<em>College Basketball Preview:</em> St. Joe's Hawks

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The 2009-2010 season was a rough one on Hawk Hill.

St. Joe's started the campaign 3-0, but it was all downhill after that as Phil Martelli's squad limped to an 11-20 record.

However, hopes are high that the Hawks can start to turn things around this season, as head coach Phil Martelli has a lot of new pieces to his puzzle.

Martelli says, "We're working with six new players, five freshman who will be part of the rotation for this year and a transfer from Hofstra (forward Halil Kanacevic - he will sit out this season), so we've had a lot of energy, a lot of excitement. We've had a lot of head scratching too because sometimes young guys don't know their left from their right - but they do it with a great deal of energy and a lot of enthusiasm."

Listen to Matt Leon's interview with coach Phil Martelli:

When discussing the keys to success for his team, Martelli says the biggest one may not be a real basketball skill, but rather how they adjust to the grind of a college basketball season.

Martelli says, "They have to be able to answer the physical challenge on a game-by-game, play-by-play basis. Whether it's blocking out, getting over a screen or setting a screen or taking the ball to the basket - those kind of things. But then the physical nature that comes into, for instance, playing on Friday evening and then coming back and playing again on Tuesday. How do you bounce back for practice on Saturday and Sunday, so that we can continually get better?"

While a lot of the focus is on the young members of the Hawk roster, they do have some key upper classmen. Martelli says he needs them to help lead the way while the young guys find their sea legs:

Martelli says, "(Senior forward and top returning scorer at 10.2 ppg) Idris Hilliard, who is a returning starter and (guard) Charoy Bentley who is a returning senior who hasn't played much in his career at St. Joe's were voted captains by their teammates. So I always lean on out seniors to kind of "steer the ship" so to speak. And (center) Todd O'Brien is a fourth year college player, although he is a junior eligibility wise. Those three guys have to teach our guys how to work in the weight room, how to travel on a bus, how to approach a road game. They have a lot of responsibility and I do put a lot on their shoulders."

The Hawks will open their season on Friday night at Hagan Arena against Western Kentucky.

Reported by Matt Leon, KYW Newsradio