... it's hard to argue with the results. This team wins ugly, but they win. Effort, rebounding, getting 50/50 balls down on the floor, inside game with some ugly jump hooks, etc...

Yes the Offense looks much worse, but we lack the pure shooting of Haws and Toolson, or the effortless inside game of Yoeli. But watching this team play Defense is a BIG upgrade from last year's team. I know most fans love good offense more than good defense, but you can win different ways. Pope is showing he knows how to maximize the strengths of whatever his squad has in a given year. That's very impressive.

So far, no bad losses, which cannot be said for last year's team. Seems to be having comparatively better results against some of the same opponents as last year (sans Zags who are other-worldly this year). Still need some better wins to be able to pound our chests and get a better assessment. It would be interesting to see how last year's team would fare against this year's team. A pure shooting team has a much better chance of upsetting a big time team if they're hot, but the D/effort/hustle carries better from game to game IMO.