We are finally going to play defense because we have depth

Tres will be all PAC-12 this season.

I don't understand why people on this board are so pessimistic, by which I mean expecting a meager 17 or so wins.  I've mentioned before that last year we had no depth, just 5 healthy players who MAYBE were qualified to play in this league:  Drew, Gligorije, Steven, Jaquori, and Manuel.  Yet by the end of the year we were competitive in some games:  We were ahead of AZ by 2 at the half.  We beat Utah.  We lost to Cal by just 5 in the tournament.  Versus Colorado we were tied with 2 minutes to go.  That's with NO quality depth.  I attribute that to Tinkle's coaching:  Maybe he IS a great coach, and that is the critical fact that all naysayers here are forgetting.  This year we have 5 players new or returning (leaving out N'diaye and Kone for now) who, with a little practice and a few non-conference games, could form a team that would be competitive with last years squad, a team of:  Tres, Seth, Alfred, Ethan, and Zach.  It's like we've doubled our squad.  No longer will we have to play the starters for 35 minutes per game, no more tired legs at the end of the game.  Of course we still don't have the quality players that many teams in the league have, but after last year they are seriously motivated with last year's starters having been through the grinder.  And we have a really good coach to make up the difference.  I still see 20+ wins even without Kone an N'diaye.  Don't discount the coaching difference.  He's a proven winner.

And remember how Steven Thompson took control of the Utah game?  33 points?  Ethan has more innate talent than his brother, so let's assume we now have TWO players of ST's last-year caliber on the team.  On a given day, each of these guys has the ability to change a game, which means on a given day we could upset most teams in the league.  And having them on the court will open up the inside for Drew, Tres, and Seth.  I predict there WILL be some major upsets by OSU this year when these guys are "on".  I'm thinking we're underestimating Reichle's impact this year, too.  He was the standout, I think I heard, in the scrimmage.

I don't see the loss to Grand Canyon as meaningful.  It obviously does not reflect the improvement over the course of the year:  We would have slaughtered GC later in the year, and after all it was meaningless because it was just a scrimmage, not a serious game where you would do careful game prep and put your top players out there 100% of the time.

And it's not talent alone that wins games.  Coaching makes a difference.  And a lot of the talent on other teams is younger than our 3rd year guys ST, DE, and TT.

We'll have to wait and see, but I still say there is reason to be optimistic.  Would be really helpful if Kone could be 100%.

FWIW, I had a chance encounter with Ben the other night, and he was very excited for this season, said the team is going to be WAY better.  Didn't seem down about his knee at all and brushed it off as a minor setback and fully expected to be back shortly (well before Pac-12???)  Said that the team is really tight and good friends and things are coming together really well.

Speaking of Grand Canyon, GCU has already played their exhibition game this year.  And they're pretty good this year, too!

RENO, Nev. – The Grand Canyon men's basketball team was on the road Sunday. The Lopes were playing a team that is picked to repeat as a conference champion. The Lopes were missing their preseason conference player of the year pick and nearly every 3-point shot that they took.

Despite all of the undesireables, GCU led Nevada entering the last minute of the exhibition game's first half. But icy 3-point shooting and a dicey 3-minute stretch did in the Lopes. They lost, 81-72, to Nevada at Lawlor Events Center, where all proceeds from 3,072 tickets sold went to the North Bay Fire Relief fund.