As the season approached, Mooseheart boys basketball coach Ron Ahrens projected he had a defensive juggernaut on his hands but also a team that was deficient when it came to executing half-court offense.

Twenty-six games later, Ahrens hasn’t seen anything to change his mind.

Mooseheart, in pursuit of what Ahrens believes would be the program’s first regional championship in school history, opens the IHSA Class 1A Westminster Christian Regional on Tuesday against Faith Lutheran. The second-seeded Red Ramblers will be heavily favored to win their first two regionals games, which would likely set up a regional championship showdown Friday against top-seeded Hinckley-Big Rock.