North boys eager to start basketball season

The Nashua High School North boys basketball team still has eight days before it can eat.

For now, the Titans will have to satisfy their craving for competition against each other. So far, what that’s amounted to in practice has been a wonderful site to see for coach Andy Otocka.

“So far, so good,” Otocka said. “Practices have been great and the kids have worked hard, that I’ve been happy with.”

What has really impressed Otocka is the hunger that his players have shown earlier on in the preseason.

“Our intensity and focus has been better,” he said. “I think that we’re hungrier. We want to get better and learn now. I like our mix and I like our kids. I like the attitude we’ve had at practice. It’s been considerably better than in years past. It feels good.”

The Titans have four players, including two starters, who saw significant time last year returning. Despite that, there is just one senior on the team, who didn’t play a season ago.

Instead, North has a lot of juniors, some of whom are focused just on basketball.

“I’ve got four or five kids who only play basketball,” Otocka said. “That’s nice. I mean, I’m all for kids playing baseball, football, cross country, track, whatever. But kids who live and breathe basketball help a lot because it means more to them. Not that it doesn’t mean more to the others, but I like the hunger.”

The Titans scrimmage against Manchester West at home on Saturday and head to Hollis/Brookline for another scrimmage on Tuesday before opening the regular season at Exeter on Dec. 17. It’s a short preseason, but the players have already been playing together through summer and fall leagues and familiarity shouldn’t be a problem.

“They’ve played a lot of games together,” Otocka said. “It’s a good group of kids who for the most part have done what they’re supposed to do. I like our chances.”