PITTSBURGH — Talk about a crowded bench.

Butler County products Tyler Frederick (Butler), Austin Hannes (Knoch) and Jalen Brown (Freeport) — all returnees to the La Roche University men's basketball team — will have to get used to extra company next season.

Redhawks head coach Hermie Carmichael — a 1995 Seneca Valley graduate — has recruited 14 new players to join the team. The bulk of them are currently WPIAL seniors.

“We'll go as far as Youngstown and Cleveland, but our prime recruiting area is right here at home,” Carmichael said. “Our campus is centrally located for WPIAL players.

“I don't know if I'd say it's by design, but 90 percent of our roster is WPIAL kids. That's just how it's worked out.”

And it's been working out just fine, thank you.

La Roche is 66-17 over the past three seasons, winning a pair of Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference championships. The Redhawks have been to the AMCC title game four successive years.

Their next goal is to win an NCAA Division III tournament game. No La Roche basketball team — men or women — has ever done so.

“I want to win one of those bad,” Frederick said of a national tournament game. “I acually want to win two, three or four of them, as many as we can get.”

The junior center earned all-region honors last season, averaging 18.9 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. He needs less than 100 points to reach 1,000 for his career, approximately 300 rebounds to break the La Roche career rebounding record.

While Hannes — who averaged 13.2 points and 2.6 assists per game as a guard last year — and Frederick are the Redhawks' only returning starters, they will be on the deepest team in program history in 2020-21.

“We're going to have 21 to 24 players on this team,” Carmichael said. “We've never had a junior varsity team, but we're looking to schedule a few games that way next year.

“Even if we go 10-deep in our regular games, we'll have 10 or more players not getting minutes. We need to get guys on the floor.”

But it's a pleasant problem to have for Carmichael. He and his assistant coaches have had to take to the court as players during practice to run cerain plays and get drills accomplished.

Due to injuries and a limited roster, the Redhawks only had eight or nine healthy players at times.

No more.

Recruits are coming in from Vincentian, Uniontown, Aliquippa, Keystone Oaks, South Fayette, Carlynton, Riverside, Montour and Ambridge, among other WPIAL schools.

“I love it,” Hannes said. “The more players we have, the better team we'll be. Guys will come in and challenge us for time. That's healthy, as far as I'm concerned.”

Brown was a freshman who saw action in 13 games. He only averaged seven minutes as he was plagued by ankle and eye injuries.

“I know I'll have to fight for time next year, but I think it's cool having all these WPIAL guys,” Brown said. “A lot of us recognize each other from high school. I played against Austin Hannes in high school.

“We needed more bodies and now we have them. I know I have to improve my shooting, get more confident. I'm looking forward to the challenge.”

Frederick said he enjoys playing with WPIAL guys “because we can relate to each other. There's an automatic connection there.

“When we go out there and win, we feel like we're representing the WPIAL.”

Seven of La Roche's top eight players last season were from WPIAL schools. The exception was Luke McDonough, a 6-foot-6 forward from Bellaire, Ohio.

Carmichael's two assistants are former WPIAL coaches — Harry Jenkins (Fox Chapel) and Victor Giannotta (Seneca Valley).

“Those two guys have a lot of contacts,” Carmichael said. “Harry was at Fox Chapel for 30 years. Victor just coached at Seneca recently, so he knows a lot of the current players.

“The WPIAL is loaded with Division II and III caliber basketball players. We used to get kids up to Class 4A. Lately, we're getting a few 5A and 6A kids.

“It's been great for us. The proof is in our record. These guys can play. Now it's time to climb to another level,” the coach added.

As in success at the national level.

“It's all we're talking about,” Hannes said.