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Message: [QUOTE="jordoo, post: 1362133, member: 569"] I think its more than reasonable to assume that Kaleb will be an improved player in fact I'd say its likely. Its also reasonable to be concerned about him improving enough to be an asset as a PG since he had such a long way to go. He will be a better player but how much better will determine a lot about our offense and he absolutely must play better defense. I think Tyler is at a place where he is pretty much over his confidence issues and after a season of big improvements he should be able to spend the summer working on a few skills to round his game out. Its reasonable to assume he comes back with a more consistent jump shot and at least marginally better ball skills to go with a better understanding of how and when to use them. Perhaps he will also work on covering the deep corner on overload situations. Mike and Trevor will work on things and tweak what they have but they are much closer to finished products than than most college guys. I expect improvements but production will be more about how they are defended and their decision making than an huge improvements in actual skill IMO. Still these two guys are coming back very experienced. Coleman is said to have really improved (in practice) and to have been moving well up and down the floor toward the end of the season in practice. Great signs and its reasonable to expect that he will be a better player than last we saw him once he gets used to game action again. He is slimmed down, worked his butt off rehabbing and has some fire on the court. Even when he struggled early in his career he got the the FT line and rebounded. If he has learned to keep the ball high he COULD be an offensive force. Obviously its more than reasonable to worry about his health and its reasonable to question how effective he will be 1.75 years removed from competitive play at which time he wasn't really filling it up. For me its more or less the health concern because I think if he can play 25min a game it wouldn't take a lot of improvement from the last time we saw him to be putting up somewhere in the 8-12points 5-8rebound neighborhood. The only other returner is Chino and I would say for sure he will be much improved but like Joseph he needs a ton of improvement. Still if Coleman is healthy he is not likely to be needed much and if he's not he should be more prepared next year to play 8-10 minutes than he was last year. I know some are skeptical of the incoming class and how much of an impact they will have but lets remember even without Bryant these guys more or less are only needed to be the bench next year. If they can provide backup to the front and back court without being anemic on offense then we have a better bench than this years squad did as there are more guys who can back up more positions. I don't see any reason why this group cannot be a much better bench than we had this year. Certainly its a concern if Coleman cannot stay healthy and Diange is forced into big minutes because we would be thin at center again. Those that follow recruiting can tell you however that Diange will be able to contribute right away and is physically more ready than any big we've had come in recently. Richardson is a shooter and scorer more than anything so he probably has a chance at being the spark plug scorer off the bench and with Mike ability to run the offense from the SF position Richardson can sub in for either guard spot like Buss did last year. He is a McD and very skilled recruit but he doesn't need to be putting up 18 a game to help us. Lydon is just a tad bit shorter, not quite as long and perhaps not quite the elite athlete that Chris was. Still his build is similar, he has better ball skills, (passing, shooting, dribbling) and doesn't mind mixing it up on the glass or inside despite his lean frame. I think like a freshman CJ fair he could be the kind of kid that is just productive with his time when he gets the chance. Chris leaving has opened the door for Tyler to get minutes next season IMO. Howard is obviously behind the most guys to see meaningful time but he is a playmaker on offense whatever position people want to label him. He's also a good fit physically for the top of our zone. I don't have a great feel for how ready he is to contribute this coming season but I'd expect he can at least step in and give us what Buss did. The big questions to me are Coleman's health and Joseph's improvements. I feel very confident about everything else and optimistic about these two things. [/QUOTE]

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