Who are you excited about for next season?

[LittleBrave]

DSE and MO ( I Hope ) I am always nervous until they are playing.

I am pretty confident that DSE will improve too, and will be our playmaker and guy to keep us in games and make clutch plays. He did that as a freshman and his attitude toward the game, this team, and his role on the team are to be admired (and hopefully copied by other guys)!

Another question mark is MK - I almost forgot about him being on the team! I want to see him play a bigger role - he brings spirit to the team and doesn't seem to back down from anyone on the court, which I like. Could he have the best 3-pt. touch among the Braves? I'd hate to see games go by without him getting on the court.

[Dubl R 1]

As always Im excited to see everybody's progression! In particular though, I especially am looking forward to seeing DSE, and how much he will improve. Also, MK, he could be a huge weapon with his size and shooting ability. And of course, am looking forward to seeing the guys play whom we havn't seen yet....JP, WL, MO....hopefully we have a Red/White this year?............CANT WAIT!!

[AZ BU Fan]

1) Which student-athlete do you think will show the most improvement from last season?

2) Who is the biggest question mark in your mind? (besides TB and his behavior)

My thoughts:
1) Will Egolf
Hopefully another year of practice and weightlifting, to go with more experience, will elevate WE to all conference performance

2) Jim Les
Can Jim get this team to mesh and play his style of offense and defense, to the best of their ability, for 40 minutes game in and game out? Statistically BU has had good players lately, but the sum of BU's players seems to have been less than the individual talent they have.

[real fan]

I would like to get our asst. coach named and M.O. signed before making any predictions, we need those 2 soon so the players have an idea on what to work on this summer as it will definitely change what positions some of them will be playing, it seems like this has been going on forever as everyday I hope to hear an official announcement that is filled with good news.

[LittleBrave]

My thoughts:
1) Will Egolf
Hopefully another year of practice and weightlifting, to go with more experience, will elevate WE to all conference performance

2) Jim Les
Can Jim get this team to mesh and play his style of offense and defense, to the best of their ability, for 40 minutes game in and game out? Statistically BU has had good players lately, but the sum of BU's players seems to have been less than the individual talent they have.

I was gonna' go with WE too, but he was inconsistent down the stretch and don't know which Will we'll see next season. Loved his intensity & confidence in the SIU game in Carbondale.

Good point about the head coach - there's no doubt we have the talent, with 3 guys that could be 1st team Valley next season. If their focus and willingness is there every game, we will be the team to beat.

The home game performances vs. Missouri St. and UNI were no fluke, and away games at Evansville & Creighton (in tourney) were what we should expect to see night in & night out with this team. These games were flashes of what this team can be like if they play well in the 2nd half & maintain their focus 'til the end.

[MacabreMob]

Dodie

AT

[Stryker]

Two words: Sam Maniscalco! He has been one of my favorite players on the team the last few years and after seeing him come on strong towards the end of last season when he got healthy really makes me look forward to seeing him play his senior year. He should be a lot to handle for any team next year.

[SFP]

I am really looking forward to seeing Will getting away from playing the 5 and seeing what type of play he can give not having to deal with playing bigger players nightly.

The biggest question mark is the 5 position. Who will play it and what type of production. Biggest question mark 1A is defense and rebounding. If neither gets address we will muddle along again.

I feel the same way. We will be better then last year but without a true big it will be hard for me to believe that we will be NCAA bound. WE is made for the 4.

[ph]

but we tried WE as a 3 or 4 and it did not work out. There's no way WE ever plays anything other than a 5.... unless perhaps Jim spends the summer studying the Robinison/Duncan Spurs teams and implementing that system.

But that will not happen when our 4 best players are SM, DD, AW, and TB. There's no reason to take one of our best players out and insert 2 guys into the lineup with no BU experience at those positions (WE as a 4 and MO/AT as a 5) just to have "height".

Unless we get really tall guards, we may never play with a ton of overall height. Really, I'd love to have a big guy that doesn't score, just get an O board and kick it out to an open guard for 3.


Back to topic. This year is setup to be a prototypical special year for a hard nosed-senior guard like SM. And chances are good we will see something very nice from the DSE/JE/MK/JP group...

[lake Camelot]

but we tried WE as a 3 or 4 and it did not work out. There's no way WE ever plays anything other than a 5....

I completely disagree. I think he is a natural 4. He may still be a 5 sometimes, but I think we would be better if he could play 4.

[SFP]

I completely disagree. I think he is a natural 4. He may still be a 5 sometimes, but I think we would be better if he could play 4.

I agree and he plays as a 4 now. When has he ever played with his back to the basket?

[Braves4Life]

I'm looking forward to seeing Jake Eastman. He really looked good and "in sync" at the end of last year.

[Out of Balance]

I'm looking forward to seeing Jake Eastman. He really looked good and "in sync" at the end of last year.

Does she work in Peoria If so, where and when Money's NO Object I bet Benni knows
Me too on Eastman. He's got a some toughness about him that I think we need and must have

[Future Walk-On]

MO

[real fan]

I feel the same way. We will be better then last year but without a true big it will be hard for me to believe that we will be NCAA bound. WE is made for the 4.

Will is a true 4 and not a 5, he played great againt SIU because Evans was guarding him and was not very good, he struggled against the good centers of the league and was in foul trouble most of the time, we need him at the 4 and Taylor at the 3 if we expect to play against the best teams in the league and the country, no reason why M.O. and Prosser and Thompson cannot be successful sharing minutes at the 5 position.