Lehighton will be new. The question is, will it be improved?

The Indians boys basketball team will enter the 2015-16 campaign with lots of new faces.But despite the fact that four of the five starters from last season's 14-9 squad were lost to graduation, veteran coach Rich Oertner is optimistic that his team might surprise people."We're probably a team that is going to fly under most people's radar because of all the losses we suffered," said Oertner. "But I like our team. We might not be as athletic as the teams we've had the last couple of seasons, but we have more pure basketball players than I have had since I've been at Lehighton."We don't have a lot of experience, so that is something that concerns me. But I could see us eventually being even better than we were last year."In order to do that, Lehighton will have to replace 1,000-point scorer Tyler Crum, three-point sharpshooter Jordan Knappenberger, and starting guards Tom Ruzicka and Tyler Williams.In addition to those losses, the Indians' only returning starter, Nick Chambers, was injured in the final football game of the season and isn't back to 100 percent yet. Oertner said Chambers will probably dress for the opener, but he hasn't been able to practice much and is questionable as to whether he will be able to play.But the thought of possibly having five new starters on the court doesn't have Oertner in panic mode."We always have high expectations," said Oertner. "I don't approach a season any other way."I really think some of our first-year starters are going to surprise people. We have some talented basketball players. I feel like we have a number of kids who can score and we have pretty good size as well."Something else the Indians have that Oertner is excited about is a true point guard in junior Andre McDowell."Andre is probably the first true point guard I've had in my five years at Lehighton," said Oertner. "The past few years we have had great athletes like Anthony Rossino and Tom Ruzicka playing point guard. But they weren't true point guards. Andre gives us that dimension this season."McDowell will be joined on the perimeter by Tanner Zwetolitz, Damian Mele and Steven Jackson. The post area will be manned by Hunter Greene and Chambers.Zwetolitz and Greene were the team's top reserves last season, McDowell and Mele were JV players, and Jackson is a recent transfer from Conrad Weiser High School."We will rely heavily on those six kids," said Oertner. "They give us some nice options as far as what we will be able to do offensively and defensively."Offensively, we have some quickness and outside shooting and we also have kids who can post up and score inside. Defensively, we'll probably play some man, some zone, and do a little full court pressure as well. I like to have three or four defenses that our kids are comfortable playing and be able to switch up depending on our opponent."In addition to the top six players, Addison Howland, Nick Skrincosky and Collin Troxell could push for playing time. Rounding out the squad are Pat Lawler, Caine Carpenter, Jack Schaeffer, Zach Crum, Josh Stoffey and Greg Venuto.