New season, new coach and fewer new players might be the recipe for success this year for the men’s basketball team, which will look to improve on last year’s dismal 2-19 record.

Coach Michael Fenison said he likes what he sees in this year’s team compared to last year’s, where he served as an assistant coach under the recently retired Paul Landreaux.

“With our best players returning and with the incoming freshman’s coming in, this team should be able to play better then it did last year,” Fenison said.

The Warriors’ strength comes from their guards, and some players think that this year’s big men will help the team win more games this season.

“Our inside presence is better this year with the new big men that we have,” guard Richard Caldwell said. “Our big men will need to step up if we want to win games this year.”

Fenison will be EC’s third men’s basketball coach in the last 24 years, after Landreaux held that position for 21 of those 24 years.

“(Fenison) is a discipline coach; he pays attention to conditioning a lot. He is a pretty good coach,” Caldwell said.

The season opener for the Warriors will begin here Tuesday against state champion Compton.

“It’s going to be a tough game, Compton is a very athletic and well-coached team,” Fenison said.

While Compton is a state power and with the Warriors coming off a 19-loss season, the players are looking forward to playing Compton to prove they will not be a pushover this season.

“We want to beat Compton to make a statement that we are not weak,” Caldwell said. “We want to show no sings of weakness.”