EAST PROVIDENCE — The recently completed 2023 Summer League for the East Providence High School boys' basketball team was an eye-opener to a certain extent for the 13 players who regularly attended and also the start of a rare chance to immediately impact the squad as well.

Head coach Joe Andrade, about to embark on his eighth season at the helm of the Townies, emphasized the 2023-24 version of EPHS will basically be a "brand new team" after all five starters and several important reserves departed the program. Five seniors graduated last spring and two more top players — Trey Rezendes and Xavier Hazard — have transferred to private/prep schools. And still another player with significant upside/potential, 6-foot-5 junior Kenaz Ochgwu, isn't expected back either. He and his family have moved out of state to Virginia.

Standout guards at the Rhode Island Interscholastic League level, Rezendes will attend Tabor Academy in Marion, Mass., while Hazard will go to Middlesex School in Concord, Mass. The Seawolves and Zebras, respectively, both participate in Class B of the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC), the fourth tier of competition below AAA, AA and A.

"We're definitely in rebuild mode," said Andrade. "We have a lot of talent. Like I've said to the kids, it's going to take time, but it's also an opportunity. Most year's it's not like this. You usually have most of your team in place. But this year is different. We so many new players, it's going to be a challenge, but you should like that, you should want that."

The Townies finished with a 4-6 record in the Johnston Summer League, winding up 11th out of 16 teams. EPHS lost its last game to North Kingstown with a chance to earn a berth in the playoffs.

Among the players who played in the summer and whom Andrade expects to have key roles on the club this winter are: senior Brandyn Van Wagner; juniors Christian Torres, Alex Mulamba, Franklin Lopez and Tyler Gomez; sophomore Ja Cardenas; and freshman Jervon Brown.

"I think at the end of the summer, there some anxiousness about how things went. But like I stressed to the kids and the parents, this basically a brand, brand, brand new team. It should be exiting," Andrade said. "These kids do seem to be a little more focused than other teams I've had in recent years. We have more length. We've had smaller guards in the past, that would get posted up, didn't allow us to play as much zone (defense) as I would have liked.

"But again, this is going to be a long process. I said to them things may not go as well as you want immediately, but we have to look at it not just for this year, but for next year, too. If they put in the work starting this year and they all come back next year, they'll be a year older, be a more seasoned team. But we have to start putting in the work now. We have to start getting better now."