Although there are still a number of unknowns for the upcoming season, I am optimistic in large part because of the schedule the staff put together. Especially with how tough the SEC is going to be this year, I don't feel like they would have challenged themselves as much as they did in non-conference play if they didnt have legitimate post season aspirations. Reminds me a little of the 2019 schedule in year 2 of Crean where they had just gotten Ant and that #11 overall recruiting class and went to Maui and scheduled Memphis and ASU.

4 of the first 5 games are against legitimate tournament contenders. I think you see them lean heavy on veterans before then starting to work Cain, Demary and James more predominantly into the rotation toward December.

My main worry is that we look back on November at the end of non-conference play once the freshmen are settled in and the team chemistry is up and wish we could get a redo at a couple of the early games. Hopefully they come out of the gates hot and grab a few quality wins going into conference play

It's definitely a challenging schedule. Personally, I like it. We get to see where we are, how competitive we are, early on. We will know our strengths and weaknesses and know what we have to work on going into conference play. One thing is that I think we will be a very mature team, able to handle adversity and the ups and downs of play well. That Crean team was very young; its best players were freshmen. They had no clue how to play major college ball and how to handle the good times and the bad. And they ultimately fell apart by season's end.

With the two late additions I got nine gimme's on the nonconf sched.

How we fare v. Oregon, Wake, Miami, K St/Providence, FSU and GT will tell the tale.

I'd like to see four wins of those seven. Best bets IMO are GT, Miami, Oregon, Providence.

I haven't familiarized myself with the Oregon, Providence, and K State rosters yet this year but I am decently knowledgeable of the ACC teams

Miami - probably the most talented team we'll play in non-conference. They bring back 3 key contributors from last years Final Four team (Pack, Poplar, and Omier) as well as brining in transfer former 5* Matthew Cleveland from FSU. They won the ACC regular season title last year. They'll finish near the top again this year and be a tournament team.

Wake Forest - 19 win team last year. Bring back 2 double digit scorers (Hildteth and Monsanto) as well as their lead forward (Carr). Monsanto is one of the best shooters in the ACC. They have 2 mid major guards Jao Ituka (got hurt early last year) and Kevin Miller who are both wildcards. If either or both of those guys can translate mid major production to high major basketball they could be a dangerous team. Playing them early in the year will probably be helpful.

FSU - Going to be a very deep team this year. They will have veteran guard play with Darin Green returning and getting Primo Spears from Georgetown. They bring back wings Jalen Warley and Cam'Ron Fletcher as well as freshmen forwards Cameron Corhen and Baba Miller from last year. Miller was the highly touted 7'0 footer they got last year who had the controversial half year suspension. Expect him to be a threat going into year 2. With this being the only true away game on the non-conf schedule, I see it as the hardest one to win.

GT - Not super worried about the bumblebees. New coach and a lot of roster turnover. They bring back a good bit of backcourt experience but their front court will be questionable. They did get Amaree Abram who was a uga target for a while this off-season. With the game being in Athens this will be by far the easiest of the high major games on the schedule.

Of these 4 games, we need to handle business at Stegman and beat Wake and Tech, keep the other 2 competitive and maybe sneak away with a 3rd win

Yes definitely a very challenging schedule, but I like our chances. I'm ready for some football, but equally excited for some basketball as well.