KEYS to success

1Find a point guard. Coach Matt Logie and senior forward Taylor Farnsworth rave about junior transfer Matt Staudacher, who came over to Whitworth from Simon Fraser. He will get every opportunity to win the job to replace Northwest Conference player of the year Dustin McConnell.

2Find a shooting guard. Kenny Love came into camp 22 pounds lighter on his 6-1 frame. Love, a sophomore, started a handful of games and his size made him a matchup nightmare for other conference guards. Love looks to drive more than shoot, but should fill in capably for graduated sharpshooter Colton McCargar. Kionte Brown, a 6-1 sophomore guard from Shadle Park, should also get plenty of looks.

3Use that length. Logie now has 10 players on the roster who are 6-5 or taller. That statistic alone should make his team the tallest in the Northwest Conference. Forward George Valle always plays bigger than his 6-4 frame, but the roster is full of young players, including 6-10 sophomore post Drew Sears, who could help rest the senior posts, 6-8 Taylor Farnsworth and 6-7 Adam Wilks.

4Find enough minutes. The leading scorer is 6-5 sophomore wing Christian Jurlina, who served as the Pirates’ sixth man last year. With six new players, including 6-7 freshman Alberto De Miguel, from Madrid, Spain, Logie said his lineup could go 11 or 12 players deep. That should cause headaches for any conference team trying to match up.

5Find a stopper . The Whitworth team made huge strides as the season progressed last year. But with several games on the line, the Pirates often looked to McConnell to carry them home. The team needs to find that player, possibly Jurlina, to turn those last-second comebacks into victories that McCargar and McConnell created so well.