The Owner's Box, Ep. 40.

Foxboro High coach Lisa Downs, left, will be able to coach her team mask-less this winter.

Forty episodes! And my guest on this episode of The Owner's Box has appeared in 12.5 percent of all of them. She's Lisa Downs, the coach of the Foxboro High girls' basketball team, and we met up at Mass Premier Courts last week to talk about the joy that is summer hoops.

You may recall that last year at this time, local high school basketball players were either convincing their parents to drive them to New Hampshire (where COVID-19 restrictions were looser) to play in thrown-together AAU tournaments, or just shooting around on local playgrounds trying not to violate social distancing guidelines. The result was a lot of anxiety as players and coaches alike worried about whether there would be a season at all, let alone how well they were able to prepare for it.

Now, the athletes are back in on the courts for their high school summer leagues, and almost everyone is expecting it will mean better basketball this coming winter as long as we continue on the path toward a healthier post-pandemic existence. That's what Lisa and I talk about amid the din of a basketball night's bustling activity. We also take a look back about how she and her athletes were able to get through an 11-game schedule last winter unscathed by COVID-19, and we look ahead at a new season, a new format for the state basketball tournament, and we discuss whether the folks at Duck and Cover Productions will give Lisa her five-time-appearance commemorative jacket, or just continue to be cheapskates.

It's all in an entertaining summertime edition of the best podcast to come out of Mansfield. Enjoy.