Marshall head boys basketball coach Bobby Carson is expecting to have six seniors on his team this year. And he's expecting contributions from all of them.

"It's going to be a senior team," said Carson, who will be entering his 27th year as a head coach and his fifth at Marshall. "They're going to have to do the majority of the defending and scoring and provide the leadership. They've been around and we're either going to get it done or not get it done with those guys."

Three of those seniors — Marcus Smith, Michael Dade and Eddie Allen — will represent the Mavericks' returning starters, while Carson said DeMarques Sadler (who missed last basketball season due to knee surgery) and Roderick Davis will join once football is finished. Kevin Christian rounds out Marshall's four-year players.

All three returning starters are guards — with Smith returning as the leading scorer — and will anchor another quick, fast-paced Marshall team that will mimic last year's style that kept the Mavs in the playoff race for the duration of the season.

"We're going to have to step up," said Smith, who will move from two-guard into the point guard slot this year. "We have high expectations and we expect everybody else to follow us and follow our lead."

Despite missing out on the post season by only one game last year, the pre season prognosticators aren't tapping the Mavericks for a repeat this time around. But that doesn't bother Carson.

"We're picked seventh (of seven teams in District 13-4A) and that just thrills me," the coach said. "I like to see the lack of respect being accorded to us. We only have one direction to go and that's up. I definitely don't think we're a last-place team. I think we're a playoff team and that we can contend for a district championship."

Much like last year, it will be Marshall's outside shooting, fast break capabilities and defensive pressure that will determine how far it gets.

The Mavericks will have a pair of players near the 6-foot, 3-inch mark, but that will be all the size they will feature.

As such, Carson said his team will have to make sure to contest first shots, force turnovers and be disruptive on defense, among other things.

"We have to play defense and, since we're not so tall, we have to block out and get rebounds," said Allen, whom Carson will depend on heavily on the defensive end.

Other returnees from last year's varsity team will include Matt Holmes and Fred Johnson, while Carson said Victor Williams, Alandric Tutt, Riquan Williams, Curtis Evans and T.T. Green could all possibly see time at the varsity level this year. Holmes and Williams will be the tallest players.

Basically all of the players, though, will be quick and ball-savvy.

"We're going to see if we can get our fastbreak offense clicking," Carson said. "We're going to shoot a lot of 3-pointers. We're hoping to get our percentage around forty percent. If we can do that, I'll be happy."

And although others might not be picking Marshall right now, none of that matters much to Carson.

"Optimistically, barring injury or ineligibility or anything like that, this could be the best team we've had in the time that I've been here," Carson said. "District championships and playoffs are not won on paper. We're going to play it out and we're going to play hard. We've set our expectations high. I think the kids move to the level of expectations that you set for them and our goal is to win every ball game."