Scouting Lake Zurich Bears

Lake Zurich Bears

Coach John Zarr (16th season)

Last year 16-13, 2-10 NSC Lake

Key players lost G Connor Mooney (Loras), G Chas Evans, G Austin Cox, F Danny Coleman, C/F Brandon Kunz (Augustana)

Key players returning F Marco Grcic sr., F Aaron Lewandowski sr., C Chris Baumann, sr.

Key newcomers G Mike Boyd, jr., G Andy Cox, jr., G Colin Rathe, jr

Outlook Considering that they lost all five starters and that some of the current team is still playing football in the state semifinals, a fast start isn't exactly expected for Lake Zurich. "We are very inexperienced," Lake Zurich coach John Zarr said. "I think we will be a very competitive team, but we'll probably start out a bit slow." Helping with the transition will be Marko Grcic and Aaron Lewandowski, the two returning players with the most experience. Both are versatile inside/outside forwards who were used as sixth men last season. "Marko especially has improved a lot since last year," Zarr said. "He's gotten stronger, he's shooting better, he's also taking a leadership role."-The Bears could have all kinds of players filling the point guard role. Newcomers Mike Boyd, Andy Cox and Colin Rathe, all juniors, have shown they can handle and distribute the ball. They can also shoot it, too. Zarr says that Boyd has been particularly impressive. "It's possible that we could end up going with a 3-guard rotation to get all those guys in," It's possible the Bears might have to play with more guards anyway. "Early in the year, we might need three guards to deal with some of the pressure we might face with so many inexperienced guards," Zarr said. "We could go very big if we wanted to, but we'll probably start off small." The Bears boast an unusually large number of tall players, with four taller than 6-foot-6. Tyler Every is 6-foot-6 while Devin Herdle, Chris Baumann and Drake Orser are all 6-foot-7. "We have really good size," Zarr said. "I can see Baumann contributing right away. He's going to do a lot of rebounding for us."

Opener 6 p.m. Monday vs. Wheaton North at the Ed Molitor Thanksgiving tournament at Palatine.