Straight from the out of nowhere department, the Walled Lake Western boys basketball team could easily wind up being one of the top teams in the area this season.

Known traditionally as a "football school," Western has never been a hoops power. Last year, the Warriors finished a dismal 5-16.

That's all about the change.

With the hiring of first-year head coach Ra' Redding Murray and an influx of some exciting new talent, Western looks poised to flip the script and start to shine on the hardwood – VERY SOON.

"I don't know what exactly is going to happen this season, but I'm telling everyone that will listen that Walled Lake Western basketball is going to be competitive year-in and year-out from this day forward, period, no question about it," said Murray, returning to the court for the 2011-2012 campaign after some time off following a successful tenure at Detroit Crockett. "We're going to be taken seriously and come to play every single game as long as I'm here as head coach. That's a promise I know I can keep."

A pair of high profile transfers in junior center Miroslav Jaksik and senior forward Aaron Prim will headline Murray's lineup this year and help jumpstart the resurrection project. Standing 6-foot-11 and possessing both solid footwork and a velvety soft touch, Jaksik is a potentially dominating inside-outside threat from Serbia by way of Canada, already getting looks from a number of Big 10 programs including Michigan State and Indiana. Coming over from Detroit Osborne, where he helped take his team to a district title last winter, Prim is 6-foot-7, long and athletic and will team with Jaksik to form quite the intimidating tandem in the post for the Warriors.

Another newcomer in the mix for Western this year is freshman shooting guard Jalin Gardner, one of the state's best ninth-graders and slated to start in the backcourt.

According to Murray, the squad's sleeper this season will be junior lead guard Korey Wade, a super-quick scorer who can create for his teammates as well as bomb away from long distance and played on the Warriors varsity as a sophomore.

Senior swingman Jamal Rhoades, another returning player for the Warriors from the 2010-2011 campaign, is penciled in to start at the small forward spot.

Western's reserve corps will be looked to by Murray and his coaching staff as a major contributing factor in the Warriors recipe for success and will go at least five deep.

Cam Vieaux, a star wide receiver on the school's football team this past fall that made a run into the Division 2 final four, William Gipson and Jarin Bryant, are all spirited and sprightly forwards set to backup Jaksik and Prim in the frontcourt.

JV call-ups Bryan Mantican (PG) and George Lawley (SG) will spell Wade and Garnder in the Western backcourt rotation.

During his last stint on the bench at Crockett back in the early 2000s, Murray was part of a massive Rockets' cage renaissance. As an assistant under current Eastern Michigan head coach Rob Murphy, he won a state championship in 2001. Taking the reins from Murphy, when Murphy decided to take an assistant coaching job in the college ranks at Syracuse, Murray navigated Crockett back to the final four in 2003.

When he was in high school, Murray starred at Detroit Mumford in the late 1980s.

The Warriors open their schedule on December 6 against Novi Franklin Road Christian, followed by games against Farmington Hills Harrison and KLAA power Brighton, a possible foe in the conference championship game come March.

"We might take a little time to mesh as a unit, but I think we'll be alright as the season starts to progress," Murray said. "We'll rebound and defend well and the scoring distribution will eventually just naturally work itself out. I'm excited by the opportunity to change the image of basketball at Walled Lake Western and have the school's name associated with having a winning program. It will be a fun and energizing experience for me and everyone who buys in and becomes a part of it."