The Tuscaloosa County boys basketball team has seen no shortage of a high turnover rate the past two seasons.

In total, the Wildcats have lost 17 seniors to graduation over the last two years, including all of its starters from last season's team. Coming into this season, coach Curt Weeks, who has been at Tuscaloosa County for 24 years and is in his 18th year as head coach, knew he was going to have a young team compared to that of years past.

"Every team is different, no team is the same obviously," Weeks said. "This team, we are playing more young guys than we probably ever had ... With such a young group, we are still up to this point working on details, but we really have made significant strides."

Looking at the Wildcats roster, it has four seniors, three juniors, four sophomores and one freshman. It's starting lineup consists of three seniors: Jackson Moore, Jaxon Pearson and Sheldrick McNeal Jr., along with two sophomores: Ford Traweek and Zaid Caddell.

Out of its four seniors, one — McNeal Jr. — saw ample time on the floor prior to this season. With that, McNeal Jr., who has been on the varsity roster since his sophomore year, has seen his role on the team change to that of coming off the bench to now being someone his younger teammates can look up to.

"From the past years, I played a good amount, but my role is not where it is now," McNeal Jr. said. "This year, a lot of guys depend on me as a senior and one of the guards they can look up to. I try to do the right thing, lead by example, be a great teammate, be coachable, do things the way coach wants so (the younger guys will do it). My role this year is being a leader too, but to make sure my guys get into the game."

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With such a young team, another thing the Wildcat team has had to adjust to is playing up to the culture and standard at Tuscaloosa County: the Wildcat Way. As described by Weeks, the Wildcat Way is split into four parts: maximum effort, complete confidence, staying even keeled and being a great teammate.

"We have a plan that everything we do comes back to that. I always go back to stick to the plan. It's our culture, it's what we call the Wildcat Way," Weeks said. "At the end of the day, the Wildcat Way encompasses everything that you need to be successful or give yourself the best chance to be successful. So, at the end of the day, we play to our standard of The Wildcat Way, that is what we are trying to accomplish day in and day out."

It took the young team a bit to adjust to playing up to the standard, with Weeks saying they were not able to get through a workout over the first two weeks of the season. Now, at the midway point of the season, the young Wildcat squad is catching on.

"At first, they we're not really understanding," McNeal Jr. said. "But now, as the season is halfway through, they started getting a pretty good understanding. They are doing much better with it now."

To highlight their improvement this season, last month, the Wildcats defeated in-county rival Paul W. Bryant, who is tabbed as the No. 2 team in the state in Class 6A, by a score of 71-69 in double-overtime, following a 66-36 loss to the same Paul. W Bryant team a few weeks before.

Tuscaloosa County, which competes in arguably the toughest area in the state in 7A-Area 5, currently sits at 13-10 on the season with key area matchups ahead. Despite the tough slate of games ahead of them, all Weeks asks is that his team plays to the best of its ability and to the Wildcat Way. As long as they do that, he said, they may as well have won the state title every year.

"By the end of the year, we want to be the best that we can possibly be as a team," Weeks said. "As long as we do that, you know, we have won a state championship every year."

Anna Snyder covers high school sports and University of Alabama recruiting for The Tuscaloosa News. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com. Follow her on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @annaesnyder2

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: AHSAA basketball: TCHS boys basketball and the Wildcat Way