Longtime Inglemoor High School boys basketball coach Greg Lowell has seen a lot of young teams in his 24 years at the helm.

After graduating a Viking boatload of talented seniors last year, however, Lowell said that the 2011-12 Vikings are the youngest team he has ever seen.

But he’s definitely up to the challenge.

“The kids have been working hard to improve,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to do with each practice and game.”

Growing pains were evident in the team’s season opener, a lackluster 57-41 loss to Mountlake Terrace on Nov. 29.

In that game, the Vikings were never able to get going offensively and were held to just two points in the second quarter, trailing by 25 after three periods.

“It was a ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ effect,” described Lowell on his team’s realization of the pace and intensity required in a varsity basketball game. “We’ve never experienced something like that for a while.”

The Vikings had a strong turnout of 45 players this season, and do have a number of talents that have high potential this year. Chris Bryant, the starting point guard, is the player with the most experience returning from last season and will run a solid backcourt.

Up front, the Vikings lost a lot of their inside height advantage they have held in recent years with players like Paul Jorg (6-foot-8), Brady Gregor (6-7) and Tyler Bobin (6-7), but they have made up for those losses with a lot of athleticism in forwards Sam Omondi and Cooper Danby.

“We’re a little bit long and pretty thin,” Lowell said on the Vikings’ inside game. “We’ll still have a post game, but it will be a bit of a different type of game. We have quite a few kids that are 6-5, 6-6.”

The other starting slots are still up in the air, as Lowell will see which players develop over the course of the season.

“We haven’t really settled on a starting five,” he said. “It could be changing throughout the year.”

The Vikings rebounded from their season-opening loss with a 67-50 win over Auburn Riverside, but since then have dropped three in a row to open Kingco league play, including a 56-45 loss to Ballard on Tuesday night at home, as the Vikings continue to form their identity.

“We’ll have to gel offensively,” said Omondi, who was throwing down some one-handed dunks during a recent practice. “In our first game, our defense really wasn’t that bad, but on offense we weren’t getting many open looks.”

Added Bryant, “We have a lot of young guys coming in and they have to learn a little bit more, but we’re ready.”

And in a league that seems to only get tougher every year with talented squads like Garfield and Skyline, the Vikings’ only hope to get out of Kingco will be to develop that sixth sense on the court, which only comes with practice and hard work.

“We’ve got to do a better job of focusing and concentration,” Lowell admitted. “That’s the biggest thing with young kids, getting them to practice a certain way, with a certain intensity, and having it carry over. Right now, that’s the process we’re in.”

Inglemoor coach Greg Lowell addresses his team during a recent practice.