This year's motto is the same as it has been: "Play hard and play smart."
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Thomson's Dan Ivey should be one of the Bulldogs' leaders this season.
Photo by Kristopher Wells
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After a 20-8 season last year, Bulldogs' Basketball Coach Michael Thomas expects big things out of his team this year.
"That'll win a lot of games," he said of the creed he teaches his team. "Last year it won 20 for us, so we want to continue to play hard and play smart."
Not only is this year's team bigger and stronger from another 12 months of conditioning, new additions have added size to a team that found itself smaller than most opponents last season.
New 6-7 senior Albert Everhart will be Thomson's go-to man in the middle. Returning players from last year's squad like Dan Ivey and Terry Hill will also help keep up the running offense that the Bulldogs are known for.
"We're going to look like a new team, physically, compared to last year," Coach Thomas said.
With a full court press defense and a fast-break offense, a bigger team could present conditioning problems, but not according to Coach Thomas. He said his bench is deep enough and in prime shape to run for a full game.
"We'll do basically the same," he said. "Hopefully we'll just do it a little bit better."
And experience shouldn't be a problem either. The seven seniors on the squad have a great deal of play under their belts.
Right now the biggest dilemma for the team is a few "nagging injuries," according to Coach Thomas. He said those players should be healed and back up to speed by the start of the season.
As for tough opponents in this year's schedule, Coach Thomas looks to the two games against Butler as key matchups.
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Terry Hill will be one of the top dogs this year.
Photo by Kristopher Wells
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Butler lost in the state championship game last year and plays in Thomson's region this season.
With dropping down to AAA, Thomson's new schedule is a little bit of an enigma to the coaching staff. They haven't faced several of the teams in region play that they will face this season.
"We do know that (Butler) is going to be pretty competitive," Coach Thomas said. "In addition to that, until we get a chance to see some of them play and scout them a little bit, it's kind of hard to say."
The opening game of Thomson's season is at Elbert County on Nov. 30. The Bulldogs travel to Butler on Dec. 3, and play their first home game on Dec. 4 against Harlem at 6 p.m.
