I totally understand that many (if not most) people think the roster, as constructed so far, will produce a team that is not as good as last year.
Before last season, I was convinced that last year's team would not be as good as Pope's first team. I just didn't see it, despite the investment.
Right now, I'm not sure about the team we have. I see the possibility that it could be about the same as this past year's team.
I'm thinking there may be better scoring distribution, but I especially worry about the rebounding and depth components ... so, we'll see.
Having said all of that, absent 1-2 quality starters being added, I do not think this team can win the conference or the conference tourney.
I assume we will lose at least ten (10) games, but will make the NCAA tournament. How we'll do in that, I have no idea.
If you held a gun to my head ... right now, I'd probably come up with predictions like 23-13 and 9-9 in the conference ... just a guess.
I'm hopeful, but not optimistic, that Pope can land some high-level talent with his last recruiting pitches, We'll know soon enough ,,,