Just three years ago, Blue Ridge head basketball coach Richie Stevens coached his Tigers to their first-ever state championship.
Former star Tiger guard Justin Bailey was a big part of that. But Stevens remembers the one character trait shared by every player on that 2022 championship team.
“They were all dawgs,” said Stevens. “Every single player on that roster. I talk about having a ‘dawg’ mentality a lot, but it’s really just another way of saying always to play with a sense of urgency.”
Entering the 2025-26 season, Stevens says he sees flashes of that ‘dawg’ mentality in this year’s team.
“A majority of the time, we’ve got exactly that kind of mentality. We show lots of flashes of it,” said Stevens. “We play hard. We had a great fall. We were in every single game that we played against some of the best teams around.”
Blue Ridge returns a large group of contributors from a team that went 8-4 in 4-A Region 2 last season, finishing third in a talented region.
The Tigers believe they will compete for the region crown once again this year, despite being picked to finish fourth.
“I feel like we get overlooked a lot and teams just kind of look past us,” said junior guard Chase Hoover. “They think they’re supposed to beat us just because they’re bigger and we’re smaller. But we know what we can do.”
Hoover is the Tigers’ three-point specialist, but has been working on different areas of his game this offseason and will be tasked with a much bigger role this season as a starter.
And he’s right. Blue Ridge is one of the smallest teams — based on height — in 4-A Region 2.
But the Tigers do have one post player that stands tall and stands out. Senior forward/center Ty’Korian Campbell, at 6-foot-4, is poised for a massive final season. Campbell averaged a double-double last season with 12.8 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.
Campbell knows exactly the kind of mindset Stevens is looking for out of this year’s team.
“Coach always talks about having ‘dawgs’ on that 2022 state championship team,” said Campbell. “We are coming out here every day at practice and trying to be like them, while also playing our games."
One crucial departure for Blue Ridge to graduation last year was all-region star Paul Bishop, who averaged 16 points and six rebounds per game. Stevens is expecting it to be a collective effort to step up and replace that production, but senior point guard Trey Bradley is expected to shoulder a heavy portion of that ball-handling and scoring weight.
“I do think my scoring and assist numbers are going to go up this year,” said Bradley. “But my main focus is just being more dynamic and all over the place on both sides of the ball, trying to cause other teams problems offensively and defensively.”
Senior Andrew Gray, junior Alton Every, and junior Braylon Edwards are just a few of the several Tigers expected to play contributing roles in Blue Ridge’s success, as well.
The Tigers will tip off their season on Monday, Dec. 1, at home vs. Landrum. Stevens says the key to this year’s season will be consistently showing up night in and night out, no matter who the opponent is.
“The mindset for us is that we want to show up and rip throats out every time we step into the gym,” said Stevens. “That’s the dog mentality we need. That’s what will carry us far.”
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