BOUNTIFUL -- Anyone who goes to a Bountiful High boys basketball game this winter hoping to see some familiar players on the court may be in for some disappointment. The Braves return no starters from a year ago, and lost nearly all key contributors to last year's squad but, according to Braves' Head Coach Mike Maxwell, what the Braves lack in experience they make up for in talent.

"We have some really quick players at the guard positions, and some real athletic big men," said Maxwell, "and if this team can gel, and play team basketball, we can be a very good team."

Team basketball is something the inexperienced Braves squad will focus great attention on as the season begins and the young, starting unit tries to become familiar with each other.

The Braves will look to senior guard Brock Wallace for leadership early on. Wallace is a point guard who hurts teams with his quickness and ability to drive the ball to the hoop. And, according to Maxwell, he's a great emotional leader.

"There are many types of leaders," said Maxwell. "Brock uses energy and emotion to lead and hopefully the other players can feed off of his energy."

Helping Wallace out will be two big men for the Braves -- 6 -foot-8 senior Jon Downey is penciled in as starting center early on and 6-foot-8 freshman Ben Aird will fill the other low- post position. Aird is a very talented big man who can play both inside and outside and should make a huge impact for the Braves as the season progresses. The Braves will count on a variety of players to fill the wing positions, led by Junior Anthony Hewlett.

While it's important for the Braves to gel offensively, Maxwell hopes they will play team ball on the defensive side as well.

"We need to play help defense," said Maxwell, "If we can be aggressive and create turnovers, that will be a good sign for our team."

The Braves run an aggressive full-court press on defense with a lot of trapping and pressure, and Bountiful will need to learn to play team defense if they hope to compete in their region.

If the Braves hope to win a Region 5 crown this year they will have to go through Olympus. The Titans are led by All-State forward Shawn Green, who has already committed to play for the University of Utah, and will surely be the team to beat in Region 5. The rest of the region appears to be fairly even, and should make for a very exciting season.

The Braves hope to be among the top teams in the region, but their goals for the beginning of the season are much more meager than that. The goals, according to Maxwell, are, first, to play cohesive, team basketball, and second, to improve with every week. If the Braves can accomplish these goals, they will be able to compete with any team in the region and will have a good chance of earning a playoff spot, something the Braves failed to do last year.

The season for the Braves will begin Nov. 23 when they host Pine View, followed by six more non-region games, before beginning region play Jan. 4 at home against Highland.