2 minute read
Warriors looking to pull pieces together under Williams in 2022-23
BY IVAN SANDERS STAR CORRESPONDENT
The Happy Valley Warriors early basketball season on Warrior Hill may take a little while to settle in as new head coach Shane Williams and his team will be working to feel through a lot of newness on the team for the 2022-23 season.
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Williams, who knows something about winning championships as a player on state championship teams at Science Hill, realizes that with a mix of some seasoned players as well as young players that patience will be key until the Warriors can form a team identity.
“There are some old and some young guys - we are just trying to find a way to piece this thing together the best we can and stick with our core values and see if we can just come together as a team,” Williams said. “There is so much newness for them and newness for me so we are just trying to get on the same page.”
As Williams takes over the helm, the cupboard is not bare as he will be leaning on leadership from seniors Colby Chausse, James Murray, Dakota Grindstaff, Donavan Maxwell, and Steven Perry.
Even though this year’s squad has a mix of players, Williams will rely on his group pulling together and playing as a unit.
“This is going to be a total team effort,” Williams said. “I don’t think that we are going to have anybody stand above the rest. It’s going to be all hands on deck and whoever is feeling it that night, we are going to try and give them the ball but it’s going to be playing defense and rebounding as a team that we are going to have to really work on.”
The Warriors play in a tough league facing foes such as
Johnson County and South Greene so each night the teams take to the hardwood, Williams expects a battle.
“When you go to play one of the teams in this league it’s going to be a blood bath - it’s going to be real competitive, real physical, and they are going to take you out of stuff that you are not disciplined in running,” said Williams. “They have a lot of guys that can score in our conference so we are going to have to defend and rebound and the main thing for us is taking care of the basketball.”
And while this will be the new head coach’s first year with the Warrior’s, he has high expectations that his team will respond to the challenges that they face.
“I am more optimistic on what we can get and what the defense gives us,” Williams said. “We are going to try to push and score and if we can’t get anything we are going to run our sets and let the kids take the best shots we can get allowing our kids to drive to the basket and play with freedom so they are not having to think about what they are doing.”
