The expectations were probably a tad too high last year for the Walled Lake Western boys basketball team.

That said, under first-year head coach Ra'Redding Murray, the Warriors did double their win-total from the 2011 season, finishing the 2012 campaign hovering around the .500 mark.

This year, with a season of Murray's system under its belt, the Western hoop crew should be ready to take a big step forward.

Seniors Miroslav Jaksik and Korey Wade will head the charge for the Warriors on the hardwood, making up one of the best inside-outside duos in the area. Wade is a playmaking combo guard entering his fourth year on the Western varsity. At 6-11, Jaksik is a D1 recruit with a refined skill set in the paint and out on the perimeter. Following a season of getting acclimated to the American prep game, he could be in for a huge season in the stat column.

A stacked sophomore class will fill in most of the spots around Jaksik and Wade in the Warriors' rotation. The best of the bunch is Jerayld Booker, set to assume floor general duties for the squad and the MVP of the JV team last season as a freshman. The athletic and aggressive Marcus Bailey - a rising football star in the offseason - will flank Jaksik on the block and John Flowers will join Wade and Booker in what could turn into a much-feared 3-guard lineup in the Western backcourt. Demond Young (G) and Anthony Harris (F) will be a pair of Murray's top reserves.

Senior Bryan Matacen, a solid and smart reserve cage general, will spell Booker at the point guard spot and junior David Walczyk is a grinder that will help out patrolling the paint and might wind up leading the team in floor burns.

"The goal is to just keep growing as a program," said Murray, who took Detroit Crockett to the final four back in the early 2000s. "We're moving in the right direction and that's all I can ask for. I think we understand how to prepare better then maybe we did last season. These guys like being in the gym and are all hard-workers. They work well together as a unit and they are hungry for success. The pieces are in place."