Winter sports are in full swing again, which means boys basketball is working hard to get ready for the season.
“We have a lot of talented ball handlers and scorers on this team,” said junior Garrett Gerleman, a varsity team manager.
There is a lot of good and promising news regarding this season.
“Tryouts went really well [and the] first couple weeks of practice are going really well,” said boys varsity head coach Michael O’Keeffe. “We’ve had some really competitive practices.”
Practices have been intense the first couple of weeks, but the team is shaping out well.
“Almost anyone on the court has been able to score efficiently in practice from what I’ve seen as a manager,” said Gerleman. “The team has been working hard five or more days a week preparing for the season.”
This efficiency on the court is matched off the court as well.
“We’ve been watching lots of film and working hard to get our offensive attack to a high level as the season approaches,” said junior Connor Hayes.
Notably, the team is starting mostly juniors and underclassmen this coming season. Despite the youth of the team, the hopes are high.
“[The] team is young [but] talented, with a roster filled mostly with junior players,” said Gerleman.
The preparation the team underwent, as well as some of the natural talent they have been refining, has been paying off. The team has gone 3-1 during tournament play, with a singular loss to powerhouse Prospect. Conference play is starting up soon with a rivalry match-up versus Carmel, and later a showdown with Nazareth and Marist.
“Fans can expect to see a team that’s going to compete,” said Coach O’Keeffe. “Defensively, we’re going to play extremely hard and help each other every possession. Offensively, we’re going to play a fast pace and up tempo style, which should be a lot of fun. The kids are extremely unselfish, which will allow us to score a lot of points.”
It’s going to be an interesting year for the basketball team, so make sure to stop by a game or two!
“We have a tough conference schedule this year,” said Hayes. “But I think ultimately we’re going to surprise a lot of people.”