The Fredericktown boys basketball team is coming off a 21-3 championship season, but coach Derek Dibling knows the team has plenty of question marks heading into the new season after losing eight players from last year.
Last year, the Freddies tied the school record for wins, were KMAC champions along with Centerburg, and were also sectional champions.
“Our goal is pretty simple,” said Dibling, who is in his sixth year with the Freddies and 16th year coaching. “Figure out how these pieces fit together and compete and get better each and every day in practice. We always want to compete for league championships and make noise during March.”
The Freddies bring back one starter in Kaid Carpenter, who was All KMAC and District 11 honorable mention. Kodie Spearman came off the bench last season and will also return.
Teegan Ruhl, Brady Lester, Xavier Mullins, Ben Mast and Ian Muka are juniors expecting to contribute as well.
“With so many pieces and unknowns, we'll spend a few days evaluating and analyzing before we decide on actions that are best suited for our guys,” Dibling said.
Offensively, Dibling said the team will play positionless basketball and use flexibility to play the game and react to defenses. The Freddies primarily play man-to-man defense, but there will be some zone schemes mixed in. He said it is too early to say what the team’s strengths are at this point, as the team has yet to hold a practice, but he knows the players have a team-first mentality, and there is plenty of depth.
“We have a slogan. We talk about 'championship habits every day,'” Dibling said. “This embodies the idea that it’s not what you do once in a while, it’s what you do on a daily basis that makes the difference."
Fredericktown started its season Wednesday with a scrimmage against River Valley at home.
