Things are turning around this year for the Holtville boys basketball team. It is a continuation of the success of last season – making the playoffs after a drought of over 20 years. Coach Greg Parker is going into his third season coaching the Bulldogs on the basketball court, and he’s ready to show other schools what his team is capable of achieving.
Prior to Parker’s arrival in July 2022, Holtville had three basketball coaches in three years.
“I took a chance (coming to Holtville) and it ended up being really good,” said Parker. “I love where I’m at. The kids are great. I think the big problem with the program is that they had no stability at all. Being in the sports world, if you don’t have that same guy that you can turn to, it’s very difficult to build something.”
One of the new challenges Parker and the team faces going into this season is roster turnover. Five starters, six seniors in total, graduated after last season, so plenty of fresh faces will be hitting the court for the Bulldogs in the 2025-26 season.
“We’re going to be really young,” Parker said. “We’re (smaller) this season, right around the six foot range and so we have to play a different brand of basketball this year, which is exciting to me because it’s something new and it’s something I think our kids are geared towards just because of their style and the way they play.”
Holtville traveled to the brand new Fieldhouse at 17 Springs in Millbrook for a play date earlier this month. The play date brought teams from all around central Alabama to compete against each other in three games with two halves with a running clock. The Bulldogs struggled at 17 Springs as they faced some really tough competition. Despite putting up a good showing, they left the play date without a win.
Still the play dates this summer have given the team a good idea of what game strategy might look like, while there are still plenty of kinks to work out before the season actually starts. Going into this season, Parker plans to emphasize strong defense, a quicker pace and taking care of possessions.
“We’re going to try to get the ball down the floor as fast as we can,” said Parker. “And we’re going to try to have as many offensive possessions as we can to give us the best chance to win. Last year we were more of a slow it down, run a half-court set. This year, we’re going to try to be more transition, secondary break, try to get people sped up type of team.”
With these adjustments, the Bulldogs will likely be a team to watch this season. They might just sneak up on you.
