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[Fudd]

Much will be revealed in leaks about the quality of new players in next years pre-season practices. Now, a lot of it is guessing.

The returning players who I believe have proven themselves as NCAA Tournament success level contributors are, IMO:

Cunningham
Williams
Mikesell (I must see more in him than some other posters)

These are guys who have not proven it yet, IMO:

D. Davis
Miller
Landers
Crosby

With a freshman class this large, there will likely be a few players who surprise us in their first year with their ability to contribute right away. I'm optimistic about McKinley Wright after hearing about his high school exploits and gaudy statistics (and watching his very impressive highlights). We really need him to be good because we need a guard floor leader ASAP.

This year, we got killed rebounding against top level teams. Pierce has to be good enough to get very good minutes at some point during the season for us to shake that problem, IMO. That is a tall order, but in the short clippets of him that I have seen on the internet, I'm don't consider him as quite the project that others are making him out to be. Like Big Steve, I think he has the physical tools. Big Steve just got in condition and put the mental pieces of his game together under this coaching staff.

The most fascinating new player at this juncture is Antetokounmpo. Will he turn into the real deal right away? It seems like he has a lot of potential. It's hard not to have high expectations with a guy who has his physical tools.

Then there is the Archie Miller factor. The guy always seems to find a way to win.