[scorecard]

If the players are supposed to have EUTM, then I'm going to have some EUTM too. 

I anticipate that we will be surprised.  I'm going with top half of the Pac-12 finish.  Good coaching can go a long way.  The team already has great size/length, and I think the players have versatility that will be much better served with a decent system.  I think Dawkins was a good recruiter of talent, but he never seemed to be able to utilize that talent in a cohesive manner.  I already can see that Haase is going to be more vocal and animated than Dawkins (not hard), and I think that should translate to team effort.

We should be better on the defensive end, because anything has to be better than the coaching we had before.  We often played an absolutely porous zone with players doubling back to the post for no reason, and then chasing back to 3 point shooters without any kind of control.  This only worked against bad teams who couldn't shoot or penetrate.  Our rebounding should be better with Travis back.  We are very long with Humphrey and Sharma in the back. 

On offense, it will help to have Cartwright back, since we had so much trouble just bringing up the ball last year against teams that could pressure.  If we can get some 3 point shooting (Pickens can shoot, hopefully we'll get some consistency from Sheffield and Cartwright), we can be dangerous.   

I will be interested to see how much time Pugh and Stanback get -- I think Pugh will be an early contributor.

Maybe I'm crazy, we'll see tonight...

[scorecard]

If the players are supposed to have EUTM, then I'm going to have some EUTM too. 

I anticipate that we will be surprised.  I'm going with top half of the Pac-12 finish.  Good coaching can go a long way.  The team already has great size/length, and I think the players have versatility that will be much better served with a decent system.  I think Dawkins was a good recruiter of talent, but he never seemed to be able to utilize that talent in a cohesive manner.  I already can see that Haase is going to be more vocal and animated than Dawkins (not hard), and I think that should translate to team effort.

We should be better on the defensive end, because anything has to be better than the coaching we had before.  We often played an absolutely porous zone with players doubling back to the post for no reason, and then chasing back to 3 point shooters without any kind of control.  This only worked against bad teams who couldn't shoot or penetrate.  Our rebounding should be better with Travis back.  We are very long with Humphrey and Sharma in the back. 

On offense, it will help to have Cartwright back, since we had so much trouble just bringing up the ball last year against teams that could pressure.  If we can get some 3 point shooting (Pickens can shoot, hopefully we'll get some consistency from Sheffield and Cartwright), we can be dangerous.   

I will be interested to see how much time Pugh and Stanback get -- I think Pugh will be an early contributor.

Maybe I'm crazy, we'll see tonight...