It’s a rebuilding year. Where? Everywhere. At least that’s how it seems around Centre County for girls’ basketball this season.

Replacing three starters here, five starters there and a bunch more everywhere else seems to be the theme as another season tips off Friday night.

“At this point, most teams in Central Pennsylvania know their varsity roster, know who their starting five is going to be,” Bellefonte coach Roger Herto said. “At this point for us it’s

wide open. It’s fluctuating every night. I know where we are and I know we have a tough road ahead.”

Herto mentioned most teams in Central Pennsylvania — but he’s not alone in Centre County.

Bellefonte has exactly one returning letter-winner — a senior — and just one junior on its roster.

Philipsburg-Osceola can match that count of letterwinners and seniors, and Bald Eagle Area is replacing three-fifths of its starting lineup, though a deep bench has eased that loss.

Even State College, which normally withstands graduation losses without issue and seems to reload for a deep state run nearly every season is practically starting with a clean slate. This year’s team has exactly zero seniors.

“My first year of coaching at State College I had one senior,” Lady Little Lions coach Bethany Irwin said. “This is a first for me not having any senior leaders.”

The one exception seems to be Penns Valley, which lost two starters and has plenty of experience. Then again, the Lady Rams went through their big roster turnover last year.

Is there a reason for the tumult? It’s doubtful. Things just worked out that way.

It also comes with the irony of new coaches for BEA, Bellefonte and P-O.

The changes make things both tougher and easier for Herto, in his first season leading the Lady Red Raiders after moving over from Indian Valley.

The bad news is he hardly has any varsity experience, but the good news is at least he starts with a fresh slate to mold team members how he likes.

“Even more than a rebuild, this is a start-over,” Herto said. “I’ve been around and seen a lot of stuff and this is a start-over. This will be a challenging season for these kids. Most of them have not seen this level yet.”

Knowing that a few of his bretheren are experiencing similar circumstances eases the pain a little for new P-O coach Doug Myers — but only slightly.

“It definitely helps a little bit,” Myers said. “I know how strong the Mountain League is and how strong it’s been for years. I think at some point we can be competitive.”

The problem for all of them will be throwing some very young women — many freshmen and sophomores maybe even with limited junior varsity experience — into the deep end of some very competitive varsity contests.

“The first season is going to be baptism under fire,” Herto said. “It will be difficult at times. Our ability to score at some points will be tough.”

Irwin has the luxury of having coached many of her girls at the junior high level, so they are at least familair with her concepts and some terminology on both offense and defense, but that only goes so far.

Her tactic in the preseason has been focusing on one-minute increments during drills — breaking down games into very small pieces.

“What are you bringing to the game in one minute?” Irwin asks her team. “Is it a defensive stop? Do you get to the foul line? All the drills are 30 seconds or one minute, and they go all-out, and then we increase that. That’s going to be our key. There will be times we let ourselves down, but we’re going to play it one minute at a time.”

Irwin has about seven to 10 names she figures could be starters, but having a lineup more set than that may take a few games — or more.

The same goes for the rest, including BEA.

New coach Troy Butterworth at least has plenty of game experience, since the Lady Eagles went to the bench often to supplement last year’s four seniors during a record-setting season.

Still, he’s not about to admit everything is golden for the Eagles.

“We’re moving kids around to find the right starting five,” Butterworth said. “I think we’ve got it figured out but we’ll have to wait to see if it clicks.” What will it all bring?

It’s anyone’s guess. The lack of experience may make for some painful nights, or maybe the season will be filled with surprises.

It all comes from rebuilding.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” Irwin said. “We’ll just go with it and believe in what we have to do.”

Gordon Brunskill can be reached at 231-4608.