"Body of work" is a very popular cliché these days.

They have a body of work for the NCAA football playoffs; there is a body of work for a new president; and there is a body of work for NCAA basketball teams trying to qualify for the Big Dance.It is no different for the Marian boys basketball team and its veteran coach John Patton, who is on the cusp of opening his 11th season.But Patton doesn't want to talk about his program's body of work. He prefers to talk about the 2016-17 Colts as "a work in progress."Marian lost almost every starter from a season ago, one in which the Colts looked like they were on an amusement-park ride - going up and down and up and down. The Colts finished the season with an 11-12 record and a loss in the District 11, Class AA semifinals to Minersville."We're starting new and we're starting fresh," said Patton. "We got a lot of new faces as starters, but we have guys who are ready to step in."Brandon Mohammed, he will be a key for us. Ryan Karchner, DJ Mummey and Anthony Collevechio will all see a lot of playing time."The offseason has given Patton a glimpse of what could come, and that includes a key position - point guard. There's junior Noah Stauffer (5-7), senior Jarod Paisley (6-1), another junior Gabe Miller (5-10). There's even a freshman in 5-11 Tyler Fritz fighting for playing time.Patton admits his team stumbled offensively last season. "We struggled scoring points. That was especially the case in the first half of the district semifinal game when we were losing 15-9."So we are looking to put some points on the board. We play good defense, but we've got to find a way to put points on the board."When the Colts started the season 1-5 a year ago, Patton was looking for answers. He kept shuffling the players in and out, trying to find the right combinations to a set lineup and keep his players fresh in a hectic man-to-man pace the Colts played."This division (III) has been good, and it is going to be that way this year, too," said Patton. "Mahanoy is Mahanoy, Shenandoah has been good, now Panther Valley comes down to our division, and Weatherly has some kids that have been playing for a while. Sot it is never easy in this division."With Mummey, Karchner and Mohammad, the Colts are "long" as they say in the hoops lexicon. Mohammad is 6-5, Karchner 6-4 and Mummey 6-2, which gives Marian a nice-sized frontline for a small-school team.On a roster loaded with seniors, Patton also likes the leadership, which should provide stability.In addition to Karchner, Muffley, Collevechio and Paisley, the senior players include Jake Paluck (6-1), Sean Choley (5-9) and Brad Lentz (5-11). Plus there's juniors Brady Whildin (5-11), Mike McLaughlin (5-9), Jared Maylath (6-2), along with sophomore Julian Miller (5-10) in the mix for playing time.Since the lack of offense wore on the Colts a season ago, Patton says his team will look to push the ball and get more possessions. The defense will show some of the man-to-man pressure the Colts have displayed in the past, but could all feature more zone looks this season."We went from a 1-5 start to a 10-3 run before losing our last three games, so we need to start better and finish better," said Patton. "This is going to be a hard-fought division… no one is going to run away with it."