Boys Basketball: Naperville North ready to improve

Updated: November 16, 2011 7:46PM

When last seen on the basketball court just over eight months ago, Naperville North showed glimpses of what its program can be and where it can go.

With a frenzied home crowd serving as the backdrop, going toe-to-toe with the top ranked team in the state for 40 captivating minutes showed what the program is capable of when put into the pressure cooker of an intense and highly-anticipated environment.

The 43-42, double-overtime loss to Benet back on March 4 will no doubt serve as a springboard for the 2011-12 Huskies, despite returning two starters from their 16-win team a year ago.

“I think our program has come a long way. I think (the) Benet game got the student body real excited about basketball,” Naperville North coach Jeff Powers said. “We had more guys try out for basketball. We had more kids in the summer camp. We had everyone talking basketball, so I think there’s the buzz from last year. I think that helps your program and it helps the confidence of your kids.”

As the two lone returnees in the starting lineup, senior guards Matt Stacho and Kyle Lindberg will be asked to lead the program as it hopes to build off the buzz created from the close loss to Benet.

Both Stacho and Lindberg averaged 3 ½ points a game last year for the Huskies, who will need to replace the production of the departed Matt LaCosse and Jovonn Griffin, who averaged 13.4 points and 11.2 points, respectively, last year.

They will try to do so behind a group that will rely on its perimeter prowess much more than it did a year ago, when it featured significant size in the paint in the likes of LaCosse, Jon Mengel and Jake DuPre’.

“It’s a little bit different team, but the kids are unbelievably hard workers,” Powers said. “Probably a little bit better shooters than the last two years, so we’ll see if we can get them out into the open field and get them open shots. We’ll see what happens on Friday night when the light goes on.”

A year ago at this time, Naperville North knew that the start of its season might not get off to the greatest of starts, given the football team’s run to the Class 8A state quarterfinals and LaCosse being out until early January with a knee injury.

Finishing the non-LaCosse portion of its schedule at break-even, the Huskies dropped only four games with LaCosse in the lineup, culminating in the one-point loss to Benet.

While a pair of injuries to senior center Mike Johnson and senior forward Tim Davis might stunt the growth of this year’s group to begin the season, Powers believes the team is in a better position from that standpoint than it was entering last year.

“Well, we got to practice with everyone for a full week, so that’s really good,” Powers said. “Third year, everyone knows the system. We did put in a couple different twists with this group because they’re more of a perimeter-oriented team. With Mike Johnson going down and Tim Davis, who was the middle linebacker on the football team (and) who played some minutes last year at the forward spot---he’s gonna be out until after Christmas, we’re still losing probably two guys that were probably in the top seven (of our rotation).

“I think, maybe after that first game, after we see that DeLaSalle kids with all those 6-8 bodies flying around us, then after that, it might be a little bit more smoother sailing.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.