Pat Crampsie is banking on a lot of competition to make his players better.

He's counting on a few changes to make his team better.On paper, the veteran Panther Valley boys basketball coach appears to be facing some huge challenges. But Crampsie isn't intimidated.So despite losing four key members of a team that finished under .500 last season and having only one returning player that averaged more than two points a game, Crampsie's goals haven't changed."We don't use the term rebuilding because that's a cop out," said Crampsie. "We have the same goals this year as we have had every year I've been here."We want to be playing meaningful games late in the season and we want to qualify for the District 11 playoffs."The Panthers achieved half of those goals last season when they played a number of meaningful late season games. But a few close losses left them one victory shy of qualifying for districts and completing their goal exacta."Last season was frustrating," said Crampsie. "Coming up one win short of qualifying for the playoffs was something that I thought about a lot during the offseason."Crampsie's evaluation of the season is what produced some of the changes you'll see at Panther Valley."We need to be tougher both physically and mentally," said Crampsie. "That's one thing I learned from last season."We needed one more win and in some games that came down to digging in and getting a big defensive stop or getting one important rebound. A lot of time that boils down to focus and intensity. The teams that are tough mentally get those big stops and the teams that are tough physically grab those important rebounds. That's what I want to see from us this season."Another change you'll see was necessitated by a turnover in personel. A year ago, the Panthers relied primarily on perimeter players and three-point shooters to lead the way offensively. This season, the Panthers will have more of a longer, athletic look."We will be bigger and more post-based offensively than we've been in a few years," said Crampsie. "Because we have a little more length than last season when we were playing three and sometimes four guards, we plan on going back to the 1-3-1 defense that has been successful for us in the past when we had some bigger teams."Although Crampsie is set on his team's offense and defense, figuring out the players in it is another story."It's wide open," said Crampsie. "We have 13 kids on our varsity roster and I told them on the first day of practice that everyone was in the mix. No one had a spot in the starting lineup."We have a lot more competition for playing time than we've had recently. Through the first two weeks of practice, we have a number of kids moving their way up and down the depth chart. It's a very fluid situation."Based on what they accomplished a year ago, the two players most likely to be important contributors for the Panthers are Chad Dubosky and Charles Nase."Chad started every game for us last year and Charles started more than half our games," said Crampsie. "I would hope both of them are going to play their way into starting spots again."Others who are in the mix for significant playing time are Nate Miller, Ethan Vermillion, Cee Keo, Matt Hudicka, Anthony Miholick, Sam Stanko, Kyle Emmert and Tristian Blasko. Rounding out the roster are Mike Weng, Zane Eickoff and Brian Fisher.