The Irmo Yellow Jackets are the defending 4A boys basketball champions. They’re a program that has an impressive track record of success and is more accustomed to reloading year after year as opposed to rebuilding.

It’s a summer of uncertainty for head coach Tim Whipple, who has amassed over 800 wins and six state championships at Irmo High School. He lost five players to graduation and a few others left the program.

Most teams at the SC Live Team Camp were incomplete. Almost every team has at least one or two players absent due to football or other summer obligations but Irmo was in a different boat this summer. They only brought eight players, most of which will be playing junior varsity basketball this year. Most of the rotational players are still fulfilling summer duties on the football team, leaving the summer to be an opportunity for these eight JV players to try to earn spots on the varsity roster.

Whipple has been coaching for decades and has gone through countless summer team camp sessions with various types of teams, but this summer is one of the most unique he’s ever gone through in his career.

“This is our most inexperienced team we’ve ever had compete over the summer that I’ve ever coached,” Whipple said. “So it’s a little frustrating but they’re good kids, they’re just not there yet.”

The players are experiencing the biggest challenge as high school players. Not only are they having to play for their roster spot against bigger, better and more experienced varsity rosters, but playing for a prestigious program with a history of winning at a high level carries a different kind of weight that most JV players don’t have to play with.

“I told them that you’re putting on that Irmo uniform and the expectations are pretty high,” Whipple said. “I mean, people aren’t going to use the excuse that you’re young and inexperienced or whatever. The expectations are there for you to compete and do well and hopefully we’ll get there. Obviously, we’re not there yet. It’s hard going out there and being outmanned every single time you take the floor. They don’t understand what the competition level is because they’ve never had to do it before. We just want to keep them where they don’t get demoralized right now and that there is a future.”

During their game against Eastside, the most common phrase Whipple can be heard yelling was “You’re standing around!” to his players on defense who are still adjusting to the varsity high school game which requires much more attention to detail and defensive intensity.

“We stand around and they don’t comprehend it because they’ve been able to stand around previously and get away with it and now they can’t do that,” Whipple said. “It’s kind of fun, in a way, because we will have the opportunity to watch us get better, to improve and it will be a visible improvement as we go along. So that will be rewarding. We’re gonna take a lot of lumps along the way in that process.”

Part of the learning process this Irmo team is trying to figure out is the complexities of the game. Like the previous example of standing around on defense, there are things that these players will have to figure out that they’ve never had to deal with at the middle school level.

“Before you can learn to multiply and divide, you have to learn how to add and subtract,” Whipple said. “These guys are in the add and subtract situation and we need them to be multiplying and dividing.”

The good news for the Yellow Jackets is that it’s still June. There is plenty of time to learn to “multiply and divide” and gain the experience needed to play their best in the months that matter most. Whipple has told his team that while the summer and early parts of the season might be tough and that losing will be a part of the process, it’s important to look at that big picture and use the whole regular season to become more of a finished product in late January and February when the most important basketball is being played.

“It’s going to be a process,” Whipple said. “Going into the summer, what we’re trying to do is get kids to compete and that’s about it. That’s where we are right now. We’re not worried about score, we’re not worried about any of that. We’re just worried about trying to get these guys to learn how to compete and I think they will. They’ll be a better group and it may take awhile. Hopefully by region time we’ll be able to compete. We’ll see in January and that’s our goal. We’re hoping to be a team that is ready to compete with the type of caliber of teams that we’re gonna have to play against in January when we start our region.”