The Varsity Boys Basketball team is ready to get the season underway after an off-season that brought many changes to the program.
Departing was Steve Laidlaw, who served seven years as the boys head coach, and seniors from a team that went 9-13 last year, with a district victory for the first time in over a decade.
In steps new Head Coach Paul Marfia, who plans on not changing what Laidlaw had built.
‘He built a great program and I plan to keep building on Laidlaw’s momentum,? said Marfia.
With a new coach comes a new system on both sides of the basketball, and Marfia expects that it is going to take time to adjust to it.
?’We have a lot of work to do. It is a new system the players have to adjust to…however, we are starting with the basics and our focus will be on the fundamentals and as the season progresses, we will work from there,? he said.
The system that he wants to run is an up-tempo style that looks for defensive mismatches. He would like to use spacing to try and create favorable match-ups on set plays since he doesn’t have a tall center, even with four players that are 6?3 or more.
‘Our post players can also put it on the ground versus bigger, slower post (players). We will then try to bring them out of the lane to create lanes for our players to drive or our wings to post up,? he added.
Defensively, he wants to run a pressure man-to-man, making conditioning and toughness be factors in the game. However, Marfia states that it will take time to get there.
‘Rome was not built in a day, and the same is true with our defense,? he said. ‘Until then, we will press in spots where we have an advantage and will change up our defense.?
Marfia added that they will primarily be man-to-man and mix in a 1-3-1 trap or other match-ups.
‘We will be ready and will play whatever gives us the advantage,? he said.
Even with the adjustment period, he is optimistic about the season because of six letter winners that are returning to the squad, which include seniors Kevin Cramer, Gary Wurtz, Matt Versteeg, Mike Bertling and Tommy Nieman.
That senior leadership is the strength of the team said Marfia. ‘We have a learning curve with a new coach and their attention to detail will help us get on track together.?
He thinks that the team could go eight to 10 players deep on any given night with some of the juniors and underclassmen on the team. He looks towards juniors Chris Calvin, Tyler Rose and Doug Piesko and sophomore Mark Hazelwood to provide some scoring and quality minutes off the bench.
With 14 players on the roster, Marfia wants to give as many opportunities as possible for kids to experience what varsity basketball is all about.
One of the weaknesses that he pointed out was the team’s poor shooting. ‘We only shot 56 percent from the free throw line, with only two players over 60 percent. We shot 26 percent from three-point and only 37 percent overall. Combine that with 18.1 turnovers a game and you make it tough to be successful,? said Marfia.
Marfia said that during his first year he would like to have every player on the team grow as a person and as a basketball player, make Oxford proud of their basketball team and how they carry themselves and compete in every minute of every game when on the court.
When asked about the Flint Metro League this year, he said that Fenton and Holly were the clear favorites with everyone else playing the role of spoiler. He added that the team goal was to win a championship and ‘go out in style.?
‘We believe in our team and plan to play hard in every game, we will be ready every night to compete for a championship and make this community proud,? he said.
The boys will play their first official game against Farmington Harrison on Tuesday, Dec. 8. They scrimmaged against Clarenceville on Nov. 28.
The first chance for the home crowd to see the Wildcats in action is Friday, Dec. 11 against Clio, their FML opener.