Bryan Looks to Bear Down 2017-18 Season
The Omaha Bryan varsity basketball team has not been above .500 since the 2011-12 season. Their climb to accomplishing that feat may peak this year. The Bears are coming off a 10-13 season in which they lost to Aguek Arop’s Omaha South squad by three in one of the biggest rivalries in the metro. Although they only won a mere ten games, the Bears are returning every player on that squad, so they’ll be experienced and ready to fight. Head coach Terrence O’Donnell said he believes in every player on his team that is returning.
“There are many guys who can play,” O’Donnell said. “[They’ll be] sharing minutes, sharing shots, and understanding that whomever is playing well on any given night is going to get a little more opportunity to help the win.”
The Bears’ campaign was led by Tre Crawford and Javen Udofia on both ends of the floor. The two combined for 186 rebounds, with 148 of those coming on the defensive end. Additionally, the two combined for 580 total points in the season, per MaxPreps. Coach O’Donnell said that a major key to this year’s success is their approach to the games.
“The team’s success will start with the approach that Javen Udofia and Tre Crawford bring to the DEFENSIVE end of the floor each and every night,” O’Donnell said.
The Bears aren’t going to take a game by game approach, though. They’re going to approach this season day by day with no single game on their minds, according to O’Donnell. This may be the best Bears team we’ve seen in awhile, so keep a keen eye out for Bryan.
“We aren't taking the season one game at a time, we are taking it one DAY at a time. There is all types of hype surrounding this team, and if they lose focus on the day by day process of doing their absolute best at what's in front of them, we will falter and not achieve our potential,” O’Donnell said. “We need to tune out the noise and focus on being the best version of ourselves every single day in every single way. We need to stay hungry and humble. I've never seen a banner in any gym for what a team did during the month of June. We haven't done ANYTHING yet.”
The Bears hit the court for the first time on Saturday, November 25, 2017, at 1 p.m. in an exhibition at Omaha Gross Catholic. They’ll open the regular season with a home matchup against Omaha Central on Thursday, November 30, 2017, at 7:15 p.m.
