It’s not hard to see where strength lies on this year’s Coupeville boys basketball team.

The Wolves return four of five starters from last year, providing them important experience on the court.

“That’s a pretty good start right there,” head coach Randy King said of his roster.

Junior Mike Bagby was first-team all-league last year in the Northwest A at guard. He led the Wolves offensively, putting in close to 15 points per game and he proved his scoring abilities weren’t limited.

“Sometimes he scores inside, sometimes outside, he’s pretty flexible,” King said.

Other returners to the starting lineup include senior guard Blake Day, senior forward Andrew Mouw and junior guard J.J. Marti.

Also coming back to varsity is senior Trevor Mueller, who didn’t start, but saw several minutes off the bench.

Aside from the starting core, the Wolves don’t run very deep with varsity experience.

“From there it’s pretty much kids moving up from junior varsity,” King said.

According to King, hustle will be key to Coupeville having success this season.

“I’d like really like to out-rebound the other teams so we can get more possessions,” he said.

The Wolves tend to shoot a lot of three point shots and with the players they bring back this year, not much should change.

More focus will also be put on defensive pressure and King thinks it can only get better.

“I really look for our defense to improve this year,” he said.

Coupeville finished 10-10 last year, ending its season in a three-team playoff against Concrete and LaConner. They ended just one game shy of going to the district tournament, something that hasn’t happened now in four years and something the Wolves would like to change.

“That is one of our goals,” King said.

Last year’s league champion Archbishop Murphy moved on to 2A, but Coupeville gains some solid league opponents with the combination of three quality B schools in Darrington, Mount Vernon Christian and Shoreline Christian. All three of those schools have vied for state championships at the B level over the past few years.

“I’m looking forward to a lot of great chess matches in the new league,” King said.

The winner of the Northwest A/B league earns an automatic bid to state, the second place finisher must battle through a four-team loser-out Tri-District tournament to continue.

Coupeville begins its season at 5:45 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 30 at home against non-league South Whidbey.