When the Aberdeen Roncalli boys’ basketball team takes the court this season, look for the Cavaliers to get up and down the floor at a rapid pace.

The Cavaliers have a roster loaded with athletes who can run and jump, so they plan on taking advantage of those attributes.

“You look at the roster that we have, we have four guys that competed and got third place at the state track meet in the 4X4,” said Roncalli coach Dan Gallagher said. “We’ve got long guys. We’ve got quick guys. We’ve got a lot of athletes. That’s where we really want to pride ourselves on, is we’ve just got athletes. We’ve got speed, so let’s use that to our advantage.”

Roncalli returns four players who started at one time or another last season. The group includes Jayden Munroe, Maddox May, Maddox Miller and Cade Shelton.

The Cavaliers also return three players who saw major minutes a year ago in Darwin Gambler, Aiden Fisher and Zane Backous.

What the squad does not have is the services of Keegan Stewart who suffered a season-ending injury a couple of weeks ago.

“It’s hard to replace a guy like Keegan,” Gallagher said. “He brings so much to the table with his size, his shooting ability. He can do a lot of things from a lot of different spots.”

While losing Stewart was a major setback, Gallagher said the team still has plenty of experienced players to rely on. Those individuals are already used to the system and understand their roles.

“It’s not the same as last year where we were kind of bringing in a lot of new pieces,” Gallagher said. “This year we’re just developing the pieces that have already been here.”

Gallagher said all the players share the same competitive drive, so much so that practices have turned into contests that are tracked on the scoreboard.

“These guys go at it,” Gallagher said. “It’s been a fun first week to see them compete against each other.”

Many of the players were part of a highly successful Roncalli football team that lost just one game this past fall. Gallagher said he thinks that momentum carries into basketball.

“I think it does, because I think they saw what it takes to be successful in football. They went through all the grueling hours in the weight room,” Gallagher said. “They understood what practices were like. Success didn’t just come. It took a lot of building. It took a lot of time and sacrifice, and I think these guys have kind of bought into that mentality, too.”

He said even the non-football players like Miller, Gambler and Shelton understand that work ethic.

“They didn’t have fall sports, so they were in here at 6 a.m. just getting shots up,” Gallagher said, “because they knew what it would take.”

Gallagher said he doesn’t talk much about goals this early in the season, but he does set standards.

“We want to be the fastest team on the floor as far as the way we play,” he said. “We want to be aggressive. We want to play with toughness. We want to be the hardest working team out there.”

The Cavaliers, who open the season on Friday by hosting Redfield, do have a long-range goal of peaking in the post season, but for now, their thoughts are on their first opponent.

“We know the potential that this team can have,” Gallagher said. “Our sight is on Friday against Redfield, but there’s no doubt that we’re playing everything towards becoming the best that we can be late March.”