Vicksburg has set its sights high coming into this hoops season.

With South Alabama commitment Mychal Ammons back in the fold and one of the state’s fastest point guards, Dominique Brown, still running the show, the Gators won’t settle for anything short of the Big House, the Mississippi Coliseum, and a berth in the Class 6A championship tournament.

Despite losing high-scoring shooter Kelsey Howard (Jackson State) on the wing, the rest of the pieces of the team from last year’s 25-4 season are back in place.

“We’ve got expectations and there’s no doubt about that,” Vicksburg coach Dellie C. Robinson said. “We’ve got a great group of kids and they’ve been playing together for a while. Anything short of the Coliseum would be disappointing to us. We’ve got some great teams in 6A and we’ve got a very tough schedule, but we think we’re pretty good and can play with anyone.

We’ve got our work cut out for this, but if we improve as a team, we can make it to the Coliseum and when you’re there, anything can happen.”

Ammons averaged 19 points per contest last year and pulled downed 9.4 rebounds.

“Mychal brings stability to the team as far as playing strong inside and rebounding,” Robinson said.

Brown has ran the team since he was a sophomore. The Gators have been a high-scoring bunch over the past few years (70.7 points per contest last season) and it is a testament to Brown’s ability to initiate the team’s half-court offense and get the ball to shooters and post players in just the right position. Last season, he averaged 7.4 points per contest and just a shade over two assists a game.

“Key for us over the past few years has been point guard play,” Robinson said. “He understands that he doesn’t have to do a lot of scoring, but that he has distribute the ball to our scorers.”

Rashad Gaines will play opposite Brown at shooting guard.

Inside, the Gators will have seniors Joshua Gaston and Kienta Ross and big Tre’Darius Carter, a 6-7 sophomore who will give them some length on the defensive end.

Ross is the team’s second-best rebounder despite only standing 6-1.

He pulled down six boards a game last season.

One weakness, if the Gators have one, is the team’s depth. Last season, Robinson could go 12-deep on his bench and he said that he’ll likely have an eight-man rotation this season, at least until some of the youngsters get more seasoning.