this piece from CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein is just full of stuff to make your pulse race in anticipation.
CBS Sports: Your team this year returns arguably the best front court in the sport with Kyle Wiltjer, Domantas Sabonis, and Przemek Karnowski. What's going to be biggest differences in that trio this year compared to last season?
Few: I think we're going to try to play them together for stretches of games and try to make that work. They are our three best players. I think there's certainly some maturity that's been added to their games. You'll see that in their skill or just their physical development. Przemek had some medical issues that got squared away so he's as lean as he's ever been and as in shape as he's ever been. I think with Domas -- he was 18 last year and he's 19 this year. He's maturing as we speak. His game is mature, but emotionally he's matured. I think all of those things will hopefully show themselves this season.
CBS Sports: There were seven games last season where Sabonis was perfect from the field. What do you think the national perception would be of this guy if he wasn't playing behind a potential first-team All-American (Wiltjer) and Karnowski?
Few: If you look at Domas he was always playing big minutes and at big times in the game. We always had a lot of confidence in playing him and also going to him in big moments. I think he's such a team guy that he doesn't get as caught up in numbers and things like that. He truly is a guy that's solely focused on team and winning. So I think we've got to still encourage him.
He's also a perfectionist so if he makes seven shots and misses the eighth he likes to dwell on the one he missed. I think we've got to a great job of helping him focus on the seven shots he did make. I think hopefully he'll be able to show how he's expanded his game and his array of shots and range and skill set more than he did last year. I think he knows that we're counting on our three front court guys where last year we were counting on our guards.
Few: I think we're going to try to play them together for stretches of games and try to make that work. They are our three best players. I think there's certainly some maturity that's been added to their games. You'll see that in their skill or just their physical development. Przemek had some medical issues that got squared away so he's as lean as he's ever been and as in shape as he's ever been. I think with Domas -- he was 18 last year and he's 19 this year. He's maturing as we speak. His game is mature, but emotionally he's matured. I think all of those things will hopefully show themselves this season.
CBS Sports: There were seven games last season where Sabonis was perfect from the field. What do you think the national perception would be of this guy if he wasn't playing behind a potential first-team All-American (Wiltjer) and Karnowski?
Few: If you look at Domas he was always playing big minutes and at big times in the game. We always had a lot of confidence in playing him and also going to him in big moments. I think he's such a team guy that he doesn't get as caught up in numbers and things like that. He truly is a guy that's solely focused on team and winning. So I think we've got to still encourage him.
He's also a perfectionist so if he makes seven shots and misses the eighth he likes to dwell on the one he missed. I think we've got to a great job of helping him focus on the seven shots he did make. I think hopefully he'll be able to show how he's expanded his game and his array of shots and range and skill set more than he did last year. I think he knows that we're counting on our three front court guys where last year we were counting on our guards.
CBS Sports: A lot of people nationally aren't all that familiar with Silas Melson, but he gets rave reviews from everyone inside your program. How would you describe his game for those who haven't seen him?
Few: He's an explosive scorer with a nice pull-up game which everybody talks about being a lost art in college basketball. He's really got that. I think we're just kind of scratching the surface with the type of defender he can be. We obviously need that to come along. He's a guy that can handle it, he can shoot it from deep, and thus far in his career he can really get it going in bunches. When he hits his first couple, you starting thinking look out! Hopefully he can strive for a little more consistency and I think he's a guy that like Josh Perkins pinch hit at times last year, but in the long run that should really help him this year. I think he'll be able to kind of showcase some of his skills and the reasons why we brought him in here.
Few: He's an explosive scorer with a nice pull-up game which everybody talks about being a lost art in college basketball. He's really got that. I think we're just kind of scratching the surface with the type of defender he can be. We obviously need that to come along. He's a guy that can handle it, he can shoot it from deep, and thus far in his career he can really get it going in bunches. When he hits his first couple, you starting thinking look out! Hopefully he can strive for a little more consistency and I think he's a guy that like Josh Perkins pinch hit at times last year, but in the long run that should really help him this year. I think he'll be able to kind of showcase some of his skills and the reasons why we brought him in here.
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