Major question marks at the 4 and 5 spots.... Can we defend those positions????? Can we get any real offensive production on a consistent basis from those positions - more so the 5 spot????? Will we be able to rebound????? The rest of the team is pretty darn solid IMO but those are major factors that will ultimately determine the teams success.
Valid points. I will be very surprised if Doyle does not improve by a good margin. His back-up is a big question though. Donnal showed little sign of improvement over the season and my bet is that Wilson is going to spend most of his minutes at 5. I worry less about the 4 position. Zak will do fine even if none of the others are able to contribute. I expect at least some improvement in Chatman and maybe Wagner is able to contribute.
The team progressed really well for being thrown into a tough situation. Most teams that talk about and deal with injuries but have those guys return. Our guys were gone for half the season (both right before the schedule picked up).
There are people that are high on us, Jeff Goodman is. Also there was an article at the end of our season that recognized what we were building. But the reality is most didn’t see what we are building. And that’s fine.
And the reality is certain teams will be hyped and will be overrated like they are every year -rinse and repeat.
Accelerated development of freshman that now provide Walton and Levert reliable options is HUGE.
Lack of elite players, and coming off a .500 season. This team has nothing to generate buzz at this point, but that’s fine. We have a lot of untapped potential, and more experience than in quite a few years, and may surprise a few people in the Big Ten.