Princeton has made runs to the regional round the last couple of years under Robb Williams, but the Tigers want to get over the hump and return to the state tournament for the first time in over 40 years.
After graduating a pair of standout scorers in Kris Joyce and Chase Hancock the Tigers are reloaded, hoping this can be the squad that takes them to the promised land.
Though their guard depth took a hit with the graduations of Joyce and Hancock and the transfer of starting point guard E.J. Washington to Bluefield, the cupboard is far from empty.
“We lost a lot with Kris, Chase and E.J. transferring on the guard side.,” Williams said. “And honestly the football team success is really good and great for the school and for the community. It’s been tough for basketball because we got a lot of football players back just Monday so to tell you if you asked me about starters, I couldn’t even tell you right now. I’ve got a lot of good athletes but I haven’t been able to put any combinations together. Individual players we have back are Nik Fleming who is a very difficult matchup for anybody because he a played guard all through middle school and early in high school, but he’s gotten bigger and he’s such a strong young man.
“We expect a lot from Nik and he’s the senior. We expect a lot from Koen Sartin as well and we have point guard Gavin Stover back. Some very, very steady and solid individuals. The other two guys, the two starters, are yet to be determined. We’ve got a lot of guys that could fill those roles. It really will be determined by how they practice and learn to play for us this year.”
Despite the long absence, Williams and Co. are still pushing for a state tournament berth, though it won’t be easy. Oak Hill, the No. 4 seed, won the section last season, going on the road for both sectional games before hosting the regional. That forced Princeton to hit the road.
The path to the state tournament figures to be difficult again with all four sectional teams returning talented players and the other side seemingly bolstered as well with an influx of transfers.
“Yeah, I mean, our our region is rough,” Williams said. “George Washington got a lot of transfers and South Charleston got six transfers. We watched a couple of those guys and they’re going to be trouble. We’re a smaller triple-A school. I mean, obviously we can do it but our region is truly just horrific. Our expectations are always to get out of the section and get to the regionals. Our desire is to get the state tournament obviously. I’d like to see the basketball get upstate and we expect to get out of the section every year now which again, is a big step in the right direction. We hope to go upstate wanted to get to we expect to go upstate but it’s difficult with a smaller talent pool. You know, we were fortunate to get three athletes from a local school that transferred into us and we’re very happy with those guys. So we’ll see. If feel like we’re deep and our biggest issue will probably be keeping guys happy because we can play so many.”
Depth was something Williams felt was a strength last year as well. He still feels that way despite the losses. His rotation is bolstered by PikeView transfers Zayden Neeley and Kalum Kiser.
“It’s going to be hard to replace the scoring and things Kris and Chase did but from a depth standpoint we’re actually deeper this year than last year,” Williams said. “Again, if they accept their roles – and you know, that’s hard for kids today. They all want to start and want to be the star, but if they would accept their roles and understand, we’re interchangeable we’ll be good. And that’s our job as coaches to try to build that. Hopefully they realize just because you’re not starting doesn’t mean you’re not very, very important. So we’ve got you know – Dom Collins, Marquel Lowe, Brad Mossor, Gavin Brown and guys like that. Any one of those guys could start at any given time or be called upon at an important time. Our problem is going to be keeping them happy and making them understand just because you don’t start or you’re not playing every minute, doesn’t mean you’re not really valuable and really important. You’ve got 11 in soccer and the same thing in football. In baseball you have nine but I can only play five at a time, so it makes it a little tough for us. Good problem for me to have though.”
