This season’s boys varsity basketball team has made a substantial improvement from last year already having beaten last year’s final record with five wins and eight losses.
At this time last year, varsity’s record was three wins and ten losses and it finished the season with three wins and 20 losses.
Varsity basketball has not done this well since the 2009-2010 season finishing with a final record of 12 wins and ten losses.
This year’s team has more returning players than last year’s with five seniors compared to last year’s younger team of three seniors.
“The reason this season has been going so well is because of the leadership from seniors and the returning players from last year. This year’s team also has more faith in what are doing as a team by trusting our coaches plans for each team we play,” senior Tarek Othman said.
This year’s team also has had a very positive outlook for the rest of the season having started out so much better than last year.
“I am very happy with the season so far,” varsity head coach Dan Hale said. “The boys are working and playing hard and for the most part we are playing competitive every game.”
The general consensus is that the individual bonds between players have strengthened and the team has grown to help individual players.
“We have grown as a team and the chemistry of the group this year has helped us win,” senior point guard Latrell Watkins said. “I have become a better individual player and the team is incessantly helping me become better and we all look out for each other we work really hard and we do our best on the court.”
In addition to varsity, both the freshman and JV teams have improved with both teams winning more games this year than they did at the end of season last year.
“We are very much a program on the rise, and we are seeing improved results in terms of wins and losses on all three levels,” freshman basketball coach Josh Peters said.
“However, more than wins and losses, what makes our program great is the quality of the student athletes we have on all three teams. In fact, over 80% of our players across all three levels are taking at least one Honors or IB class,” Peters added.
The team has an attitude that reflects its development.
“We feel hungry to prove everybody wrong,” Othman said. “[To] show that Marshall’s varsity basketball team is a team to be afraid of.”