New beginnings always offer a renewed hope.

After a 2-21 season, hope is just what the doctor ordered for the Seneca Valley boys basketball team.

Former Peters Township boys coach Vic Giannotta took control of the program in May after Rob Naylor guided the Raiders to a 14-33 record over the last two seasons.

"We are exactly where I thought we'd be at this point," Giannotta said after a week and a half of practice. "The potential to be a good basketball team is there, but it's not going to happen overnight."

The Raiders lost five seniors to graduation, none bigger than 6-foot-8 center Sean Griffin, who averaged 15.5 points per game.

Don Barclay, a 6-foot-four sophomore, will try to fill Griffin's shoes. One of the top players on the Raiders' junior varsity last season, Barclay showed promise with 55 points scored in limited varsity action.

Dave Monteleone, a 6-5 junior, will be the starting power forward.Monteleone's 2003-04 campaign was a roller coaster ride.He had six games in which he scored in double figures, including a career-high of 17 points against North Allegheny. But he also had 12 games in which he scored no more than five and will be counted upon to become a consistent scoring threat this season."Dave is such a competitor," said Giannotta. "Any time we're running a drill in practice, he never lets up and goes all out."He's a guy we're looking to get 27 or 28 minutes a game out of."Giannotta hopes that his team's perimeter game will take pressure off of his inside players."We're really working on our outside shooting right now," he said. "(Matt) Steinbrink, (Dan) Stanley and (Pat) Heery will be the guys we look to in that part of our game."Senior Marshall Lee, who was second on last year's team with 7.9 points per game, will begin the season at point guard."But we expect to use a committee approach there," said Giannotta. "There's three or four other kids that we will switch back and forth between point guard and shooting guard."Like Barclay, sophomore Kevin Mayberry sparked the JV team last season and looks to make an impact for the varsity at small forward.Possibly the biggest area of concern for the Raiders right now is defense.The Raiders surrendered at least 80 points in a game six times last season."We are very weak defensively," said Giannotta. "Right now we are simply working on the fundamentals of a man-to-man defense. You can't learn zone until you've learned man."We're knocking the defense down to the foundation and building it from the ground up."The Raiders will compete in Section 3-AAAA with Butler, North Hills, Pine-Richland, New Castle, North Allegheny, Fox Chapel and Shaler."Nobody is expecting us to light the world on fire, but I know our kids will play out every possession," said Giannotta. "We've got a lot of young kids who want to play, and hopefully we can get them to buy into our philosophy."Seneca Valley will open its season Friday night in the Greensburg Central Catholic Tip-off Tournament.

2004-05 Boys ScheduleDec. 3-4-at Greensburg Central Tip-Off Tournament; Dec. 7-KEYSTONE OAKS, 6 p.m.; Dec. 10-at Ringgold, 6 p.m.; Dec. 11-OLIVER, 6 p.m.; Dec. 14-at Shaler, 6 p.m.; Dec. 17-FOX CHAPEL, 6 p.m.; Dec. 21-NORTH HILLS, 6 p.m.; Dec. 23-at North Allegheny, 5 p.m.; Dec. 28, 29-30-at C.J. Betters Holiday TournamentJan. 4-BUTLER, 6 p.m.; Jan. 7-NEW CASTLE, 6 p.m.; Jan. 11-at Pine-Richland, 6 p.m.; Jan. 14-SHALER, 6 p.m.; Jan. 18-at Fox Chapel, 6 p.m.; Jan. 21-at North Hills, 6 p.m.; Jan. 22-at Trinity, 1 p.m.; Jan. 25-NORTH ALLEGHENY, 6 p.m.; Jan. 28-at Butler, 6 p.m.Feb. 1-at New Castle, 6 p.m.; Feb. 4-PINE-RICHLAND, 6 p.m.; Feb. 7-MONTOUR, 6 p.m.