A former standout player at Pleasant Valley, Matt Gould knows what it takes to succeed on the hardwood.

Now, Gould is imparting that same passion and desire for the game as the Bears' head coach, something he hopes will lead to more success this season."We put the time in," said Gould, who is entering his third season at the helm. "We were in throughout the summer, four days a week, two hours a day. In the fall, it was four days a week. And in the weight room the guys definitely got a lot bigger; they got more physical. Richie Irving came back to Pleasant Valley and helped us out as the strength and conditioning coach."The guys have definitely put the time in, and you can tell that they've made strides to be better than last year."Pleasant Valley is coming off a 4-18 campaign, but returns the majority of its lineup from last season.The continuity and experience should help the Bears compete in the deep Eastern Pennsylvania Conference."Being in the EPC is tough, but we have a schedule that favors us a little bit this year to pull out some more wins, and make a push for the Mountain Division in the EPC and ultimately districts," said Gould. "I think they've taken big strides. I always tell the guys it's a big step from freshman ball, to JV ball, to varsity ball. And then when you get out there at 7 p.m. against an Allen or a Parkland, it's eye-opening at first."Having the majority of our guys back from last year, they know what to expect, and they knew they had to put time in during the offseason if they wanted to compete. And they've made sacrifices for that. When it comes to December, January, February, and some teams are going home, they've put that time in to give themselves and an opportunity to be there in February."Gould will have his three leading scorers from last season back in junior Elijah Munford (8.78 points per game), senior Chris Barker (8.27 ppg) and junior Isaiah Howard (5.50 ppg), but will have to replace Lucas Schaffner and Romello Smaltz, who both averaged five points per game a year ago.There are several players who gained valuable playing experience last season that Gould will be counting on to fill those roles. Seniors Alex Gerolimatos (4.73 ppg) and Jah-Seer Aulder, as well as Ian Prator, Justin Richardson and juniors Isaiah Howard and Noah Neubert should vie for spots in the rotation, either as starters or off the bench."We have a nice group of guys, where we do have athletes where we can get up and down the court and we can speed other teams up," said Gould. "But we also have other guys where they don't need to play that up-tempo game. We have size, as last year we really didn't."With a balanced roster and solid foundation in place, Gould is eager to see the team reap what it has sown."This year, we're looking to take that next step and compete, and springboard off of this year into next year," said Gould. "It will be telling the first few games. We have a stretch where, out of our first seven games, six are away and only one is at home."If we can get through that, it'll be good. We'll see. We have the guys who can play."