Bishop Chatard's boys basketball team has spent years adapting to the football team's perennial playoff run.

The basketball schedule starts in early December -- more than two weeks after most schools -- and gets tougher as the season progresses, but coach Chris Quinn is still always prepared to get out of the gate slowly.

It took no time, however, to adjust to this season's fast start.

"Obviously we're off to a good start," he said of the team's 8-0 record heading into Saturday's 7:30 p.m. game at University. "We only have four football guys of our 12 varsity players, and it definitely helped having four of our five starters (for the start of practice). We had extensive practice time (since the schedule didn't start until Dec. 4)."

Daryn Hightower (10.6 points, 6.5 rebounds) is the only starter who played football, though Kyle Dietrick, Dan Kleinschmidt and Zach Martin are key reserves.

Bishop Chatard has been led by basketball-only players Jimmy Kennedy (13.4 points, 3.4 assists, 2.0 steals) and Michael Zimmerman (11.8 points, 6.0 rebounds).

The Trojans' schedule is ranked 200th by Sagarin, having played only one team -- No. 45 Jeffersonville -- in the top 100, though their 19.9 average point differential is ranked 11th in the state. That will change when Bishop Chatard begins the City Tournament on Tuesday when it plays Broad Ripple at 6 p.m. at Tech.

"We've got a good group of guys that have played a lot of games together," Quinn said of a roster that includes seven seniors. "All the years playing together are paying off."