By Staff
Tim Cottrell
After a successful first season, Escambia County High School head basketball coach William Brown is preparing his Blue Devils for bigger things next season.
"We learned a lot this year," Brown said. "We learned that it's not how you start, its how you finish. We had a lot of sophomores and juniors learn what it feels like to lose and watch other teams playing for the area, the regionals and the state and we learned that we never want to feel like that again."
The Blue Devils finished the season 16-12 after a 74-55 loss to the UMS-Wright Bulldogs in the first round of the Alabama High School Athletic Association's Class 4A, Area 1 tournament last week.
Brown said that while his record could've been better, he was more concerned with producing quality people.
"It's not always about basketball," Brown said. "I'm about building young men. Our two seniors will both sign academic and athletic scholarships, so I think that's pretty good. Our staff and administration have also done a good job with our underclassmen."
The Blue Devils finished in third place in the final Area 1 standings, falling behind Jackson High School and UMS-Wright.
"We've still got a lot of work to do," Brown said. "We got up to No. 7 in the state polls at one point, so that's something to be proud of, but we've got to finish."
Brown also noted that there were numerous things the Blue Devils would need to work on during the off season.
"We're going to have to get in the weight room and train," Brown said. "We've also got to get in the classroom and study and make sure we stay eligible, that way our players can go to the summer camps and improve fundamentally and get better conditioning."
Brown concluded by noting that his team was in it for the long haul.
"We lose two seniors (Larenzo Arnold and Jeremy McCants), but we've got a lot of players who have contributed a lot of time," he said. "I like our chances next year."