The York Dragons boys basketball team is looking to turn things around this season.
York will stand as one of the youngest teams in the Upper Cumberland for the second consecutive season, return two seniors and one junior, giving head coach Rodney Pile something to build his fast pace of play around.
“We’re wanting to try to play fast,” Pile said. “But at the same time sometimes it’s hard to play fast. It’s hard to, a kid his whole life he’s been used to, somebody gets a rebound and you got two or three standing there wanting the ball instead of sprinting to the other end so we’re still trying to learn that.”
York’s roster last season consisted mainly of freshmen and a junior who did not play during his sophomore year. No player with previous game experience started for the Dragons. Pile said scoring will be a focus this season, pointing to a Christmas tournament game where York lost an 11 point lead in the fourth quarter after failing to score in the final eight minutes.
“At the end of the day, this game is about whoever has the most points on the scoreboard wins the game,” Pile said. “I’m a firm believer in defense wins championships, but if you don’t score, if you have a hard time scoring or can’t score, you can’t play defense well enough in order to overcome that.”
York looks to bounce back after last season saw the Dragons outscored by 471 points. Pile said he plans to keep the starting rotation flexible in hopes the offseason work on fundamentals and techniques pays off.
“We’re looking forward to a lot of competition,” Pile said. “Looking forward to having some great practices, and looking forward to hopefully doing a lot better this year than we did last year.”
After finishing last season with four wins, three of which occurred in the district, along with the year prior hitting 18 victories, the Dragons look to regain their footing in the Upper Cumberland.