SLIPPERY ROCK - First-year coach Sean Strickland likes to turn up the heat in practice. Literally.

"I want the Rock Box cooking," said the Slippery Rock High School boys basketball coach.

Strickland will have to be the Iron Chef this season to whip up a palatable dish to overcome the loss of more than half the offense.

Rich Lee and Mike McCaffrey graduated and took their combined 29 points and 17 rebounds with them.

But Strickland will have a lot of ingredients to work with as the roster sports 18 players, all of whom figure to see playing time.

Only two of those players, senior Brett Hines and junior Billy Messer, have varsity experience.

"I have guys who are going to play for me who didn't even get into drills last year at practice, from what they tell me," Strickland said.

Slippery Rock is also playing in a stronger league with some experienced newcomers from the north entering the fray.

Not an enviable task for a new coach to tackle. But Strickland doesn't fret."Yeah, just add them up," Strickland said. "We have a joke. We have this shirt we put all the excuses on. I tell the kids, there are no excuses. You just find a way to get it done."Strickland, who was an assistant at Monaca High School as well as a coach at the Community College of Beaver County, will try to get it done with determination and a whole lot of hard work."If you can play defense and work hard, you'll play for me," Strickland said. "Anyone can play defense and rebound because all it takes it work ethic. We don't focus on the things we can't control, but the things we can and that's work ethic and attitude."Hines will be a key inside for Slippery Rock, which finished 12-14 last year and advanced to the state playoffs.Last year, Hines excelled at times as the third option in the offense behind Lee and McCaffrey. He averaged eight points per game."He has to be the man now," Strickland said. "We had him over the simmer and we have him now. He's working harder, I would assume, than he ever has. He understands he has to step up and be the man in the middle for us."Messer will also be a key figure because of his tenacity and penchant for getting to every loose ball. He is also a stellar defensive player."The kids feed off of him and his intensity level," Stickland said.Slippery Rock will use a lot of bodies this season because it plans on playing up-tempo to force teams into mistakes."We're going to try to get into people's faces defensively and hopefully most of our points will come off transition," Stickland said. "We really don't care where the scoring comes from."Our system, the way it is, we're probably going to go play 10 guys a night. As hard as we play, they have to know we are going to rotate guys."Expectations in the community and among pundits are low for the team, especially with teams like Oil City, Franklin, Titusville and Meadville coming into the league.Teams in the league could be looking at Slippery Rock as one of the few certain wins on the schedule."I would expect that," Strickland said. "Our kids have been on summer jobs where people have told them they are going to (stink) this year. No one is expecting much of them. That's fine."If you come to work, you'll beat half the teams you play because most don't come to work. We're not the most skilled team, the most talented team - the kids know that - but they can be the hardest working team."

2004-05 Boys ScheduleDec. 3-4-at Saegertown Tip-Off Tournament; Dec. 7-FORT LEBOEUF @ SRU, 7:30 p.m.; Dec. 9-at George Junior, 6 p.m.; Dec. 15-at Wilmington, 6 p.m.; Dec. 17-TITUSVILLE, 6 p.m.; Dec. 20-at Youngstown Rayen, 6 p.m.; Dec. 21-MEADVILLE, 6 p.m.; Dec. 23-GREENVILLE, 6 p.m.; Dec. 28-29-at Mercer Holiday Tournament; Dec. 29-at Seneca Valley, 12:30 p.m.Jan. 4-FRANKLIN @ SRU, 7:30 p.m.; Jan. 7-at Oil City, 6 p.m.; Jan. 11-at Sharon, 6 p.m.; Jan. 14-HICKORY, 6 p.m.; Jan. 18-at Grove City, 6 p.m.; Jan. 21-at Titusville, 6 p.m.; Jan. 25-at Meadville, 6 p.m.; Jan. 27-at Franklin, 7:30 p.m.; Jan. 28-FRANKLIN, 6 p.m.Feb. 1-OIL CITY, 6 p.m.; Feb. 4-SHARON, 6 p.m.; Feb. 8-at Hickory, 6 p.m.; Feb. 11-GROVE CITY, 6 p.m.; Feb. 12-at Erie Central, 5 p.m.