Those four seniors are 6-3 Erik Bell (18 ppg/7 rebounds), 6-2 Chris Miller (6 ppg/8 rebounds), 6-1 Travis Pendleton (6 ppg/4 assists) and 6-1 Erich Holsten (2 ppg/2 rebounds).

Adding depth for McCormick will be 6-1 junior Dane Peterson, 5-10 junior Trevor Brink and 5-10 junior Tyler Hesselgesser.

“Our strength will be our outside shooting, work ethic, and unselfishness,” Coach McCormick told us. But inside the Vikings will need some help. “Our inside defense and rebounding could hurt us. Our post is only 6-2.”

“We’ll be very competitive again (17-7 last year). Bell is a two time all-league returner. We’ll have solid team speed with excellent outside shooting,” he added.

“We were about .500 this summer but we had a pleasant surprise with development of Trevor Brink at point,” McCormick said of the team’s off-season work.

“The league has four new coaches so there could be some surprises. West Valley will likely go undefeated in league with four starters 6’5 or taller. Andrew Strait (6-8) is tough.”