The top two scorers graduated, but the defensive intensity will remain the same for Aberdeen Roncalli this season.

The Cavaliers return three starters in seniors Aiden Fisher, Brody Weinmeister, and Parker Grieben who will help to bolster a boys’ basketball squad that will once again rely on defense and athleticism.

“That’s going to be our strength, is we’ve got a lot of key guys returning,” said Roncalli coach Dan Gallagher, “but also guys that didn’t start necessarily, Jesse Hernandez, Bryson Olson, at least coming into this year with some varsity minutes is going to be huge. The experience level we’re happy with, but what’s also great for us is Aiden, Brody, Parker are all great athletes, all great defenders in their own way.”

While Maddox Miller and Keegan Stewart are gone, a pair of athletes transferred over from Aberdeen Central and will be counted on for major contributions.

“Now we bring in two other guys that transferred in Sam Franks and Sam Larson, they can help fill some of those offensive roles for us that will be missing,” Gallagher said. “So Maddox and Keegan will be hard to replace, but we’ve got guys that are willing and able to step into those roles.”

Gallagher expects the Cavaliers to have a solid bench playing as many at 10 guys, and while Roncalli won’t be the tallest team in the state, they do have one player 6-foot-5, and three more at 6-foot 4.

“We’re not a big team by any means. We’ve got Parker and we’ve got some size to go with him.” Gallagher said. “To be able to get after teams we’ve got to have good guards and I feel like that’s our strength right now. We’ve got guys that are willing to play defense, guys that want to be aggressive. It’s just a fun way to play, too. The guys enjoy it.”

Roncalli plans to use that pressure defense to also help its offense. It’s a formula that has worked well in the past.

“The faster you play, it leads to more scoring, but also that scoring happens by the result of great defense,” Gallagher said. “That’s what we’re going to do our best to pride ourselves on.”

While it’s still early December and the Cavaliers have yet to play their first game, Gallagher said goals are still established. To being with, the coach wants his players to show steady improvement throughout the season.

“I’m always a guy that says, strive to get one percent better every day,” Gallagher. “If we can do that, by the end of the season we’re going to be at the point we want to be at, but at the same time you can’t go into the season I feel like without goals.”

The Cavaliers fell in the Region 1A semifinals last season and would like to play deeper into the postseason than that this year.

“I asked our seniors where they want to be, what their expectations are, and they were OK with the fact that we finally won a region game last year, for the first time in five years, but they weren’t satisfied, and they said that’s the next goal,” Gallagher said. “The next goal is we’re the team that’s going to go to the SoDak 16, but knowing this group, they’re not going to be satisfied with that. They want to continue to compete as deep as possible. It’s exciting when you have that type of stuff.”

Roncalli starts its season by hosting Redfield on Friday night.

Regardless of wins and losses this winter, it promises to be a special season for Gallagher, who began his coaching career when this year’s current group of seniors were back in middle school.

“We’re really excited. This is a group, that I was fortunate enough to start, when I was junior high coach, this was my first group,” Gallagher said, “so being able to be at this point, coaching them as seniors, it’s really exciting.”

While the season is more of a marathon than a sprint, Gallagher can’t wait to see what this group of athletes can accomplish this year.

“It’s hard to look too far ahead, just because we have Redfield first,” Gallagher said, “but it’s so exciting to see what it’s going to be like, and see how these guys grow and develop this season.”