After a season that saw the DeKalb County Tigers Boys Basketball Team return to the region tournament, head coach Joey Agee is looking to build on last year’s momentum with a roster that blends experience and youth.
The Tigers lost some key contributors from last season but return five upperclassmen to anchor a squad that features 16 players. The remaining 11 are either sophomores or freshmen. Agee said the need for young players to quickly find comfort within the rotation is a point of emphasis.
“They’re just not role players,” Agee said. “At times, we’re gonna have to rely on them a lot more to score, but these kids have gotten stronger, they’ve grown since last year which always helps, but they’ve done a great job of working on their own and getting shots up.”
Last season, DeKalb’s tournament run ended in the first round. The Tigers would fall to Tullahoma, who would eventually make it all the way to the state championship. Agee said that postseason experience gives his squad confidence as they approach a challenging schedule in a new region.
“I feel like we got a little bit of momentum going into this year,” Agee said. “Lost some key players from last year but we got a few players coming back that had a lot of playing time last year.”
Over the off-season, Agee used a weight training program to help his players build muscle and increase overall strength. Agee said the kids not only bulked up, but went beyond that, voluntarily working on shots and offensive schemes on their own. Agee said he expects the Tigers to pick up the pace once the season starts.
“I think I got a lot of kids that can play so that’s gonna help,” Agee said. “I think depth is going to be a little bit of a strength for us. Hopefully we can go 10, 11 kids deep and hopefully we can try to play super fats and be aggressive defensively and be able to rotate kids in and out.”
DeKalb will face new competition this season in their new region. Agee said he talked to his players about how difficult the schedule could become. DeKalb’s new district includes Macon County, Central Magnet, and Watertown this season.
