EDGARD — Just wait ‘til next year.

That appears to be the motto of the West St. John High School boys basketball team this season.

When the Louisiana High School Athletic Association releases its playoff brackets Monday, Riverside Academy, St. Charles Catholic and East St. John will be paying close attention to see where they land.

The Rams, however, will not be in that number.

Not even the new format, which splits the public schools and the private schools into separate playoff brackets, could help the Rams, who finished the season 1-29.

“It’s very disappointing,” said second year coach Alton Joseph. “It was a very hard struggle. I just tried to remind them there’s more to life than basketball and that they’re all going to go on and do something else.”

Joseph said there is hope for the future of the program, however.

West St. John will drop down to Class 1A next year, which will take the Rams away from a brutal Class 2A district, which includes perennial powerhouses Riverside Academy and Country Day.

Playing against those teams offered some valuable lessons, though.

“We’ve got some young guys who were able to play and that’s going to help them for next year,” Joseph said. “Then, I’ve got a real good group of eighth graders coming in.”

Even Riverside is finding this year’s road to Sulphur to be bumpier than usual.

The Rebels are 20-12 overall and finished their district schedule 6-3. They should get the No. 3 seed in the Division III bracket next week.

While that is not unheard of for the Rebels (they were No. 3 in 2013 and won state), coach Timmy Byrd said the season has been rather unusual for the team that has won five of the last seven state titles.

The team did not win its district, was swept by Country Day and nearly lost a heart-stopper to St. Charles Catholic.

“It has been a rather unusual season,” Byrd said, who pointed to his team’s youth and some key injuries as factors. The Rebels also were hit hard by the flu bug in recent weeks.

“We’ve had some kids who have had to learn as they go,” Byrd said. “I think we’re coming together at the right time.”

St. Charles Catholic coach Kemper Todd said his strategy of playing tough teams early paid off towards the end of the season and should help in the playoffs.

The Comets are 12-17 and should finish near the middle of the pack in power rankings.

“Our tougher schedule is going to help us in the long run,” Todd said.

“I feel like we are a deserving playoff team. Our goal was to get a playoff game and being able to accomplish that says a lot about us. Now we want to go forward and win a playoff game.”

The East St. John High Wildcats did not match last year’s success of winning the District 7-5A title, but still finished 17-13 and will clinch a playoff spot.

“It’s a little different feel from recent years,” Widcats coach Yussef Jasmine said. “Then again, the way this season went was way different from recent years.”

Jasmine had to replace eight seniors and had two starters miss the first half of the season.

“It took us a long time to gel,” Jasmine said. “I think we’re playing our best ball right now.”