Exeter boys basketball coach dislikes the phrase “rebuilding year,” but there are not many other ways to describe this year’s Tigers squad as they find their new identity.
After losing a strong group of seniors to graduation last year, Williams said Exeter is still working to find its best lineup, a work in progress.
“We lost a lot of pieces last year that put us in a kind of rebuilding year,” he said. “I don’t like that phrase, but we are figuring out our new identity and who needs to be on the floor after a year where we were more successful than normal.
“We’re finding out who needs to be where on the floor using the skills they are good at, and we try to highlight those on both offense and defense.”
About half of the Tigers’ opponents this season boast winning records, and Williams said he hopes the second half of the season gets a little less challenging.
“I think our schedule will get lighter after our last tournament, [the 42nd Annual Mercy/Warrior Classic Feb. 3-8], versus the games we played earlier in the year,” he said. “A couple of times, we did not play to our best in the beginning of the year, but we are starting to find our legs and be more responsible.”
Exeter has 10 regular season games and the tournament still on tap, and Williams hopes the team will finish in the middle of the Ozark 7.
“New Heights and McAuley are probably the favorites to win the conference, and we had a decent showing against New Heights in the first half when we played them,” Williams said. “We found some highlights to build on. We have McAuley next Friday, and they are probably one of the strongest teams in Class 1 — I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up state-ranked as we get near districts. We played Thomas Jefferson early on this year, and they put it on us, but we have a rematch for conference standings and hopefully make it more of a game.”
Williams said Golden City is up a bit this season, and Exeter has beaten Verona and played in a jamboree against Wheaton.
Following conference action, the Tigers will be faced with a challenging Class 2, District 11 tournament, where four of seven teams already have double-digit wins in Blue Eye, Crane, Galena and Purdy.
“This is our first year in Class 2, and they did not give us a light load,” Williams said. “Galena is the only team in our district we have not seen, and we play them on Monday. This district is pretty tough, and I hope we can compete against teams that are accustomed to playing at the Class 2 level.
“The writing is on the wall we will play one of those top four teams in the district, and you can’t take any days off against those groups.”
Exeter’s next home contest is against Golden City on Tuesday.
