This year’s boys basketball team has the potential to be a very good squad.

“But potential only gets you so far,” coach Cary Finberg cautions. “It’s a matter of playing together as a team.”

The players are no strangers to the hardcourt. The core of this squad all played together last year when they battled back from a first-round loss to Laurel to take third at the state A tournament.

The team is led by three big men, 6-foot-6 junior Austin Barth, 6-foot-3 senior Kaleb Johnson and 6-foot-5 senior Nick Emerson. All three players were all conference last year. Johnson was all-state.

They also have speedy senior point guard Devyn Rocker, senior guard Chris King and two more big players in Jake Calderwood and Cal Vukonich and they know how to play together. Everyone but Calderwood started on the football team.

This year’s squad also welcomes Ronnie Gallegos, a junior point guard transfer from Bigfork.

“We’re real excited to have him,” Finberg said. “He’s extremely fast.”

There’s a host of other talent, including Parker Johnson, Austin Martin, Dyllon Parker, Alex Correa, Luke Kazlauskas and freshman Jared Trinastich. All could step in and see varsity minutes this season.

The Wildcats will get tested early and often. They open the season at the Western A Tip-Off tournament against Stevensville Dec. 10 and Hamilton Dec. 11. Stevensville is a dangerous team, Finberg noted.

They have excellent outside shooters and can close a lead in a hurry. Last year they came back from 20 down against the Cats and nearly won.

The Stevensville game is at the Corvallis gym at 11 a.m., the Hamilton game at 6:45 p.m. in Hamilton.

The Cats then face AA Flathead and Sentinel away Dec. 16 and Dec. 18 respectively. The Cats won’t have a home game until they play Eureka Jan. 6.

“I like our schedule,” Finberg said. “It’s very beneficial for us. We want to play good teams.”

Finberg has been head coach of the boys team for 15 years and has been involved with coaching for 20. He has some familiar faces on his staff. Skip Schroeder will coach the freshmen team and Dan Block will coach the junior varsity with assistance from J.D. Fields, who was a standout player with the Cats and a member of the 2005 state A championship team.

Assisting the varsity team is Greg Bauska this season. All the assistants have coached with Finberg for years.