Northwestern head coach Billy Hallman didn't hesitate when talking about his team.

"We're excited," Hallman said. "We have a lot of young guys. It's almost like a fresh beginning."Though the Tigers will have to replace four of their top five scorers from last year's squad, Hallman has no shortage of talent to work with.Headlining the group is senior Robert Seyfried, who averaged a team-high 14.3 points per game last season, the third best average in the Times News area.In addition to Seyfried, sophomore Sam Yadush (2.6 ppg) returns and will likely handle point guard duties, while senior Isaac Fatzinger will be counted on to play a bigger role this season.While losing Parker Jones (13.67 points per game), Brady Mengel (11.91 ppg), Dustin Snyder (9.14 ppg) and Connor Hess (3.68 ppg) will take away a significant portion of last season's scoring production, it will also change Northwestern's style of play."We've been moving them around, putting them in different spots and kind of seeing what works best," Hallman said. "We're obviously going to have to play a little bit different of a game because our two leading scorers were guards last year."We're bigger this year. We're a bigger team; we have size. That doesn't mean we're not going to be able to score from the outside. But it might be a little bit different of a game plan compared to how we played the last two years."Freshmen Luke Hallman (6-3) and Deven Bollinger (6-4) will be in the mix for playing time and should provide some of that added length. Sophomore Sam Seyfried and junior Reuben Kemmerer are also likely to be counted on immediately as well.While players work to settle into their roles on offense, Hallman is making sure the team continues to play at a high level on defense."We're going to start on the defensive end. We've been working on it since the summer. That's where we'll dig in," he said. "These guys enjoy the game of basketball, so offensively, they can just go play. It might not be as structured as it was in years past, and I think we'll benefit from that."But, Hallman admitted it hasn't been easy."The first practice, it was rough, but that's to be expected with all the new faces," he said. "Nobody really knows what their role is at that point. But guys have taken ownership of their role, they're ready to go and I think they're getting more comfortable with the whole system in general."Northwestern will add another piece to the puzzle in senior Trevor Cunningham, who did not play last season."Trevor is back out this year, which is huge for us," said Hallman. "We missed him last year. He's so athletic."He played growing up, so he knows the game of basketball; it's not like it's his first time ever playing. He'll fit right in with the guys. He's kind of taken over a vocal leadership. Even though he didn't play last year, all of these guys know him. We had him for a year two years ago, so he knows us."Cunningham and Bollinger are coming off a football season that ended with an appearance in the Eastern Conference championship game, while Sam Seyfried was a member of the Tigers soccer team that advanced to the state semifinals. Hallman is hoping that success carries over to the hardwood.If it does, look for the Tigers to improve on last year's 10-12 mark and return to the postseason."We have high expectations. The guys set them high," Hallman said. "They have their own individual team goals. I think everybody has the goal of getting to the playoffs."I know its clichéd and everybody says one game at a time, and we will take it one game at a time and not look past anybody. Our end-of-the-season goal is to make the playoffs. It hasn't been done now for a couple years. We've been close the last couple of years. Even though we're young, we're going to get better as the season goes on because of that. But we feel like our young guys are ready to go already."