Everyone on this board hates on "Randy" Stewart, but let's not forget that he still has a ton of potential. Ever heard of a sophomore slump? It happens. There's no reason Stew can't be All-SEC along with Swat this year. This is essentially their squad, and I think they will take a team approach to the way they handle things. It should be our best squad chemistry-wise since the teams around the '03 and '04 years.
I think Ravern could have a good year, and there will be lots of help inside with Elgin and BJ. I think Osby could give us good minutes, but we shouldn't have to rely on his production right away. Kodi will again be a huge question mark, and could just as easily have a huge year as he could be a huge waste of time. The rest of the bench won't be spectacular, but I don't look at it as a huge liability.
And then there's Bost. Everything we've heard about him points to his game being SEC-ready. If he can handle the pressure there's no reason we don't miss a beat this year, and again compete for the SEC West.
There's not a team in our division that can honestly say THEY are the team to beat. Too many question marks around the West. This obviously plays to our advantage, and if we can accompany some confidence with our raw talent, I see this team going back to the Dance. I know very few of you will believe this, and that's fine. If our young talent doesn't produce, and our returning starters don't improve, then yeah, we're headed to the NIT or staying home. But I think worst case we're a bubble team that slips up a few times and goes to the NIT as a high seed, and best case we're dancing with yet another Western Division title.
In the mean time, we should have another football season to enjoy, mixing in later this fall with what I think will be a surprisingly decent basketball season. A lot to hope for, but still possible to have a better year than last year at Davis Wade and the Hump.
