Combination of Whitman and Knight averaging 18.5 pts, 11.5 rebounds, and 3 blocks per game. Nathan needs to improve defensive positioning and footwork, but he's providing great minutes as a freshmen and has huge upside.

Individual and team play has been sporadic, but the only bad/surprising loss was to Hampton. We played pretty well for 5 of 6 halves on a tough road swing, which is somewhat encouraging. Need to continue to improve team defense. Still slow to help on drives too often, better close outs on 3-point shooters, some bad fouls, etc., but nothing that is not correctable with consistency of effort.

Offense will be fine as long as we play within the system. I really think one of the keys is for us to consciously look to score in the paint (drives, post entry, back doors, etc) at the start of each game and work back out to the three point line. Don't fall in love with jacking up contested 3-point shots.

Dixon - Playing really well the last three games. Has erased early offensive woes. His driving to the rim gives the offense a whole other dimension. Please keep that up the rest of the way! Probably best man-to-man perimeter defender, but need to see consistent defensive effort.

Prewitt - Not playing poorly thus far, but we all know he's capable of more offensively. Three-point percentage is down. Defense and rebounding noticeably improved in recent games. I suspect Omar will have a breakout offensive performance soon. If he and Daniel are both on their game, we will be hard to beat.

Whitman - Probably most improved and mostly because he's stayed healthy in the offseason. Gets fouled a lot, so would love to see him improve his FT percentage.

Knight - Love his ability to hit those 10-15-foot jumpers. Doing a lot right as a frosh. Work on protecting rim even more without fouling and post defense (feet and positioning). This will come with experience.

Pierce - Hofstra could be his breakout game. Scoring is nice, but I like having him on the floor for hustle, defense, and rebounding. Lot of similarities to a young Omar.

Rowley - Hitting great percentages from floor, three, and foul line. Quality minutes off the bench. Love the enthusiasm. Focus improvement on defense.

Burchfield - One of my favorite players because he's not happy being just a spot-up three ball shooter and he gets better and rounds out his game a little every year. Heady and scrappy player. Has improved his defense. Playing time largely dictated by matchups, but I have no doubt his shooting will win us an extra game or two this year.

Cohn - Too often maligned by some. He came on strong at the start of conference play last year and if Hofstra game is any indication, he's poised to do the same this year. Great assist to TO ratio. Only guard that can consistently/easily break press off the dribble. Best true PG of Shaver era, hands down. Good effort on defense, though size/strength can be a liability. Love the passion.

Tot - Love his passion for game as well. Good PG in the half court. Can struggle some against pressure. Can disappear on offense, but then again, he's not needed to be a scorer for us to win. Solid back-up PG. Suspect he'll figure big in at least one win this year off the bench.

For us to hit 20 wins for a 4th yr, we need to hold serve at home and go 500 on the road the rest of the way. To do that will require intensity and consistency of effort. There's enough raw talent.