In Year 2 of the Tim Welsh era the Friars finished 11-19 overall with losses to Holy Cross, Central Connecticut State, Fordham, and Rutgers (twice).
That team did manage to win three of its last six, but even the wins didn't look great. A 45-40 win over Boston College (I sat next to an unimpressed Latvian recruit that afternoon) and a 47-45 squeaker over Miami left us wondering when and how this team would ever start winning consistently with such a horrendous offense. They were somehow held to 43 points in the loss to Holy Cross, 50 in the Central Conneticut loss, 46 in a loss to St. John's, and 53 in a loss to Pittsburgh. As a team they shot 38% from the field in Big East play and 29% from 3. Ugly.
An off campus fight and a few other defections later and only three of the eight man class Welsh had brought in returned to school the next season.
A year later that team was in the tournament after shooting 44% from the field and 40% from 3 as a team, scoring an amazing 17 more points per game in conference play than they did a year before. No one saw it coming.
Two freshman who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn turned into reliable shooters as sophomores, two late signees from overseas helped, and John Linehan went from a 23% 3 point shooter in his last full season (played only 6 games the previous season) to a 44% shooter from 3 in the tournament year.
The strength of that team was certainly the defense with Karim Shabazz and Marcus Douthit patrolling the paint and Linehan starring as the best defensive player this side of Shane Battier. Still, the offensive improvement was startling and it came without adding a stud scorer.
As poor as the defense under Keno Davis has been this year, the offense that season was just as ugly. Talk of a tournament bid heading into 2000-01 was laughable heading into the season.
Yet, Linehan made a huge leap shooting the ball, as did Abdul Mills and Rome Augustin. Three freshman could hit from deep and all of the sudden you had a flawed offense, but one that was good enough to win 21 games with the way they defended.
If Keno hopes to see rapid improvement next season he'll need to see vast improvement from Greedy Peterson and Marshon Brooks specifically, and hope that Gerard Coleman, Joe Young, and Ron Giplaye are upgrades defensively, as Maris Laksa, Sheiku Kabba, and Chris Anrin were offensively for Welsh.
A late signee who can defend the post or the emergence of Kadeem Batts or James Still as a defensive presence would be a major boost.
Welsh had the defensive pieces in place heading into that year, but the offense was a huge question mark. The opposite is true for Davis.
Admittedly, finding a big man who can defend the paint in his first year is difficult, but there are going to be a lot more defensive options for Keno in Year 3.
With Kyle Wright's scholarship freed up, that opens the door for Keno and Co. to bring in a defensive minded big man. While there isn't a Douthit-like shot blocker among the group, Keno will have more options with Dixon, Batts, Still, Giplaye, and a possible late signee next year.
Young and Coleman are wildcards until they step foot on campus, but there is no doubt that physically Peterson, Brooks, Council, and Mondy are athletic enough to at least be servicable defenders, and could be above average if they committed to that side of the ball.
The 2000-01 offense wasn't always great, in fact it rarely was, but with their defensive capabilities they didn't have to be. If Keno can make this an average Big East defensive unit they could be very dangerous. He'll have more options next year and it will be interesting to see how those options combined with more time to groom his players improves this team's defense.
