CORVALLIS — Senior leadership is something teams rely on in good and bad times.

Athletes who have been-there and done-that are expected to come through with the game on the line. That allows rookies to learn without pressure, and then step to the forefront when it’s their time.

This scenario is something the Oregon State men’s basketball team doesn’t have this season and must work around. There are leaders, but only one starting senior in center Kyle Jeffers.

“We don’t have senior leadership,” junior forward Marcel Jones said. “A lot of responsibly will be on the younger players and juniors.”

Jeffers, however, said he can use his will to earn some wins, but not an entire season’s worth. The 6-foot-9, 258-pounder is a physical presence under the basket when healthy, averaging 6.3 points and 4.2 rebounds even with shoulder problems last year.

The other senior is walk-on Michael Johnson. The forward came on strong late last season with energy off the bench, and should contribute again.

“I’m going to push this team to put ourselves in the position to win,” Jeffers said. “We definitely have the talent, skill level and the coaching to get us where we need to go. It’s just a matter of doing it in the tough times. We’ll have to see if the young guys can put basketball, school and person life together during the season.”

Other leaders on the team include junior forwards Sasa Cuic and Jones. They’ve been important players, but were in the shadow of the seniors in the past.

It’s their time to carry the team for the next two seasons. Cuic realized that early and focused on building a team atmosphere in the offseason.

“We lost a lot of senior leadership,” Cuic said. “We have new guys stepping into those roles, and some of the young guys needed role models. That’s a different role for me. The younger guys are looking up to me.”

New point guards are being broken in with Josh Tarver and Vojian Sivlar. The other guard will be manned by two four-year juniors with part-time experience in Wesley Washington and Angelo Tsagarakis, but true freshman Seth Tarver will be looked at there, as well as at forward and point guard.

Other new backups in the frontcourt with limited or no playing time include true freshmen Roland Schaftenaar and redshirt freshman Calvin Hampton.

Last year’s reserves such as Jack McGillis, Liam Hughes and Johnson will fight for playing time.

“The good thing, instead of having seniority, we don’t have a lot of people who have proven themselves at this level yet,” Cuic said. “They are all hungry to prove they can play at the Pac-10 level, so there’s competition at all the positions. But we have more than enough people to cover all those roles.”