There was no decision to be made.
Ryan Laurenzo’s bond with his Naperville North teammates clinched matters.
“I’ve played basketball my whole life and I’ve been with these guys all four years,” Laurenzo said. “So I definitely didn’t want to end it, and I wanted to finish the road with them. I wanted to play my senior year and finish what we started.”
What Naperville North started last season was posting a 25-6 record and winning the program’s first sectional title since 1998.
The Huskies (13-1, 5-0) have picked up where they left off, beginning the 2017-18 season with a 10-game winning streak.
Laurenzo, a Grand Valley State recruit as a wide receiver, has been a vital cog for an offense that lost a lot to graduation. He’s averaging 7.9 points and is the team’s fourth-leading scorer.
“Ryan has been a hidden secret for a while,” Naperville North coach Jeff Powers said. “I knew he was going to be good last year as we watched him play. And he’s just got that quick first step.
“He’s gained a lot of confidence from football, and this summer we saw that he was going to be a good player for us.”
Laurenzo has scored in double figures five times, highlighted by a season-high 17 points in a November victory over West Aurora. His presence hasn’t gone unnoticed by senior forward Chris Johnson.
“We know he’s an incredibly talented player,” Johnson said. “He just needed to play a little bit smarter basketball and he has been. That’s really been translating to great offensive efficiency by him. And it’s awesome.”
Averaging 14.2 and 13.4 points, respectively, junior Tom Welch and Johnson have been carrying a heavy load inside for Naperville North. Senior Jack Hill leads the backcourt, averaging 11.4 points.
Laurenzo quickly found a niche on the perimeter.
“I’m kind of like a hybrid,” he said. “But I’d say my 3-point shooting and then my cuts and just finishing at the rim has helped me out a lot.”
He’s shooting 38 percent from the 3-point line, and has made multiple 3-pointers four times.
Expectations are just as high as the last two seasons for the Huskies, who won a conference title in 2015-16 and a sectional title in 2016-17.
And Laurenzo is content with keeping the good times rolling, collectively and individually.
“I always knew I had potential,” he said. “But I never really let it unleash, I guess. This year, I was kind of surprised. But I knew I had it in me.”
Blake Baumgartner is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
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