Hubs freshman basketball coach Ryne Vrana has been pleasantly surprised with how his group has performed during workouts this summer, and Vrana got a greater taste of what his boys can do when they battled Genoa-Kingston and Kaneland in exhibition action
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ROCHELLE — Hubs freshman basketball coach Ryne Vrana has been pleasantly surprised with how his group has performed during workouts this summer, and Vrana got a greater taste of what his boys can do when they battled Genoa-Kingston and Kaneland in exhibition action Tuesday evening at Rochelle Township High School.
After defeating the Cogs 41-31 in their opener, the Hubs fought valiantly against the Knights later in the evening, falling 52-36 but showing signs of improvement. It may be early to judge how the roster will shape out, but Vrana said he’s looking forward to working with this year’s bunch.
“I think they have a lot of potential,” Vrana said. “We have a good group of kids that listen well… We have a lot of good guards who can work the ball around the perimeter, throw the ball inside or attack the basket when they need to.”
Newcomers Nate Lovett and Garrett Burdin fueled Rochelle’s win over Genoa-Kingston, while Mike Schlenbecker impressed Vrana with his post skills in the Hubs’ loss to Kaneland. Many things can change between now and November, but Vrana is hopeful the team can take a step forward from what the freshmen accomplished last season.
“The boys saw Lovett inside during that first game and I think that’s something we’re going to try and do throughout the year,” Vrana said. “We can knock down shots when we’re open and that’s something we struggled with last year. Burdin can handle the ball for us and knock down some shots.”
Other notable players stepping up from Rochelle Middle School include Justin Beck, Spencer Warborg and Sam Hacaga. While Vrana saw plenty of positives, he saw some areas he’d like the boys to work on as they continue their offseason activities.
“Kaneland definitely outhustled and outrebounded us,” Vrana said. “They scored a lot of points in transition which is something we strive for, so it was kind of upsetting to see them take our game away from us. They’re freshmen so they’re going to have to get used to our system and understand what we expect from them.”