That's a real bold statement given Custer will be the front runner for Valley Player of the Year, and is on a couple NCAA Player of the Year watchlists. I think Williamson will make a nice step forward, but honestly don't think he'll ever be our best player. I'm super high on Krutwig who will hopefully be even better with another year to develop and go through our conditioning and training program. Uguak has the potential to be a top player. And I think if he can develop and learn from Clayton, Bujdoso could be a huge player on our team over the next 4 years.

I think Williamson's ceiling is extremely high. The knock on him out of high school was that he was good at everything great at nothing. In year one he proved to be a borderline elite defender and a very good shooter. If he can add a little to his game every year he's got massive potential.

Even if he doesn't his floor is really high: A bigger, faster Ben Richardson clone. He flashed the same poise and intensity late in the season when it mattered most. He's gonna be a good one regardless and will be getting a lot of play time these next 3 years.

I'm not a big fan of the expectations game, but I see no reason why we can't wake up in late February with a shot at the conference title and at-large consideration. If I could name one expectation it's that we are a much better team in March than November.

Mostly I'm just looking forward to getting back to Gentile with bigger crowds and hopefully beer.

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I've heard beer is probable.

Will be interested to see if they make any change to concessions with anticipated bigger crowds. The lines were rough with crowds of 1800 people. Add 2000+ more and it’ll be a real pain unless they add more stations

Wanted to chime in with my expectations but decided to only contribute my goal for the reason – no significant minutes lost by any player due to an injury! Then it would be up to the coaches and players to develop another team ready to compete deep into the post season tournament!

Another goal - all around improvement to the game experience - concessions (including food choices and ease of access), in-game promotions (time out activities), traffic control, pre-game and post-game options, better sound and music, . . .

I've heard that a new company will be hired for concessions

There will be new concessions and there will be beer. You didn't hear it from me, but it's happening.

Coincidentally, Biblical scholars in Israel recently uncovered a cache of ancient manuscripts which suggest that originally the Book of Genesis had an 8th day of creation: "Let there be beer."

Here's a few over/unders, with the under being a disappointment and the over being satisfaction:

- Average attendance around 3650. That's going to include some sellouts and a few games that might dip below 2000 (weeknight games during winter break). Against last year's league attendance numbers, that would have put us at 8th in the conference ahead of Drake and Valpo, but Drake might see a boost this year.

- An RPI of about 58 would be where I'd feel disappointed if it was worse and satisfied if it was better. With ISUr, SIU, and possibly Bradley expected to be top 100 RPI teams, we'll get some chances for quality wins.

- 12 wins in conference (12-6-- or better-- in a noticeably more competitive conference than last year).

- 22 wins going into Arch Madness. That means 22-8 or better. A loss in the final would make us 24-9, which should be good enough for an NIT at large (with an RPI of 75 or better) if we don't win the regular season.

There are 100 teams in the NCAA and NIT tournaments combined. I would be disappointed if we weren't among them, in the top 25% of teams, after coming off a Final Four. Of course, last year South Carolina failed to make the NCAA or NIT after a Final Four, and Oregon only made the 2nd round of the NIT. So it happens. But I think we have enough to be in the top 2 in a seriously competitive league.

We'll know a lot more about where this team will go by the end of November. Going 0-2 in Ft. Myers would mean worrying about finishing in the MVC's top 3. Going 2-0 in Ft. Myers and beating Nevada on November 27 could make the MVC a multi-bid league.