Yesterday was the first time I've allowed myself to become somewhat optimistic with this season.

Sluggish first half whether we were getting almost nothing from our two best players and NE was hitting every jumper they took.

Crean made several excellent adjustments at half, the team settled and played solid half court defense which triggered our ability to get into transition.

All of this after the Cincinnati blowout which set us up for a let down game.

I'm still worried about our size in the SEC grind, but this team looks a lot more like what Crean has been saying we would look like since he's been here.obviously we'll learn more in conference, but anyone else have thoughts or getting optimistic?

Time will tell but it just feels like Crean is building something??

I appreciate this team for what they are: they play hard, they don't quit, and they look like they're having fun. They also have tremendous scoring balance, something we haven't seen much around Athens in recent years.

I haven't yet broached optimistic. I need to see them against SEC competition. 7-0 is never bad, but the opponents have not been stellar.

That said, there is plenty to like. Turnovers, even more than usual, and on both sides, are the key for this team.

There are stretches when they don't value the ball. Live ball turnovers will continue to be an issue for this team, and as the first five minutes showed last night, they will get us beat.

On defense, if they can force turnovers, they're going to win a lot of games. Right now we're something like 11th in the country in turnovers forced. Keep that up and this team might dance.

Both of those boil down largely to pace of play. If we can force our pace on other teams, and frustrate them into playing sloppy, we'll be in every game.

Anyone have any opinions on what KD Johnson will/would add if he's available in January?

Is he someone that can play significant minutes of Wheeler is having the type of night he had in the first half.

I love Wheeler's game and his constant mindset of pushing tempo, but he is undersized and a bit of defensive liability against larger guards and a turnover machine at times.

Would be nice to have a backup PG that can contribute and shoot

Kier played much better than Wheeler did last night. We seemed to settle down once he was benched with the 4 fouls. Wheeler has moments that get you excited and then looks like he is trying to be too fancy. Which usually ends in a turnover. These grad transfers have really balanced this team. The experience also helped us last night to settle down and make a stand. It could have gotten a lot worse but those upperclassmen really stepped up when needed.