That’s the sound of the North Lake Blazers, hard at work getting ready for their season opener versus Three Rivers. And their new head coach has a high standard for the former title champions and No.1 ranked defense.

“(We) had a pretty successful year, last year. Going to build off of that. And we’ve acquired some pretty good players,” said North Lake Campus Head Men’s Basketball Coach, Josh Mills. “Guess, I enjoyed coaching.”

After coming in seventh last year, they hope to bounce back this year. Their new coach, Josh Mills, says he feels no pressure in the position.

“I learned from the very best at this level and that’s coach McGraw. There is a Hall of Famer. (He) won more national championships at this level than anybody else,” Mills said.

Their main philosophies are speed, defense, teamwork and the willingness to learn.

“We didn’t lose a game in conference last year. We didn’t lose a home game. We’re trying to keep that going,” Mills said.

And it seems like his team has completely bought in first-year wing, Jeremy Watkins, has high hopes for the Blazers-D this season, as well as the First-Team, All-District Veteran Wing, Ring Deng.

“Last year they held the team in the National Tournaments to 13 points, so the easiest way to win the game is keep the other team from scoring,” First-Year Wing, Jeremy Watkins said.

“ That’s the first thing we do, soon as we get in the court, we play the defense style the first 45 minutes of play,” All-District Veteran Wing, Ring Deng said.

“The saying is, obviously, ‘defense wins championships,'” Watkins said.

  They all have one common goal: to hang another one of these in the rafters at North Lake.