Keith Hyde harbored no illusions.

He saw a long, difficult senior year ahead of him on the basketball court.

As the luster of a quarterfinal appearance by the Monte del Sol boys basketball team in the Class AA State Tournament last March faded, Hyde knew he might have reached the zenith of his prep career.

Gone were four seniors who were the heart of the Dragons program. Hyde, then a junior guard, didn't know who would take their places.

Or if there would be anybody to take their places for the 2008-09 year. Monte del Sol only had seven varsity players.

All Hyde knew was that he would be at Monte del Sol come August.

"I knew we would have to build within the ranks of what we had," Hyde says. "I didn't know what the outcome would be."

Ten months later, Hyde's future is much clearer.

Monte del Sol stitched together another team of seven players to go with a new head coach. After a 2-10 start, the Dragons are on an 8-2 surge that has them thinking they can make another run to the AA tourney.

A 43-41 District 4AA win at Santa Fe Preparatory on Friday vaulted the Dragons into a tie for second place with Mora at 1-1 in a six-game district schedule. Today provides Monte del Sol with an opportunity to take sole possession of second if it beats Mora on the road.

And the rebuilding job that appeared to be a year or two away from completion has quickly accelerated.

The spring and summer of 2008 was an uncertain one for the program, which also lost head coach Ralph Casaus. He resigned in March after a 64-61 overtime loss to eventual state champion Texico. It marked the farthest postseason advancement for Monte del Sol.

Along with the loss of the seniors was a patchwork junior varsity that didn't provide a pipeline of players.

That's what Jonathan Haack inherited upon his hire as head coach in May. When Haack met with his top returning player, he didn't pull any punches.

"There was much candor concerning whether there would be a team or one that would be a combined JV team," Haack says. "But I assured him we had a a couple of guys who hadn't played in a couple of years who would come out."

Haack also dipped into the middle school ranks, as eighth-grader Dennis Mares participated with the varsity during summer workouts. The junior varsity was made up of a few freshmen and rest were eighth graders.

"We were talking with prospective players and getting out to the cafeteria, where the kids hang out," Haack says. "It's a long road to attain some stability, but at the same time you have to compete the best you can with what you've got."

It wasn't much at the start.

Hyde and his 21 points per game average returned, Aaron Vogel was a returning forward and Lucas Henderson was the shooting guard.

The rest had little-to-no organized basketball experience, much less varsity playing time.

So every practice and every game became a class of Basketball 101.

"It seemed like a lot of the guys shouldn't have even been in a varsity game at that point," Hyde says. "We were telling them where to be on the court, pointing out that they had to stay in between their man and the basket. Or they would guard guys too close and they would drive around them."

The scores sometimes reflected that.

Nov. 20: Mesa Vista 85, Monte del Sol 44.

Dec. 13: Clovis C-team 71, Monte del Sol 25.

Jan. 1: Santa Rosa 77, Monte del Sol 32.

Jan. 2: Tucumcari 71, Monte del Sol 23.

The presence of Hyde, Vogel and Henderson on the court was all the more important, because the Dragons couldn't dip into their bench for an adequate replacement.

"We try as best we can to not get in foul trouble," Vogel says. "But it's kind of hard not to play aggressively if you're down 10 or 15 points. We just have to play through it and be careful."

The day after the Tucumcari loss proved to be a turning point.

On the surface, a 71-50 win over Wagon Mound for seventh place in the Lion Classic, looked like a brief respite from a bad start. It proved to be the start of a climb in the Dragons' learning curve, as they won the next five games.

"We watched Wagon Mound almost beat Mora (55-51 in the first round of the Lion Classic) and they were up for most of that game," Haack says. "When we looked at those games side by side, we realized we were capable of anything."

Still, the Dragons rely upon presence and experience of their veterans. That was underscored in a 79-54 district-opening loss to Pecos on Feb. 3. Hyde and Vogel each picked up their fourth fouls in the third quarter and had to sit. The Panthers shredded Monte del Sol with a 24-2 run to take a 60-33 lead.

"That kind of showed that once we're down a couple of starters, we drop down to a JV-level team," Hyde says.

It's a different theme when Hyde and Vogel — and Henderson — are on the court.

And that has Hyde harboring a vision — that the Dragons just might be tournament worthy after all.