As the Fall sports seasons wind down, basketball open gyms have began for the Morton Lady Potters. The sound of basketballs bouncing, shoes squeaking, nets swooshing and players chatting it up can be heard in the gym again and it’s a beautiful thing.
All of the returning Varsity players worked hard this past off-season, playing with their respective AAU teams, working summer open gyms and camps and with their individual workouts and training programs with a single goal in mind. To get back to Redbird Arena for a 4th consecutive year. No program in the State of Illinois has been as successful as our Lady Potters have been the past three years, with three State Championships and 100 wins.
With each successful year comes a mountain of expectations for the next season and the target on your back grows larger and larger. Our three returning seniors (Josi Becker, Caylie Jones and Kassidy Shurman) have been through this before. Every year in fact. So they know what to expect and will be vital to passing on the ‘Tradition’, expectations and work ethic to the underclassmen. I can’t think of three better people to lead the team through this season than these three seniors. They are strong, focused, committed, unselfish winners. They have been to the State Championships every year they have suited up in a Morton uniform, going back to Jr High Basketball, and have a record of 152-9 in their MJHS and MHS careers. They certain know what it takes and are aware of the pitfalls that can get in their way.
I was told that after the State Championship last March, the team was staying in a hotel in Normal that Saturday night with several of the other Class 3A and 4A teams. While there the players were given some advice about how to approach this season from an interesting source. Jason Nichols, the Head Coach of the powerhouse Lombard Montini program was there and was willing, at that moment, to share some valuable insight with the Lady Potters about how they could get back to Redbird Arena a 4th time in a row and win it all again.
Coach Nichols had been there before, in the same situation that the Lady Potters are in now (winning three consecutive State Championships 2009, 2010 & 2011), and was probably the favorite, certainly among the Chicago press, to win it all in 2012. Winning 4 in a row, was, and still is, something that has never been done in IHSA history in girls basketball and only once on the boys side of things, by the Peoria Manual Rams (before our current Lady Potters were born). I’ll get back to them in a minute. Coach Nichols warned of complacency, over confidence and players following the beat of their own drummer. Something that he felt doomed his 2011-12 team from accomplishing 4 in a row. Speaking directly to the girls, he said the number one thing is to completely “BUY IN” (to what the coaches are trying to do). He went on to compliment Coach Becker as one of the best in the business and that he could take them to the “promised land” once again if they all buy in to his vision. He also said it is important to not take anything or anyone for granted and to stay hungry. He said he thinks they have the talent to do it again, but it takes more than talent. It takes a totally committed team. Humble Swagger, as Coach Becker likes to phrase it, remains a very important factor in making the dream of 4 a reality.
I think these Lady Potters teams that have won three in a row, have some things in common with the Four-Ever Manual Rams. They have done it with a string of talent in multiple classes, passing on tradition, work ethic, team pride, stayed hungry, put ego aside and bought in to what their coach (one of the best ever) was selling. Stars would graduate and new stars were born as the mantle was passed to the next season. Sound familiar? We will reflect on the comparison of these two teams once again after the season if the Lady Potters are to pull off a FourEver performance this season.
The focus this season, I’m sure, will be on one game at a time, and the team will probably suffer a few setbacks along the way. As they have proved over and over again however, I believe they will find a way if they Buy In and do what they have done every year. Win together. The Lady Potters start the season off in their own Thanksgiving Tournament (November 24th-25th) against two of the best teams in the area, if not the State this year, in Normal Community High School and Peoria Richwoods. All three teams should be State ranked this year and include some of the best talent in the state. Champaign Central and St. Thomas More are also featured at the Morton Thanksgiving Tournament, both very good programs with a strong tradition.
Anybody ready for some Lady Potters Hoops yet? I know I am!!!!