Last season, the Tigers were within a few inches from being state champions as the ball caromed off the rim in the final seconds of the final game. This year, the Tigers are hungry for revenge.
Senior Mathaios Stamm, a captain with senior Luke Washek, said, “I’m ready to compete, I think the whole team is. We’re coming back from a deep run in the playoffs and we only lost a couple guys. Everyone’s really really trying to get back to that same spot.”
With how historically successful North boys’ basketball has been, it’s no surprise that they are preparing for another promising season. “We have high expectations every year and it’s no different this year,” said special education teacher John McNamara, the head coach. “We expect really good things from a lot of different guys and the team as a whole.”
The Tigers lost 55-52 to Franklin last year in the MIAA State Championship. According to McNamara, however, the team is focusing on building connections with each other, rather than focusing on record and state championships.
According to Washek, the Tigers’ greatest asset is their work ethic. “I think everyone wants to be there, and if someone doesn’t want to be there everyone’s there to push them through it,” said Washek.
Washek added that the team has a strong support system. “We have really good supporting coaches,” Washek said.
McNamara added, “We’re developing a cohesive unit. We’re making sure players are playing as a group and not focusing on individual agendas. We’d like to build on the success we’ve had.”
McNamara also said that the Tigers’ strategy consists of playing harder than their opponents. “We’ve prided ourselves for a long time on playing harder than other people and getting up and playing the length of the court on both ends. That will remain the same and is something that we’re going to emphasize,” McNamara added.
One of North’s biggest adjustments will be playing without Teagan Swint, class of ‘25 graduate. Named back-to-back MVP for the Bay State Carey Division, Swint was the backbone of boys’ basketball for the past few years, according to McNamara.
“Teagan was the league MVP, but we’re fortunate to have guys that are back and made that run to the state championship game,” said McNamara. “I think we’ll be giving those guys experience and then the culture we’ve built will be in good shape.”
North lost five seniors from last year, but McNamara said that they’re fortunate to have 10 players returning from last year’s dominant team. According to McNamara, the team will lean heavily on the players that were involved last season.
The team’s style will also look a bit different from last season. According to sophomore Henri Van de Velde, the Tigers trained throughout the offseason to prioritize sharing the ball more. “We’re becoming less selfish on the court,” he said. “We don’t have one go-to scorer like we did last year.”
Behind the scenes, the Tigers have been training nonstop in preparation for the upcoming season. Washek said, “We have to come in everyday after school ready to be together. We’re ready to work together and get everybody better each day, not just getting the starters better.”
Stamm added, “We’ve had summer league and fall league together as well as a couple extra tournaments over the summer. I’m super excited. The whole team is ready to compete.”
