With the games just about over, the members of Loyola’s men’s basketball team are about to have their off-season.
Some players find this a relaxing time to focus on other activities or schoolwork and other players will miss the sport.
With the team having just about as many losses as wins, it wasn’t quite the season the men were hoping to have, but there is still the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference tournament the men will participate in March 2.
As a reflection of the past few months, Manny Hill, power forward and international business sophomore, said it was a rough season overall, especially with the loss of their assistant coach, Joey Stiebing, who moved to China in early January.
Sean Apetrei, point guard and finance sophomore, said that the regular season is a good learning experience. It lets the team know where they stand against the other teams in their conference. And then the team can improve from there.
Hill said, “We get some time to relax and we aren’t as busy anymore. That’s one of the good things about the off-season,” he said.
“Spring break is the only real break we get during the school year because we don’t have to come back early, like for the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks,” he said.
The players use this time to do more weight training that they don’t have much time for during the regular season.
The team is unable to have practices with their coaches during the off-season, but the members still manage to play practice games with each other to keep up their skills.
They also play just for fun.
“I play in a summer league to get better for the school season,” Dylan Kremer, center and finance sophomore said.
“I play against other college players and old NBA players in Cincinnati.”
“Off season is a good time to work out and work on your individual game,” Apetrei said.
These players said that the plans for improvement for next year’s season have not been discussed just yet with them.
They’re just focusing on the last few games and the GCAC next week.
Julia Russler can be reached at [email protected]
