Excited to take the court later this month, Oxford’s boys’ basketball team has a feeling this season will be one for the books.

“This is the deepest team I’ve seen at Oxford,” Head Coach Steve Laidlaw said. “And I’ve been involved in Oxford basketball for roughly 20 years.”

The team, playing in the OAA blue division, put the work in during the off season and, in these first few weeks of practice, has shown Laidlaw they are not the average team.

“We’d like to win the blue (division),” Laidlaw said. “We want to have the most victories in a season in Oxford history, which is in excess of 17 games . . . We have nine returning players, and all nine have improved from last year.”

The team is nailing down positions and working on the basics before the first game on their home court on Nov. 27, which will be the first of a four-game streak in Wildcat country.

In these beginning weeks, Laidlaw’s squad, particularly the team’s returners, have shown a lot of  potential to go the distance.

Athletes who are shaping up to be the players to watch, according to Laidlaw, are senior forward Michael Raisch, junior forward Trey Townsend, senior forward Connor Nicholson and senior point guard Logan Coughlin. The team’s captains are Raisch, Nicholson and Coughlin.

“We have a lot of size, we have a lot of skill,” Laidlaw said. “We’re really excited about this year.”