The Trojans return seven key players from that squad that went 17-7 a year ago and defeated Findlay Liberty-Benton 50-45 in the Division III state championship game.  But, NCH lost guard Nathaniel Glover (15.5 points) and guard Dwayne Parks to graduation.

Mahaffey says he treated tryouts and the first couple of weeks like boot camp in order for his players to get rid of imperfect habits they picked up during the summer.

“I think the key thing with this team is to develop maturity,” Mahaffey says. “When they won it last year we really wanted to do that. Will they listen and still work hard? That’s the key. They have to be mature and be able to handle the situation.”

That maturity and leadership will certainly fall in large part on the shoulders of senior guard Damon Butler, who is considered the team’s top returning player. Butler averaged 20.2 points and 5.4 assists and was named Division III third-team all-state and Associated Press second-team all-district.

Some might have forgotten it was Butler who made a basket with less than 30 seconds left to help NCH win its first state title against Ironton during his freshman season. Mahaffey says he would like see Butler be like another coach on the floor and challenge him to develop a better sense of maturity.

“(Damon) can hopefully step up and be more of a vocal leader,” Mahaffey says. “Last season he led by more example.”

Butler is considered one of the top returning players in the area and has several options for college, according to Mahaffey. Xavier, Bowling Green and Miami are among the schools that have shown interest. Other key players for NCH will be senior forward Alphonso McPherson (10.1 ppg.) and sophomore guard Barry Cobb (7.7 ppg.).

Senior guard Brandon Johnson and sophomore guard Steve Martin will also contribute.

“I always remind them, they are not bigger than the program,” Mahaffey says. “When I came in, I keep telling the kids now, we got where we were because of the hard work.”

Mahaffey certainly doesn’t believe area teams will roll over when they play the Trojans. NCH, which was unranked in the state poll during the regular season, hasn’t loss to a Division III team since Reading in the 2004 sectional tournament at Xavier’s Cintas Center.

Last season there were questions of whether NCH could win the state title especially after standouts O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker left the program. NCH athletic director Joe Nickel says all three state titles are special to him because he knew Mayo and Walker put their time in to lead by example, which he says made the other players better.

“To this day I get people saying to me that the third (state title) had to be more special than the first two,” Nickel says. “People seem to forget that O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker were student-athletes doing what 15, 16, 17 and 18-year olds do. They were teenagers blessed with ability, but they were also teenagers that set goals and worked very hard to reach those goals. When other student-athletes saw them in the weight room, those athletes wanted to spend more time in the weight room.”

In March, NCH tied the state boys’ basketball record of three consecutive state titles with Dayton Stivers (1928-30) and Columbus Wehrle (1988-90).

“Every year our goal is to win state,” Mahaffey says. “I don’t think (about) winning four in a row. We take it one at a time and each game at a time. We take each opponent seriously and it doesn’t matter who it is.”

All the media limelight that highlighted the first two state titles with Mayo and Walker has certainly been dimmed and in some ways that’s not a bad thing for the school.

Nickel says the unfortunate part over the first two state titles was that “the media focused so hard on Bill and O.J. that they missed the other student-athletes on the team.”

“I believe Damon Butler proved last year that he should have been selected as a co-Division III player of the year,” Nickel says. “There were three selections – all three were quality players and at the state tournament. Damon belonged with them, but no one knew who he was.”

Nickel says the team had other components besides Mayo and Walker and deserved better recognition.

“Winning last year put Damon where he should have been all along and I am very happy for him,” Nickel says.

Mahaffey says the phone went crazy for about three years, but last year it didn’t ring as often from the media storm. But, he’s still glad he went through the experience with teams from the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.

“It’s hard because you have to talk and deal with a lot of situations,” Mahaffey says. “I haven’t read (the high school message forum Web site) Yappi since OJ’s freshman year. …We just try to focus on us.”

Mahaffey says he still speaks to Mayo and Walker and tries to stay in touch about every week or so. Walker will return for his second season with Kansas State after a torn ACL last season. Mayo begins his first season at the University of Southern California.

Mahaffey says each is making their adjustments to the teams they are with and both are still interested in how the NCH program is doing. Nickel says Mahaffey deserves more credit than he has in the past because the way he prepares his teams for their opponents.

“When NCH won the first two (titles), he was not given credit; but then last year everyone was amazed at the job he had done,” Nickel says. “I, on the other hand, spent a lot of time with him prior to each game we have played since he became head coach here. One of the things that amazes me is how well he knows what the other team will do and how he is going to (defend) it.”

This season Mahaffey isn’t making any promises, but he knows the challenge that is ahead starting 0-0. “I still think they have to work hard and show it even more than last year,” he says.