A couple things I noted when I checked SIU's stats from last season...
In all 15 of their losses they scored 63 or less,
in 12 of them they scored 55 or less,
and in 9 of their losses they scored only 51 points or less...so they need to find a way to put more points on the board.
SIU's 59.7 points allowed per game was very good defensively, but they also failed to score that many 14 times! So they had better land some scoring!
SIU's FG%, 3-pt FG%, and FT% are all among the lowest in the league.
SIU's rebounding totals were surprisingly low.
Their 31.8 rpg as a team was only 0.2 rpg better than the 9th best team in the Valley (Indiana State), and they lose their best rebounder with the graduation of Falker.
So if they are going to get back to their top spot in the Valley, they need both shooting accuracy and more rebounding.
Most of what they have coming in are guards who do not shoot well from outside.
Dillard is good from outside, but in the Valley, it is not often a sub-6-footer is atop the scoring leaders' chart.
Daniel Ruffin (at 8th) is the only sub-6-footer among the top 28 scorers in the Valley (all the way down to 9.1 ppg)
Also, utilizing freshmen (SIU will have 6-7 true freshmen and redshirt freshmen) is risky, as only ONE freshman was among
the top 30 scorers in the lague, and NOT one freshman was among the top 25 rebounders in the league.
The freshmen will NOT instantly make them a better team, and too many freshmen will lead to unhappiness about playing time.
I wouldn't expect all the freshmen to be happy and at least one will leave before the first season is over.
Lastly, BU has also had some experience recruiting those who were acadmically questionable, like DeAaron Williams, Xavier Crawford, Buycks, and even throw Jeremy Fears in there......
I would rather if we go after anyone else with our present scholarship or for 2009, 2010 I would like to see us land high schoolers (who'll have four years of eligibility) who are not questionable with grades and qualifying.
We need more like Sam Maniscalco, Anthony Thompson, Will Egolf, and Andrew Warren, etc. In the final analysis, it has been the four year guys like Ruff, Crouch, JJ Tauai, and Cellus (even tho he was only 3-yrs) have worked out very well for BU, and I would like to have more guys like them.