Blue Thunder wonders about season

By Chris Johnson

REPORTER

The time in the weight room is coming to a close, at least in the capacity athletes at Belvidere North have been accessing it. They won’t have as many moments to work out, now that the basketball season sits waiting, just days away. Three weeks have passed since football faded. Attention was shifted back to the weight room for conditioning and readiness on the basketball court.

Boys’ basketball takes its place, centrally-located at Belvidere North, as athletes prepare to enter the physical world of NIC-10 play.

There is a lot of pounding inside from teams such as Freeport, Harlem, Jefferson, and Hononegah.

There are sharp-shooters in the forms of athletes at East, Boylan, and Auburn.

Belvidere North will have to deal with many combinations of threats this season.

By February 2017, the Blue Thunder will impose their will upon the forging of the final standings. Belvidere North will provide an influence in helping to determine who is left standing, when the regular season nears closing.

Expansion means long-term statistics aren’t available. Recent history indicates that the Blue Thunder will set up for another noisy run. It will be how well they play in their opening round matches that determines how much hope will be leveled on the season.

With a game at Jefferson to open the NIC-10 schedule on Wednesday, Nov. 30, Belvidere North will already get an understanding of how physical the games will be.

A Friday, Dec. 2 clash at Hononegah will further intensify the focus. Things won’t let up for Belvidere North through the 2016 portion of the winter sports schedule.

Games against hard-hitting Harlem on Wednesday, Dec. 7 and the pressing Vikings on Friday, Dec. 9 wrap up a brief two-game home stand for Belvidere North.

On Wednesday, Dec. 14 they are on the road at Freeport. They will need to be ready for the speed of the game being offered by the Pretzels. That part of the trouble waiting for Belvidere North wasn’t mentioned in the earlier synopsis of the NIC-10.

Rockford East on Saturday, Dec. 17 wraps up NIC-10 play until a Friday, Jan. 6 road game at Rockford Boylan. The Titans are heavily favored, along with Auburn and Hononegah to have the best chance to clamp down on the early lead in the conference.

By the second half of the season, Belvidere North Blue Thunder hopes to find themselves within games of the front-runners, with the anticipation of the possible league-parity which could exist this season.

A slip-up must be avoided by Belvidere North when they face the Auburn Knights on the road on Wednesday, Jan. 11. It precedes a possible season-identifying, make-or-break game on Jan. 20 at Jefferson. Only a brief visit from Belvidere in the cross-county classic on Wednesday, Jan. 25 disrupts the mid-season road swing the Blue Thunder remain on through games at Harlem on Friday, Jan. 27 and Guilford on Friday, Feb. 3.

The final stretch of the winter season begins Wednesday, Feb. 8 at home against Hononegah for Belvidere North.

On Friday, Feb. 10, Blue Thunder gets their featured rematch with a road visit to East. The post-season begins following home games to close the regular season beginning with Boylan on Friday, Feb. 17 and ending with Freeport on Wednesday, Feb.22.

Hope exists in Belvidere North for a productive season. The challenges will be waiting every week. The Blue Thunder will need to find game speed early this season.

The Belvidere Daily Republican will follow the Belvidere North boys’ basketball team throughout the season.