The Pocono Mountain West men's basketball team faces a new challenge after a stellar season last year: replacing most of its graduating seniors, including starting guard Julian Pagan. With only two seniors on this year's roster, one of whom has varsity experience, head coach Rich Williams is relying on younger players to fill the void.

Williams emphasizes the importance of maturity on and off the court, going so far as to ban players from the gym who do not meet academic or behavioral standards." Williams said, "At West, we have our gains and losses." As long as I'm here, I'm not going to allow kids to do whatever they want and rough up coaches."

Senior forward Adrian Brito is a player expected to take on a leadership role. Williams described Brito as a "15-year-old kid" who has to grow up quickly." Williams said, "As a freshman, he was getting his butt kicked by Christian Firmin every day in practice." But he averaged about 12 points per game last year, and we always wanted more from him.

Brito has also put in a tremendous amount of work to improve his conditioning. After breaking his leg at the end of his freshman year, he weighed about 270 pounds. At his most recent weigh-in, he was down to 226 pounds.

Britto is expected to be one of the team's leaders, and sophomore guard KJ Coles, who tied the school record with 68 3-pointers last season, and senior guard Devin Artis will play more important roles this year. But in addition to those three players, Williams will also rely on a number of young players who weren't major contributors last year.

Junior Elian Silva is expected to be a rotational linebacker; Brady Baier, who was thrown into the line of fire as a rookie last year and recently earned EPC honors at receiver, will be another player who should see playing time; and sophomore Theroux Godwin could also see playing time as the season progresses.

Pocono Mountain West has the talent to continue its success, but it will depend on how quickly and how well these young players mature.