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Message: [QUOTE="Oakland, post: 1192234, member: 590"] I think the offense will be better this year. Last season's sucked pretty bad after the first 20 games, so it shouldn't take much to be better. We do have a lot of parts this year. It is a matter of guys stepping up. And anyone who will be good this season needs to step up because we have no returning established offensive players. None! This is a novel situation for the program. The positive is that we have 9 guys who have the potential to step up on O. If 4 of them do it we should be better on O. I thought Ennis did a great job last season for a freshman, but I have to wonder about his exalted status in so many minds. There were many complaints in the second half of the season about CJ doing so little in so many iso situations, Cooney running around like a mad man but not getting off many good shots, Grant spin moving into numerous defenders time and again, and big men not getting the ball down low - isn't a great PG one who gets the ball to players in position to succeed? Maybe our guys suddenly forgot where to be. Maybe chemistry just inexplicably deteriorated and it didn't have much to do with Ennis. And, of course, we always can hang our hat on the injury thing. Anyways, my opinion of Ennis is a little less than most others. There was one game early in the ACC season, when our O was obviously starting to fade, where Ennis put on a show worthy of Ernie DeGregorio (very high praise in my mind). Driving thru the lane and dishing assists, including a behind the back pass for a pretty finish, long entry passes into the lane for assists, and almost showboating in a most productive way. And then...not much. A one time effort never to be repeated. I never understood why that Ennis never showed up again - and the team needed that Ennis very much down the stretch. Like everyone, I wanted Ennis to come back, but if he did come back I wonder how JB would use Kaleb. Would Kaleb get many minutes? My opinion is that Kaleb would be great at SG playing along side of Ennis. Anyways, Kaleb seems like the real deal, so it looks like we have one guy who is stepping up. There are many who seem to have an emotionally invested interest in wanting BJ and Roberson to be stars. I hope these wishes come true, but both have shown little when it counted. I suspect that they will be productive players down the road, but they are not on the star trajectory. Rak has always had great O moves, but rarely used them. I thought he would break out as an O player the last two seasons, but no. I don't expect it this season, but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. I expect he will be a decent O contributor on put backs, transition, and the occasional O move. Silent G and especially CM look to be guys who can step up this season. I expect both will to some degree and maybe to a big degree. We won't go far without both of these guys doing well on O. When Ron Patterson committed to SU, the book on him was that he could hit the 3 and was a great defensive player. Sure, you want your SG to have a good handle too (and I want to win the lottery) but I thought 3s and D sounded really good to me. Seems like he is living up to that and if Cooney doesn't get back to his early form from last season, I expect Buss to get big minutes at SG and play big. So I have my 4/5 guys: Kaleb, G, CM, Rak, and Buss, with others who could also step up. Experience is often overlooked. And I believe it is this season. Ours is way down and it will limit us. Defense. If you want to have a great zone defense, having a senior Rak starting for you is a great thing. However, everyone seems to think that the zone now guarantees a great defense. I don't. Other than Rak, the defensive is quite inexperienced and unproven. My expectations is the D takes a step back. To sum up: I expect the O to bounce off of a low bottom, the D to take a step back, and the team to reflect a lower level of experience. There is a bunch of talent on the team, but we are biased and think it is better than it is. Still, I hope everything falls into place and we end up being great. [/QUOTE]

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