a lot of promise for [the boys’ varsity basketball team],” said Mr. Merrill. Miles is also an asset to the team, but sustained an injury to his hand earlier in the year.
Returning junior Jonathan Ocasio ’26 continues to be an asset to the team. However, he is showing his leadership in a different way, as he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury earlier in the year and is off the court for the season.
Mr. Merrill jokingly referred to Ocasio as “coach” when he entered the film room one day because he acts “assistant coach right now and being in the guys’ ears and is good at just pointing out the positives and pointing out things they have to work on. His leadership is really, really showing up.”
The new recruits are complementing both the skills and leadership of captain Tommy McMahon ’25 along with the rest of the players. The team, halfway through the season, has a record of nine wins and fourteen losses.
For the rest of the season, Mr. Merrill sets the team’s main goal not in terms of wins or losses but in terms of the player’s determination in pushing through challenges in every single game. “I want fans, opposing coaches, opposing players, referees, and whoever is in the gym watching— win, lose or draw—to walk out of that gym saying, man, those guys play so hard, and they leave it all out on the floor,” Mr. Merrill said.
