North Cook News

MAINE SOUTH

A new generation of players will be charged with keeping up the boys basketball tradition at Maine South.

The Hawks, who have won at least 20 games in six of the past seven seasons and haven't had a losing record since the 2007-08 season, go into the 2016-17 campaign with six of their top 10 players being juniors or sophomores, according to a season outlook emailed to the North Cook News.

Starting with the 2009-10 season through last season, the Hawks have averaged 24 wins per season. Last season, the Hawks went 21-10.

Four seniors are among the seven returning letter winners: guards Milos Liljak and Nick Foldvary – both of whom are two-time letter winners – as well as Jack Scales and forward Ryan Coffey. Other returning letter winners are junior forward Grant Miller, junior guard/forward Tom Gardiner and junior guard Michael George.

MAINE WEST

After one year as a varsity assistant coach and the last two seasons as the sophomore head coach, Thomas Prokopij takes over as head coach this season. He will have several key players with experience to turn around last year's 5-24 record.

“We will have to be fundamentally sound offensively and minimize our turnovers,” Prokopij told the North Cook News. “Committing to the defensive end will be critical to our success.”

Top returners include senior forwards Stefan Balaban, Randy Kent and Jon Beaver; senior guard Jack Framke; junior forwards Jack Collins and Julian Dones; and junior forward Matt Kentgen.

“We have a good nucleus of athletes that are starved for success,” Prokopij said. “Learning to play together and to trust one another will allow us to have a successful season.

Note: Not all schools responded to requests for information from the North Cook News by press time.