STARKVILLE — As Greg Carter walked into the Starkville High School gym Wednesday afternoon, a handful of scattered chairs and basketballs graced its floor.

Just seven months after clinching the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A boys state basketball title, Carter took a seat in one of the logoed seats and peered out onto the court. The season has almost arrived.

Saturday, the Yellow Jackets begin their 2019-2020 season at the Caledonia Tip Off Classic against Horn Lake. For Carter, this year’s challenges remain the same as so many prior — a plethora of departed starters, new faces needing to step up and a championship tradition he expects to maintain.

“Maybe we’re just a little different here with the culture of it,” Carter said. “Once one season ends we’ll celebrate the wins for about a week — maybe not that long. But once we get started back practicing it’s a new year and we’re starting to prepare to win for the next year.”

With Terry Tate, Tyler Talley, Jamarrion Brown and Atavius Jones (football) off to the college ranks, the Yellow Jackets already had to replace four major pieces on paper. Further complicating the matter, senior Zeke Cook suffered a broken foot in the offseason that could hold him out the entire year. But no matter, Carter remains confident.

“What that is is an opportunity for somebody else to step up,” he said. “Everyone has got to pitch in a little more, do a little more, but it’s an opportunity for someone else to step in and get some playing time. We’ve got to develop some depth as the season goes along.”

This isn’t to say Cook won’t make his presence known on the court this season. Carter, who is hopeful Cook could return at the end of January, explained how he adds an added assistant coach of sorts to the bench.

“I think I probably have the best coaching staff in the state,” he said. “And to add him to it doesn’t hurt any.”

With Cook sidelined, it will be the experienced contingent of Forte Prater, Trey Jackson, Coltie Young and Eric Green leading the Yellow Jackets this year.

Prater, a 5-foot-11 senior guard, will run the show at point, while Jackson, Young and Green are all capable playmakers in the backcourt.

Bringing back a plethora of experienced, albeit untested, players, Carter is steadfast in his belief that this year’s team will go as far as its offense carries it — at least in the early going.

“Most of the time, this time of year, the defense is ahead of the offense,” he said. “But the last two or three years our offense has been ahead of our defense to start the year and that’s where we are this year.”

With less than 48 hours until the season tips off, it will be a wait and see game for Carter and his staff as they sort out a new set of players. But as is always the case in Starkville, expectations remain high.

“It’s become an expectation from year to year that once one class moves on it’s time for that next class to step up,” he said. “We don’t linger and talk about what happened last year. It’s all about now and what you’re going to do now.”

“We see what we see in practice,” he continued. “But you never know what’s going to happen when the lights come on and the popcorn starts popping and we put people in the stands.”

Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.