BANGOR – The familiar sounds of balls bouncing, sneakers squeaking and whistles blowing were heard in high school gyms from Kittery to Madawaska on Monday as the state’s high school basketball teams kicked off preseason practices and tryouts.

Monday was the first day tryouts and practices for basketball, ice hockey, indoor track and field, wrestling, swimming and competitive cheerleading could be held, under Maine Principals’ Association rules.

Games and meets can be held after 3 p.m. on Dec. 7.

The scene was businesslike at Bangor High’s Red Barry Gym, where the Bangor boys, coming off a 21-1 state Class A championship campaign last winter, set out toward their goal of winning a second consecutive gold ball.

Expectations are high, as usual, for coach Roger Reed’s Rams, who return 10 seniors from last year’s team which knocked off Portland in the state title game.

“Expectations here are always very high,” said 6-foot-5 senior center Ryan Weston.

“We set our goals no lower than [winning a] gold ball. Going very deep in the tournament and try to win the last game, that’s what we try to do.”

Weston is among a talented nucleus of seniors that includes forwards Ian Edwards, Adam Bernstein, Lee Suvlu and Renaud Collard-Seguin, and guards Jon McAllian and Christian LaRochelle.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had 10 returning seniors,” said Reed, whose team graduated three players. “I’ve had as many as maybe eight, but never 10.”

“It creates very nice chemistry,” Weston added. “Everybody’s played with everybody, it makes the team bond real nicely.”

As high as their expectations are, the Rams know not to take any opponents lightly in a competitive Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference.

“You can never take a day off. At Mt. Blue we took the day off last year and they definitely took it to us,” Bernstein said, referring to the Rams’ lone defeat in Farmington last year.

Reed assured that such a letdown would not happen again this year.

“We won’t overlook anybody, we won’t get cocky because we won’t allow it,” he said.

“We won’t be taking any play off or any opponent off. They’re all important, they all deserve respect,” Reed said.

With their size and athleticism, the Rams will be one of the toughest teams in Class A to prepare for and defend on a nightly basis.

“We’ll try to take advantage of our size. Matchups will be more of a problem for someone else than it will be for us,” Reed said.

Weston added, “I think we’re going to try and take what they give us. We’ll push [the ball] when the opportunity is there and set it up when they’re not giving us the push.”

The Rams will have perhaps one of the deepest teams in the state, and Reed will be able to rotate a different starting lineup on select nights.

The coach doesn’t believe in a set rotation.

“I don’t think of my team as starters or nonstarters,” Reed said. “We played all 15 kids last year, so to refer to them as starters or nonstarters is something we just don’t do.”

The Rams know that as defending champs there is a target on their backs, and conference rivals such as Hampden Academy are eager to knock them off their pedestal.

“There are a lot of teams in our conference that could beat us,” said Bernstein.

With that being said, Reed and his staff will do their best to feed the Rams the same humble pie Bill Belichick feeds the New England Patriots.

“One of the big things as coaches we will try is to have them focus on the idea that we’re always the biggest target on everybody’s schedule,” Reed explained. “Every night we’ve got to work hard against ourselves because in many cases the toughest game during the week might be amongst ourselves.”