Since he has accumulated 524 wins with three teams in nearly 30 seasons as a college head coach, you might think Texas State men’s basketball coach Danny Kaspar has seen it all.

But Kaspar was pleasantly surprised this offseason when he witnessed his team do something he hadn’t seen before.

"Every conditioning test I put them through, they all passed," Kaspar said last week at Texas State media day. "We had a mile run, and they all made it without having to do extra running to get there. … That’s the first time any of my teams have done that in 27 years — make all the conditioning tests."

While being in shape for games is important, replacing three of the Bobcats’ top four scorers from last season — forward Kavin Gilder-Tilbury and guards Ojai Black and Bobby Conley — is the top priority for Texas State.

An even tougher task will be supplying the intangibles that Black brought as the starting point guard on a 22-win team.

"The thing I’m worried the most about is who is going to replace Ojai Black as a leader and who is going to take care of the ball," Kaspar said. "Ojai Black was a much bigger contributor than anyone gives him credit for other than me. He was a tremendous contributor to our success last year, and we’ve got to get that replaced."

One player primed to step into that leadership role is sophomore Nijal Pearson. A guard-forward combo player, Pearson led the Bobcats in rebounding with 5.7 per game and was second in scoring with 13.3 points per game. Kaspar said Pearson will have an increased role in the offense this year.

Pearson "is going to get more shots than anybody," Kaspar said. "He’s got to."

Pearson can make up for leadership qualities lost with Black’s departure, but he doesn’t take the ball upcourt much. Sophomore Marlin Davis is the front-runner to take over as the starting point guard despite not playing much last season. Kaspar conceded that Davis isn’t as good defensively as Black but said he is quicker and a better scorer.

In what Kaspar called the Bobcats’ best recruiting class in his five years there, they brought in a bevy of newcomers to help replace the departures. Texas State signed three junior college transfers (forward Alex Peacock and guards Isaiah Gurley and Tre’Larenz Nottingham) and three high school players (forward Alonzo Sule and guards Shelby Adams and Reggie Miller) before this season.

The three freshmen aren’t expected to play much this season, but the junior college players have been impressive in practice, with Kaspar giving high praise to one in particular.

"For the JUCOs, the young man that is probably making the most impact is Isaiah Gurley at shooting guard, which we needed to replace Bobby Conley," Kaspar said. "He’s looking very good in practice. Very athletic player, probably the most complete shooter/athlete we’ve had at the 2-guard spot since I’ve been here."

Kaspar also said he expects Peacock and Nedeljko Prijovic — a sophomore from Serbia who had an impressive freshman season off the bench last year — to make up for Gilder-Tilbury’s scoring at power forward. After leading the Bobcats in scoring last season with 15.9 points per game, Gilder-Tilbury now plays for RheinStars Koln in Germany.

The Bobcats will tip off the season with an exhibition charity game at home against St. Edward’s at 7 p.m. Thursday. All proceeds from the game will go to the United Way Jefferson County for Hurricane Harvey relief.