We are all excited about the upcoming season. Everyone knows we are young, lacking collegiate experience and yet extremely athletic.  I thought I would explore some of the intangibles that early in the season might be problematic for this group of young men as they seek to find their individual roles on "THE TEAM". These "problems" will certainly not be missed by opposing coaches so it will be interesting to see how Coach Cal prepares the team as our opponents try to exploit them.

The obvious concern early on, is the need for reliable outside shooting. Three point shooting may not necessarily be a "have to", but accurate 12-15 foot shooting will be. If our big guys can establish a real presence down low for offensive rebounds, I believe our outside shooters will feel more relaxed, but the question still arises about playing in front of hostile crowds with the game on the line. I expect to see  a variety of presses tried and obviously zones of different types; particularly matchup zones on Patterson. So here go the intangibles:

• Freshmen playing in front of a noisy (I hope) Rupp Arena crowd. (controlling one's emotions and playing within oneself)
• Freshmen playing in front of a noisy, hostle crowd. (Starkville, Vandy, Gainsville)
• Freshmen big men playing against older players their own size who will mug you like Ga. did Patterson in Rupp last year.
• Freshmen keeping their cool when fouled like Bradley was at Georgia two years ago.
• Freshmen point guards detecting disguised defenses and surprise presses.
• The entire team adjusting to a "team speed" that is comfortable for ALL the players.
• To DDMO or not to DDMO . . . that is the question.
• Can the wings hit the outside shots?
• Will Patterson be able to play a wing so Orton and Cousins can be on the floor at the same time?

IMO the extreme talent of this year's freshmen class negates their collegiate inexperience. Obviously, I could be wrong. Liggins struggled last year after being listed as a 5* most of his senior year and then downgraded to a very high 4* recruit. Nevertheless, I see Wall and Bledsoe playing a lot together in the guard position. This should ensure a lower number of turnovers, more assists, more steals and more fast breaks. They give us incredible speed and ball handling skill. They will, however, have to score, for us to win consistently. This scoring will either be from long range, short pull ups or taking their defender to the basket. In essence we would be playing two PGs. Playing good defense is the main thing that will dictate how much Wall and Bledsoe play.

If we choose to go bigger at the SG or small wing, UK would have better rebounding capability, but lose some speed. Again to play, these bigger players (Miller, Harris, Dotson, Hood, Krebs and Liggins) will have to make outside or driving shots and play outstanding defense.

The problem of shooting accuracy is also found in the other wing position. It encouraging that Patterson has been reported consistently knocking down the 12-15 footer and the three this summer. I don't know if he will play the wing or will always be a collegiate post player, but either way we will need outside shooting from him. Other than the players listed in the preceeding paragraph, I don't see anyone else than Patterson being able to play the other wing.

That leaves the inside post game and along with the point guard position, IMO this will be one of the strong points of this "TEAM". These guys (Cousins, Orton, Stevenson, and Harrison) simply HAVE TO outrebound and overpower the opposition. We need an enforcer. I hope Cousins' personality fits this need. We need to block shots, but have to make sure we get the defensive and offensive rebounds first of all. We need swagger here. Certainly the talent is there.

Finally, the entire team will have to make their free throws. We can't have any weak link who can be fouled at the end of the game. So there you have it. Good ball handling, lots of assists, good team speed, outside shooting rebounding and an outstanding TEAM defense will make it hard for opponents to defend against us this year.