By Jack Harvey

It is 7am on a weekend morning and the boys of the Lane basketball team have just started their first practice of the season. The team spent the last five months working to improve themselves as players and as a team. The early practice reflects just part of the work ethic that the team has developed.
“The first day of practice we all showed up at 7 am. We were all tired but you could tell everyone was happy to be there and glad to be in each other’s presence,” said Admir Suljic, Div. 456, and one of the team captains. “I know we’ll have a great year after that.”
The team has been especially committed since the end of last year’s season.
“I am very excited about this year’s team because of their buy-in and commitment to each other. They have sacrificed so much for each other and for our program,” Head Coach Logalbo said.
The team has built their rare chemistry many different ways. The entire varsity team attended a summer basketball camp in Iowa.
“The boys all dormed together for a week and I think being away from home and playing ball from 5:30am all the way until 11pm every night really proved how committed they are to each other,” Logalbo said.
Teammates often play together at parks or at gyms even when they aren’t practicing as an official team. One of the hallmarks of the team under Logalbo has always been “family.”
“I knew that being a part of the team was like being part of a family once I started my first varsity season,” said Dana Torres, Div. 461. “Sometimes we have our ups, some times we have our downs, but we get through it together as brothers and that’s how I know that we’re a family.”
The team unity has helped the team get through difficult games and practices as they rally around one another.
“One day in practice we kept missing free throws and not meeting our goal, and then we just motivated each other, so we ended up passing our set goal,” said Mariano Ramos, Div. 466.
The team really holds each other accountable and do not rely on coaching for leadership.
“It’s different from any other team, with this group of guys the leadership is coming from all of us. Coach doesn’t have to worry about being the leader of the team,” said Anthony Bednarek, Div. 573.
“There was a practice when coach was sick and everyone stepped up and worked together to improve even without him being there,” Bednarek said.
After finishing in fourth place in the Big Red Conference last year, the team has set some lofty goals for itself this season.
“The team is talking about winning the Red-North conference and our regional, which is a reachable but tough goal we’ve set for ourselves,” Suljic said.
The team has had to change a lot of its system following the loss of some key seniors, such as center Zach Barth, who was all-conference last year as a senior. However, the team has had to find different ways to win this year, a challenge they eagerly prepared for.
“We literally have a whole new offensive and defensive system in this year due to our personnel. We are a very different team than we have been the past few seasons. The last three years, we have run our offense through our posts,” Logalbo said. “We are now a much faster and up and down team that will be pressing and trapping to get into the open floor.”
This year’s team is different from previous year’s teams, which were top-heavy.
“The team has become deeper this year and almost all the players on the team can contribute at any given moment,” Torres said. “Last year we were a much taller team. We played well by pounding the ball inside in a half court offense. This year we’re more athletic and much deeper. All 15 players can come into a game and make a big play at any moment.”
This was exhibited at one of Lane’s first games. Against Notre Dame, Lane kept the game close with a pesky press defense. Lane ended up losing the game, but their defensive effort was apparent. Several times Notre Dame players had to waste timeouts or made bad passes. At times, the players were seen arguing and appeared flustered by Lane’s defense.
The team is led by their captains Suljic and Noah Khan, Div. 569. Suljic, a senior, has started on varsity since his sophmore year and Khan, a junior, was a key contributor to the varsity team last year as a sophmore. Suljic has had to adapt to a new role and has quickly embraced it.
“Last couple of years on varsity, I’ve sort of taken the backseat behind all of our captains and seniors, expecting them to help me out when I make mistakes,” Suljic said. “This year it’s the exact opposite.”
“We have a great group of young players that look up to us seniors,” Suljic said. “And being a captain this year, my mistakes have to be limited and I need to step up in this leader role and lead these guys to our goals we’ve set as a team.”
The team looks to begin a great season and they are determined to stick together both on and off the court.
“We are all best friends. We all hangout and joke around making us one of the friendliest teams I have ever been on,” said Matt Peters, Div. 562. “After practice, we always eat at TBK together and just joke around the whole time.”
The team chemistry is apparent to head coach, Mr. Logalbo.
“This team is one of, if not the closest team I have had the honor of working with at Lane,” Logalbo said. “I really started noticing the togetherness when the current juniors were freshman. They had a great bond even then, and I think that started because they had a great group of seniors leading them.”
The team really does take on the mantra of team first opposed to individualism.
“They don’t just want success for themselves, they care about each other so much that they want each other to succeed. And that is really special,” Logalbo said.