The success of the Pella High football team puts the Little Dutch basketball team a little bit behind schedule early in the season.

For the third straight year, thanks to three straight football championships, the basketball team is late getting to the party.

In fact, the full hoops squad wasn’t together for the first time this year until Tuesday night.

With a game looming this coming Tuesday, Coach Mark Core says that they’re spending the first several practices getting into basketball mode.

“That’s going to involve some fundamentals – some passing, catching, dribbling, shooting – plus some basic offense, basic defense and some special plays. But then the little things like a jump ball. When the game starts, we need to know how to line up for a jump ball. Those things that teams typically have plenty of time to get ready for, we’re going to have to have a crash course in each of those areas.”

State rules would have allowed the Little Dutch to postpone their season opener, which is this Tuesday against Des Moines Christian, because of the late finish to the football season.

Core says that he wants to throw his team into the fire, and is excited to get the season started.