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It was a tumultuous offseason for Bloomington head coach Tom Conner, who suffered a heart attack in March while playing pickup basketball. The 35-year old Conner has spent the offseason recovering and changing his diet and is feeling a lot better as he embarks on his third season in charge of the Bruins.

"Life is great right now," Conner said. "The doctor has cleared me to resume working out and physical activities and I've been working real hard to stay healthy. I'm just excited to be back out there and get this season going."

Along with his improving health, Conner is getting excitement from a Bruins team that returns 10 starters and several other contributors from last year's team. After painful 2-8 and 3-7 seasons in adjusting from Don Markham's double-wing offense and 30-man roster to a spread offense and a roster that is roughly 20 players bigger, Conner thinks that this year will be the one where Bloomington makes a leap.

Tom Conner had some sizable shoes to fill at Bloomington High School last yer. Don Markham, who won 309 games and five CIF titles - including one at Bloomington in 1994 where the Bruins set the national scoring record with 880 points - during his storied career, retired after the 2007 season, with Conner being hired in his place.

Replacing a legend was hard enough for Conner, especially a legend that built the Bloomington program with the unique run-heavy double-wing offense. But considering that Conner was more comfortable in the spread - a 180-degree shift from the tight formations of the double-wing - that transition was made even more difficult.