The past basketball season may be viewed by some as less than perfect, but in the eyes of one man, it was a success. This man is the one man whose opinion truly matters, Head Coach Darrell Davis.

“Everybody improved a lot since last season,” Davis said. “We had people who understood their role on the team. We played well and it was a fun year.”

Davis continues to stress the importance of having fun in basketball. It is that philosophy that led the team from an 8-18 record last year, his first, to a 17-9 record this year. In addition to the drastic improvement, the team scored 218 more total points.

“We wanted to have fun every game and play our best in February,” the Davis said. “This year, our players had confidence and we expected to do well. All we do is prepare, play hard, and have fun. Winning is contagious, and so is losing.”

While the team’s performance this year was definitely better than the previous, the success didn’t stop there. Starting guard James Gleeson earned the GAC South Player of the Year honors, while Coach Davis received GAC South Coach of the Year.

“I’m honored to receive the award, but it was really because of the players,” Davis said. “And a big reason I got it was because we won the division.”

Davis also pointed out a key reason as to why he won the award.

“A lot of times fun is left out of the game,” Davis explained. “We like to work hard, but we also like to have fun.”

He honestly believes that having fun makes a good team great, and that attitude has helped him lead his team to numerous victories and an impressive improvement. Not only is Davis respected by fans and committees, but he has also earned the unquestioning and unwavering admiration of his players in very short time.

“We’re a close team,” Davis said. “I enjoy being with young people and watching them improve at what they love. It’s a team thing. I have great assistants, a great roster, and we had a great year.”

No matter what their feelings were about the last season, Coach will ensure that they train just as hard in summer as they did in winter. This season is over, and next season is just around the corner. They’ll get new talent, they’ll lose some, but Coach Davis will make sure that they all have the same mentality.

“We’re definitely going to keep working hard,” he concluded, “because championships are won in the offseason.