Connor Lanoue might not have been the highest scorer on this year’s Tracy-Milroy-Balaton basketball team, but he might just have been the team’s most important player.
And Lanoue’s playmaking ability and command of the Panthers’ offense, not to mention his basketball IQ, drew the attention of Bethany Lutheran College, which offered him a scholarship to play ball there.
“It feels good, but I know I have a lot of work to do yet,” the Tracy Area High School senior said. “Hopefully I can do what I know I can do. Talking to the coaches, they made me feel like I could have a role on the team.”
“He’s good mentally; he’s just a good scorer for us, a good distributor — he really kind of runs our offense more than anything,” TMB coach Ryan Kruse said. “And he’s done a really good job of getting better at rebounding and defense throughout the last couple years. He really helps everywhere.”
Lanoue averaged 13.3 points, nearly five rebounds and more than a steal per game this year. Beyond the stats, he played floor general, steering the offense and working to make his teammates better.
“He knows when to cut, when to get open, when to go for a steal,” Kruse said. “He knows when we need to get a shot in certain situations, and when we need to slow the ball down — all the thing we need when we can’t call a timeout to talk about stuff. It’s good to have somebody like that on the court.”
But Lanoue’s game isn’t perfect, he admits. He knows he has to get stronger — both physically and mentally.
“I have to work on getting out of my head,” he said. “In college, it’s next play every time. I think you learn as you go through college that it’s something you just develop because the game is so much quicker. You can’t really think twice.”
Lanoue made two visits to Bethany and attended a basketball game there as well. He plans on majoring in communication/ sports broadcasting, and found it interesting that to his knowledge, he’ll be the only one on the team with that particular academic focus.
Bethany Lutheran College is a NCAA Divsion III school in Mankato.
