The Nova basketball team is back on the court with championship aspirations, looking to repeat as gold ball winners under new leadership. After capturing the school's first-ever championship last season, the team faces the chall enge of defending its title with a significantly different roster and a new head coach at the helm.Head coach Raymont McElroy acknowledges the weight of expectations but sees his team's underdog status as motivation. "Sure, they want to feel like they can do it. There's a lot of talk right now about us being down, but that's why we are having the success that we are having. They're hungry, they're dogs right now. They know they're underdogs," McElroy said.The Novas lost four of their top scorers from last year's championship team, forcing significant adjustments to their playing style. Guard Jamir Bateman explained the differences between this year's squad and last season's champions.Watch: Nova basketball team aims for championship repeat under new head coach Nova basketball team aims for championship repeat under new head coach"I would say last year we were much bigger, and we played pretty fast. This team now we're kind of small, and we've got to do better with rebounding and defense," Bateman said. Despite the roster changes, the team has started strong, scoring over 100 points in its first two wins of the season. The players have embraced their new coach's leadership style and approach."It's great actually. He's a great role model. He cares about us as people, not only basketball players, and he coaches us to get better every day," guard Gavin Valeri said. Forward D'Anthony Brown sees parallels between the team's situation and their coach's position, both having something to prove this season."Our new coach has something to prove, like us. He's in the same position as us. Our coach pushes us every day. We make him better, too," Brown said. The Novas will look to build on their early-season success as they pursue back-to-back championships with their revamped roster and new coaching staff.This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.Its about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for TMJ4 on your device.Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.Report a typo or error // Submit a news tip ...read more read less