Returning to the El Camino league with three out of their five starters from last year, the boys’ basketball team looks to improve from last year’s mediocre season, in which they finished 5th place with a record of 9-15.

Sophomore starting center Steve Berman, one of two freshmen on varsity last year, believes this will be the year the Falcons turn around the program.

“The team is going to have to adjust if we want to win, but we’re all confident in our abilities and our chances to win look much better this year,” Berman said.

Last year, the Falcons’ roster was unusually young, with just four seniors, along with nine juniors and two freshmen. This season, however, because the younger players had the opportunity to develop their skills at the varsity level last season, senior guard Tyler Jew hopes that the veteran team will have a greater chance of succeeding.

“It might be tough at first as we learn to play without last year’s seniors, but we’ll have a lot of talented players coming back,” said Jew.

The team, led by returning third-year coach Trevor Naas, remains hopeful of winning the El Camino League—consisting of Monta Vista, Mountain View, Wilcox, Santa Clara, Milpitas and Fremont High Schools—and earning a spot in CCS. After losing their top three scorers to graduation, the Falcons need their returning starters to step into scoring roles in order to achieve this goal.

The main concern for the Falcons this year is size, currently relying on Berman, 6’1, for most of their inside game.

“We’re smaller than most teams and we have to out-hustle team in order to compete,” said Berman.

Losing two 6 footers last year, Andy Johnson and Vinnie Carstens, the team may need to change its style, focusing on speed and the transition game rather than physical defense to set the tone of their games.

“We’re looking forward to this year,” said Berman. “We have the talent and skill to do well. All we need to do now is execute and win games.”