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Message: [QUOTE="jordoo, post: 2608577, member: 569"] I was pretty high on this team even with battle departing. I figured they would be in the 15-20 range. My thinking was we had Hughes to step in and replace Battle, 5 returning guys who should all improve to some extent and 3 new guys to provide the depth that was missing last year. Center health and forward depth where my concerns. Battle being back means the defense will key on him again. Everyone else's improvements will be even more apparent with less pressure and defensive focus on them. It also means that Hughes will be used mainly as a forward which alleviates one of my concerns. Health at the center position is still a concern but if you consider that Buddy has been around the program his whole life then we have eight guys who know this defense and 7 of them returning players. (Yes I'm considering Hughes a returning player) the staff will not have to work that hard to bring Carrey Braswell and Buddy up to speed on defense. The rest of the players will be a great help in that regard as well. We will have the depth to play defense harder, push the ball and run when the opportunities present themselves. The coaches will have more options to work with offensively and some reliable guys who we can just give the ball and let go to work. How this team played towards the end of the year is a better representation of where they are at coming into this season then early and middle of last season were. First its college basketball and everybody improves because the players are young and second this was one of the least experienced/youngest teams Syracuse has ever fielded. We were a couple of bad fouls on Marek away from beating Duke and making the E8. As it was we imposed our will on MSU (a title contender in many pundants view) made them play our game and beat them to get to the S16. Yeah we need to limit turnovers, foul less and improve our shooting and offense overall but I think we are going to be a top10 team start to finish this year. Forget the polls we are a contender. [/QUOTE]

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