New programs can have unique problems.
"People ask me what school I go to and I say, 'School of the Ozarks,' and they say, 'oh, I've heard of that, School of the Osage,'" senior forward Keaton Tillack said. "And I say, 'no, Ozarks.'"
This is only the Patriots' second year eligible for the postseason and they're already the defending champs in Class 1 District 4.
"We played well and we saw the potential and we kind of just kept going," Sophomore Cade Martin said. "Building off each win game after game."
Jerry, Cade, and Zach Martin are at the heart of these Patriots. Head coach Jerry Martin and company lived in Colorado for the past 14 years after he took a coaching job at a small school that was just starting their program in that state.
But his family started in Branson, and they made several trips back to Branson to visit family when Cade and Zach were growing up. When the chance came to start a new program here, he jumped at it.
"It was a very similar situation in terms of size of school and beginning program," the elder Martin said. "And I thought what better way to start my head coaching career than at the ground level? It was the same challenge and fun coming back in the same situation."
He's got some serious horses here though. Cade is the floor general racking up 4.4 assists per game and 11.8 points. Keaton Tillack is a post presense averaging 15.9 points per game and 6.8 rebounds – and he's a track star running hurdles. Billy Evans is an athletic junior with post moves and 9 points per contest. Sophomore Zach Martin hopes to continue what this group started.
"Our seniors are really well connected with the others on this team," Zach says. "The chemistry helps a lot."
School of the Ozarks prides itself on putting its kids to work that's why every day a group of them have to clean up the school. Basketball practice doesn't seem nearly as bad when you have to take out the trash and it helps create the team's motto – perspective.
"I think it gives them an idea of what the real world's going to be like and appreciate those kind of positions that other people do for them that they may not have thought about before they had to do it themselves," Jerry Martin said.
"When we play our best we're playing relaxed," Tillack said. "I think that plays into perspective that basketball isn't our life, it's something we do for fun, so we try to have fun while we do it."
The most fun might be yet to come, and Keaton probably won't have to explain where School of the Ozarks is for much longer.
