By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – It’s been such a long time, and time doesn’t wait for Bedford North Lawrence. It just keeps on rollin’. Down a distant highway, that’s the view of the last sectional championship, the last Hoosier Hills Conference title. Those were good times.
The end of that lonely road could be just outside BNL’s front door. The Stars swung open the 2022-23 campaign with the first official practice session on Monday, and there’s an energy level, a buzz of excitement, a cautious optimism for excitement ahead. Knock, and it shall be opened.
For the first time since the 2011 team that won the HHC crown, BNL is being mentioned as a potential champion. And there’s a reason for that. The Stars (11-12 a year ago) have all five returning starters, have a deep senior class and roster, have multiple weapons. While others around the league suffered significant losses and upheaval, BNL solidified. For the first time in a long time, a sectional and league ruled by the southern schools camped along the Ohio River now has a northern wind blowing. BNL’s last postseason trophy is dated 2001. Long before anyone on this roster was born. Ouch.
Experience certainly favors the Stars. Can they convert that into wins?
“This group has been in the program for a long time, they’ve worked hard for a long time,” BNL coach Jeff Hein said as he started his fourth season at the helm. “We’ve got six or seven seniors in this class. So there are high expectations. We’re not very big, but we have experience, kids that know how to play. We’re hoping that correlates into more wins.”
The faces are familiar. Colten Leach, recovering from injury for a third straight season, returns as the leading scorer (15.1) and rebounder (7.5), and he was explosive last season while scoring a career-high 36 (against Evansville North) and earning his First Team All-HHC selection. Colton Staggs contributed 13.6 points from the backcourt. Other starters returning include Kaedyn Bennett (8.2), Jett Jones and Trace Rynders.
That doesn’t mean those positions are locked in. Far from it. Competition exists, hunger is fueling the fire. And there are improvements that must be made. BNL averaged only 9.2 turnovers per game last season but struggled to score, totaling only 48.6 points per game while shooting a chilly 40 percent. Want playing time? Prove the ability to score. BNL also needs some size and muscle on the interior.
“We’ve got work to do,” Hein said. “The big things will be offensively. We have to score. Last year we got stuck on numbers, we were too much of a roller-coaster. Our defense held us in a lot of games. That’s how we won. Now we have to keep that defense and find a way to get better offensively. We have some weapons to utilize.
“I didn’t feel like we were very deep. It just worked out we didn’t have the depth we thought we would have, This year we think we’ll have that depth. Last year we tried to slow the tempo because we felt we were outmatched in some games. This year it’s a little different.”
The first priority will be running, a long time. The majority of BNL’s expected roster competed on the football field, which means bending over the trash can in agony was a common occurrence on Day One.
“We’re not in shape,” Hein said. “We’ve got a lot of kids who are multiple-sport athletes who had success in the fall. We hope that carries over to the winter. It’s a different type of shape. We’ll get them there. They have to hang with it, stick it out.”
BNL also made changes to the coaching staff with the addition of former BNL girls coach (and Butler women’s coach) Kurt Godlevske.
The countdown toward the season opener won’t take a long time. BNL’s preseason work will include the annual intrasquad scrimmage (Nov. 14) and the IHSAA sanctioned scrimmage (with Martinsville on Nov. 17). And it won’t take long to figure out how good BNL will really be. The brutal schedule includes the usual early tests with the Bloomington rivals, three road trips to Evansville and the clashes with the HHC foes.
“In our conference, everybody is tough,” Hein said. “It’s tough every night. There are a lot of teams that feel they have a chance. There’s nobody that will be a cake-walk game. You need a little luck, some things to go your way, and we need to make our own luck.”
BNL will open the regular season with Bloomington North on Nov. 22.
