Bethlehem Catholic might be in store for a transition year on the hardwood, but that might be the most normal part of the season.

As the Hawks return a team coming off a loss in the District 11 4A finals last year to Central Catholic, they look forward to some normalcy to finally prepare for the season, which go underway with a win over Palmerton on Friday night.

Head coach Scott McClary just wanted to get back on the court.

“We got a few practices in, had to shut down,” McClary said. “Got a few more in, then shut down again. The hardest part is being flexible for things to change on you almost every day. It’s really hard on young guys mentally.”

Becahi will need to learn quick as they prepare for a shortened season that began on the road Friday. With six of their top seven players gone from a year ago, McClary and his staff have plenty of work to do.

The lone returning starter for the Hawks is 6-foot-5 junior shooter Ryan Glassmacher.

The other major contributors that McClary intends to see plenty of floor action are: Caden McClary (6-4 senior, forward); Steve Recchio (6-2 junior, forward); Edixon Gomez (6-1 junior, guard) and Alex Cercado (5-11 sophomore, guard).

“We will be pretty small with the guys that do have height still playing mostly on the perimeter,” McClary said. “As far as style, we will really need to work on team rebounding due to lack of size. We will need to find an identity on offense, mostly built around the three-point shot, where we do have several good shooters. The key, as always, will be our ability to defend and rebound as a team. At this point, I think just actually playing the games is a victory.”