If Salisbury’s boys basketball team was an internet topic, it would be trending.

The team reached the quarterfinals in both the Colonial League and District 11 tournaments last winter and then went on to win the small school championship in the Lehigh Valley Summer Basketball League. Both are signs that the team could be looking to move up in the ranks this season as well.

The Colonial League went through a realignment of divisions this season with the addition of Lehighton and Jim Thorpe to the league, going from two divisions to three this season.

Salisbury is no longer paired with Palmerton and Northwestern Lehigh, but will instead have Catasauqua, Palisades, Saucon Valley, and Southern Lehigh to contend with in the newly-created South Division.

Saucon Valley went13-5 in the Colonial League last season and was the team that bounced the Falcons from both the league and district tournaments, but if you take the Panthers winning record out of the mix the three remaining teams were a combined 16-36 in league play to go with Salisbury’s 11-6 record.

The league’s playoff bracket increase from the top six teams to the top eight this season.

In a league with what could be a lot of parity, the Falcons could find themselves doing some damage and making a deeper run into the league tournament.

Salisbury has what could be considered a luxury in that it has a team with a number of players capable of putting up points and taking over the scoring in any given game. Don’t look for many 20-point games out of any of its players, but instead look for a number of players to get into double digits with the occasional big game from any one of them.

Of the returning players, junior Bryan Gonzalez led all of the scorers with just under seven points per game last season and figures to take up a bigger role in the offense. Gonzalez finished second on the team in three-pointers with 31, bowing to now graduated Jake Zellin, who hit on 38 attempts.

The lone senior on the roster is Josh Holler, who also figures to play a larger role with this season’s team. The junior class is well represented with Dom Gracia, Steven Lozada, Drew Petrie, and 6-foot-3 center Aidan Smarch all back.

The sophomore class has Keaton Frey, Garrett Leiner, and 6-3 forward Julian Makhoul, a talented group of young players.

While having a team with two 6-foot-3 players is nice, overall size is an issue for Salisbury, but to make up for that it will be able to beat teams with their quickness.

Head coach Jason Weaver will look to put that quickness to good use both offensively and defensively.

“Defensively, I think we can pressure teams a little more than we did last season,” said Weaver, who enters his 17th season at the helm of the Falcons. “The kids have really worked hard, and they really want to get after it this season and keep moving in the right direction.”

The Falcons lost their nonleague season opener 68-52 against Mahanoy Area and open their home schedule this week with a league game against Pen Argyl and another nonleague contest against Lehigh Valley Academy. On Monday they play their first division game at home against Palisades.