Shaka gets an A- imo

[Jay Bee]

Dudes out here praising a potential 17 win season smh

[brewcity77]

Owens and Phillips have both had healthy offseasons.  Shaka has consistently been raving about  Phillips.  That feels like a pretty good 8-man rotation already.

Last year they were raving about Caedin Hamilton and Sean Jones. I'll be honest, I feel skeptical about everyone outside the projected starting 5 until I actually see it on the court.

Give us the health of 2023 along with a couple big leaps from rotation players and we could be battling for the league crown and a protected seed, but if our mid-major transfer looks like he doesn't belong and the bench options don't take steps forward, we could be much closer to .500. I find this to be a very difficult team to project, though maybe I'm gunshy after putting faith in the coaching staff ahead of last year's disaster.

[BM1090]

Last year they were raving about Caedin Hamilton and Sean Jones. I'll be honest, I feel skeptical about everyone outside the projected starting 5 until I actually see it on the court.

Give us the health of 2023 along with a couple big leaps from rotation players and we could be battling for the league crown and a protected seed, but if our mid-major transfer looks like he doesn't belong and the bench options don't take steps forward, we could be much closer to .500. I find this to be a very difficult team to project, though maybe I'm gunshy after putting faith in the coaching staff ahead of last year's disaster.

I get that. But my counter would be we're significantly better at 4 of 5 starting positions than we were in November last year.

[MuggsyB]

Last year they were raving about Caedin Hamilton and Sean Jones. I'll be honest, I feel skeptical about everyone outside the projected starting 5 until I actually see it on the court.

Give us the health of 2023 along with a couple big leaps from rotation players and we could be battling for the league crown and a protected seed, but if our mid-major transfer looks like he doesn't belong and the bench options don't take steps forward, we could be much closer to .500. I find this to be a very difficult team to project, though maybe I'm gunshy after putting faith in the coaching staff ahead of last year's disaster.

I vehemently disagree Brew.  .500?  No way.  I think you're underestimating our returning triumvirate.  .500 would be an immediate dismissal for Shaka and a complete overhaul of our program.  If healthy, our team should make some noise. 

[MU82]

Last year they were raving about Caedin Hamilton and Sean Jones. I'll be honest, I feel skeptical about everyone outside the projected starting 5 until I actually see it on the court.

Give us the health of 2023 along with a couple big leaps from rotation players and we could be battling for the league crown and a protected seed, but if our mid-major transfer looks like he doesn't belong and the bench options don't take steps forward, we could be much closer to .500. I find this to be a very difficult team to project, though maybe I'm gunshy after putting faith in the coaching staff ahead of last year's disaster.

It's reasonable to be gunshy after last season and to take a wait-and-see approach.

But this is also reasonable:

I get that. But my counter would be we're significantly better at 4 of 5 starting positions than we were in November last year.

[brewcity77]

I vehemently disagree Brew.  .500?  No way.  I think you're underestimating our returning triumvirate.  .500 would be an immediate dismissal for Shaka and a complete overhaul of our program.  If healthy, our team should make some noise. 

I didn't say .500, I said closer to .500, which is in comparison to the 2023 team that went 29-7 which was 22 games above .500. Shaka had one losing season in his career before last year and followed it up with a 19-15 record and first round NCAA exit at Texas. When I say "closer to .500" that's the type of season I mean. Something over .500 but in the 17-19 win range rather than the 22+ wins we're all hoping for.

Our returning three look great on paper, but making a 10+ win improvement is a lot to ask out of any team.