Five story lines for high school boys basketball this season

Fast five

With the boys basketball regular season starting this week, here are five area storylines to watch for 2011-2012:

1. Which stars will step up? | Three of the top juniors from last year’s teams transferred out of the area. North Myrtle Beach lost Dylan Poston, Green Sea Floyds is without Larry Wideman and Carolina Forest no longer has Jon Golden-Calvin. That will leave a lot of teams needing to retool what they do from the get-go.

2. What will new coaches accomplish? | North Myrtle Beach not only lost its best player, it also lost coach John Trussell. Meanwhile, Loris also had to deal with a coaching change of its own. Now, it is up to Frank Moorhead (North Myrtle Beach) and Travis Scott (Loris) to make sure those two schools continue to make progress.

3. Can Conway make it two in a row? | The Tigers made it back to the playoffs for the first time since 2006. Conway would love to make sure a second consecutive trip to the postseason is in order. In this region, that won’t be easy for seventh-year coach Mike Hopkins.

4. How will Myrtle Beach respond? | The Seahawks are now playoff eligible again after being forced to sit out the 2010-2011 postseason because of some unsanctioned practices. Early signs point to third-year coach Craig Martin’s team being a contender, if not the favorite, in Region VIII-AAA. The extra bonus is that Myrtle Beach is also returning to its spot in the Beach Ball Classic after a one-year hiatus.

5. Where does Carvers Bay stand? | The Bears made another strong postseason run a year ago with Tyrone Brown leading the way. Jeff Mezzatesta’s team lost to C.E. Murray in third round, but not before Brown did enough to earn all-state honors. Now, Brown is gone and the Bears will have to find another way to win the Region VIII-A crown.

By Ian Guerin, For The Sun News