Byron went to state in boys basketball for the first time last year, finishing third in Class 2A. Pecatonica won its first sectional title, missing out on the 1A state semifinals with an overtime loss in supersectionals. South Beloit has won at least 25 games three years in a row, after doing so only twice before in school history.
It’s hard to get much better than that. But all are trying. And that starts with the same way Winnebago is trying to bounce back from only its second losing season in 23 years: By honing their games against schools four to eight times larger than themselves in the East Summer League, Rockford’s premier offseason high school basketball league for more than two decades.
“Us playing big schools, we get up-and-down,” Pecatonica star senior guard Cooper Hoffman said. “When we go back to 1A, we don’t see the type of competition we see now. It’s huge for us to play against these bigger schools.”
Eight of the league’s 16 teams are from the NIC-10. Teams play four games in two weeks in mid-June and then finish by each playing four more games in a tournament on Monday and Tuesday in the last week of June. Last year, Byron lost in overtime on a 30-foot 3-pointer to NIC-10 power Auburn in the title game, then went on to make its run to state in Class 2A.
This week, after graduating four starters and missing sixth man Caden Considine who was in a baseball tournament, Byron was blitzed, 88-39, by Auburn in its first playoff game.
“You have to be a lot more smooth with a team like that,” said Cason Newton, Byron’s only returning starter. “They are really good. But it’s good to play teams like this. It’s just going to get us better.
“It’s a lot faster, more physical. It will help us learn when we get into the season that we have to play like that against the teams that are less physical and less fast. The NIC-10 has a lot of good competition. It’s fun coming up here.”
“We want,” Byron coach Matt Huels said, “to come up here and compete. When we are playing Auburn and they are jumping on us, we like to see what kind of kids are out there responding and not playing the scoreboard, kids who are just trying to compete and get better. That’s why we come up here.”
Pecatonica (88-19 the last three years) is the team to watch next year. Pec has set the school record for wins three years in a row. It was eliminated in overtime to an Aurora Christian team that then lost in double-overtime in the semifinals to eventual state champion West Central.
Pec is looking for the best competition it can find to get that little bit better that it needs to become a state champion.
“We know how close we were,” Hoffman said. “Going down in overtime, it hurt, us losing like that. But now we know what it takes to get all the way there.
“It’s fun to see how much we have grown in the last couple of years. When I grew up, we weren’t that great. We were in some games, but we weren’t always the best. Getting closer to state and conquering what we have conquered the last couple of years is huge for our community.
“Now we get out and play big schools all the time. That’s what we need for us to continue to get better.”
South Beloit, led by 6-foot-8 senior center Ross Robertson, is another area Class 1A power that isn’t used to being a power. The Sobos had won one regional title in 43 years before winning three in a row with Robertson. His big month will be in July, during the college evaluation period, but now is the time for him to mesh with his teammates and prepare for the type of competition the Sobos will have to get past if they want to get to state.
“Any time you can play against better competition, it’s going to help you,” South Beloit assistant coach Mike Miller said. “When you are a school of 250, you are not going to see the size and the quickness you see in the NIC-10. To have our guys get exposed to that kind of stuff is a really good experience for them.”
It’s also a time for Winnebago to regroup and begin to show it can be more like the team that reached the state semifinals five times since 2004 than the one that went 11-20 last winter.
“Last year was definitely a learning season for us,” said Brody Larson, a senior starter for Winnebago. “We were young; our whole starting five were juniors and a sophomore. This year we will be more confident and more aggressive.
“I like playing here,” he said of the East Summer League, “because it is more physical and is definitely more above the rim. It’s good for our guys to get in a more physical game. It’s going to get us ready for the season to try and compete at the highest level we can.”
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