I am fully confident in our big 3 of Mayer, JTT, and Flagler. We have all witnessed what they can do in our system at the very highest level, and I expect all 3 to take huge steps forward this year.
Even though Kendall Brown is just a freshman, I am almost equally confident in him. He seems the perfect combination of talent and humilty and I think he will improve at an exponential rate and acclimate to the college game almost immediately. He and Mayer will be a dominant duo on the wings and highly entertaining to watch for us as fans. Sochan I think will also be an immediate rotation player and could have a similar bench role to what Mayer provided last year.
I think the key to our season will be the backcourt trio of Akinjo, Cryer, and Love. We will inevitably see a drop off after losing arguably the best college basketball backourt of all time in Butler / Teague / Mitchell, but how wide will the gap be? It is unfair to expect Akinjo to be Davion but if he could have an impact similar to transfer PGs such as Kenny Chery or Pierre Jackson from past seasons, this is an elite 8 or final 4 caliber team. I also think Cryer (assuming fully healthy) can give us a lot of bench punch similar to what Flagler provided last year.
As a fan, I am extremely excited to see how our staff fits these young and talented pieces together and how they progress this season.