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With no returning starters, most people might expect St. Vincent's boys to struggle this season.

But veteran coach Bruce Valleroy believes the Indians, who went 13-12 last year, have plenty of potential.

"I think we do, but a big key will be how well we play together as a team," said Valleroy, in his 15th season. "This is going to be the year of ifs. If we do certain things we'll be OK, but if we don't do certain things we won't.

"We'll have to do the little things well."

Last year's Indians featured five senior starters, including leading scorer Greg Finger at about 15 points per game.

"That's one of the first times I've done that [had five senior starters]," Valleroy said.

The Indians do return some solid experience, led by 6-foot-1 junior point guard Justin L'Hote, who averaged about 10 points per game last year primarily off the bench.

Josh Rollet, a 6-4 senior, scored about eight points per game last season after averaging 22 points on the JV two years ago.

"Those two both have a lot of ability," Valleroy said. "They'll be key players for us."

Matt Abbott, a 6-4 senior, also received considerable playing time last season.

Four players who averaged about 10 points on last year's JV -- 6-1 junior Aaron Dzik, 6-4 junior Matt Hotop, 5-10 junior Shawn Renner and 6-0 sophomore Kyle Rollet -- also figure to play key roles.

Brandon Hoch (5-10 senior) and Zach Fischer (5-8 senior) return after seeing limited varsity action last year, while Joe Kapp (5-8 junior) and Joel Fischer (5-10 junior) are both up from the JV.

St. Vincent has won nine of 13 Jefferson County Conference small school division titles since joining the league.

Valleroy said that's always one of the Indians' big goals, even if they return no starters.

"We're pretty proud of that," he said. "It's going to be tough, but we'd like to make another run at it."