HICKORY, N.C. — With a mesh of core veterans and talented freshmen, the Catawba Valley Community College men's basketball team enters the 2023-24 season with high hopes and expectations.

"We've got a lot of good guys — not just good basketball players, but good people," said Shawn Johnson, who enters his first season under the helm of the Red Hawk men's basketball program. "They've worked hard. They've accepted the challenges that we as a coaching staff have put in front of them.

The Red Hawks return five players from a roster last winter that went 20-12 overall and 13-9 in Region 10 competition, including guards Evan Presnell, Tre Hill and Nasim Fuller and forwards Chol Adichol, Jordan Strong-Byrd.

Johnson has been very pleased with his returning sophomores.

"They bring familiarity in knowing how we operate," Johnson said. "They let the new guys know what I will and won't tolerate. That helps. We're big on them coaching the locker room. We can't do that all the time. Those veteran guys are doing a good job in terms of making sure that the locker room understands what it is that we're trying to do. We have a very good group of leaders. We're very excited about those guys before."

Complimenting the Red Hawks' veteran group is a nine talented freshmen that Johnson has been impressed with.

"It is tough when you are bringing in a lot of new guys, but the guys we've brought in have played before," Johnson said. "They're not just a bunch of freshmen. We do have our share of freshmen, but we also have a returner who was here for one year, left for some health issues and is back. We have a couple of transfers from some four-year colleges that are looking for an opportunity to show they can play. We have some new faces, but we feel like we have some good players that are seasoned at the same time. We're just trying to mesh. I think once we mesh we can do some good things. We're excited for sure."

During the team's "Meet the Red Hawks" preseason kickoff event a few weeks ago, Johnson made an impassioned speech and told those in attendance that the program was going to do some things it had not done before.

"If you look up on our banner in the gym there's a lot of space on it," Johnson said. "We want to take up some of that space. There have been some really good teams here and some good players, but we play in a very competitive league, which I like. To get over that hump you've got to do something you've never done before. We're not going to come in here and set our goal to be fourth in conference. I don't know anyone who does that. That's not our goal. Our goal is to be the last man standing, and we're going to fight for that. We just need to figure out how to do it."

As for what to expect on the court from the Red Hawks from a playing style standpoint this season, Johnson plans to keep some things the same, but make a few changes.

"You'll see some things that we've done in the past for sure, but you''ll definitely see some things different than in years past as well," he said. "We're excited. There's a lot of different ways to attack this thing. We think the way that we're doing it is one of the correct ways to do it. The kids have been very receptive, especially the returners, to the changes that we've made."