Four seniors from last year’s 24-2 finish won’t be included in such vengeance. Still, Layton head coach Kelby Miller returns valuable experience and a loaded offseason schedule bolstering his group’s Region 1 profile as the prep season tips off this week.

Three seniors — shooting guards Sam Romer (12.4 ppg) and Jonah Fullmer (5.5 ppg), and 6-foot-8 center Joshua Checketts (5.8 ppg) — are the top returners in this season’s leadership circle. Atop the arc sits promising sophomore Karter Miller (3.7 ppg) at point guard.

All four were integral to the team’s offseason tour with stops in Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and local scrimmages with 6A staples American Fork and Corner Canyon.

“You don’t win state championships in the summertime, but you can still build towards that,” Kelby Miller said “We do so much in the offseason that we kind of have an idea going into it and I think the fellas do too.”

Miller watched his core group blossom throughout those preseason dates, especially pleased with Romer’s and Karter Miller’s growth in managing the offense. A returning senior like Checketts also provides the Lancers comfortable size on both ends of the floor.

Welcoming in a hefty batch of younger talent, Miller said he’s looking forward to a deep roster with tremendous potential when paired with his returning starters.

“This is the type of group that I honestly feel we’ve got four to five guys who could go off at any moment,” Miller said.

Layton is out to defend its unbeaten Region 1 title from a year ago. Miller considers Davis, Fremont and Farmington all programs in the hunt for this year’s banner.

The Lancers dropped just one regular-season game last season, a five-point disrupter at eventual 5A champion Olympus, on their way to an anticlimatic 89-60 defeat to eight-loss Corner Canyon in the state semifinals.

In 16 years of coaching, Miller sticks with a make-or-break approach to coaching. In Miller’s view, you either win or lose; the latter can take a serious toll on your season outside the locker room.

“With RPI, I mean, it’s just made every night important,” Miller said. “It’s important for us to go out and to have a good preseason, win ball games and then hopefully be ramping up as we move closer to the state tournament.”

Following Friday’s road opener, Layton returns home for three consecutive non-region tests with Clearfield (Nov. 26), Copper Hills (Dec. 3) and Northridge (Dec. 5).

Connect with prep sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.