This season Francis Howell North’s Varsity Basketball team will look to improve their record of 1-8 in the COVID-19 ridden season of winter 20-21. With this season bringing a different dynamic of last season and all it’s oddities, the knights are just looking for a fresh clean start. FHN junior Ryan Murdock had to say this about last season.

“Last season had a very different atmosphere,” Murdock said. “I was quarantined four times, meaning I missed eight weeks of the season. We had no momentum because of COVID. That was very upsetting when the potential and skill level is there but quarantines and grades prohibit any success from our skill level.”

Since last season was so different from this season, the boys representing the knights definitely had to prepare differently for this season. If they want to make a real push this year they had to put the work in during the off season. That is exactly what Murdock did to take his game to the next level.

“I prepared for this season right after the last one ended,” Murdock said. “I played high school AAU basketball all summer, and trained with a MoBap college coach for all of it as well. My AAU coach, who was the MoBap coach, got me in the weight room and on the court for at least three hours a day. I was exposed to college coaches for the first time and to real competition outside of St. Louis. Over the summer my main thing I was working on was my shot. You would be surprised how much a shot can either have a chance of going in or not just by your mechanics. So overall just getting stronger and working on my mechanics was a big part of my preparation for this high school season.”

This year’s team is sure to be one of the best teams in recent years at FHN just because of the sheer depth of talent the team has. There are strengths all over the court and quite a bit of it to show.

“We have a great team chemistry, there’s not really selfish guys on this team anymore,” Murdock said. “I saw that playing my freshman year and even last year some guys were focused on themselves rather than the overall team. This year we have great passers, rebounders, shooters, and finishers that have all meshed together in and off the court. Overall I’m excited for what this team can produce because this is probably one of the best teams North has seen in a while for the basketball program. Now we just need to put all the parts together.”