Let the real season begin! It's time for the wars that are conference play. Though we played the one conference game with the loss at BC, that to me, was the next to last game in the-ACC opening half of the season. I also attribute that loss to scheduling more than anything else but it did put us in a small hole conference wise. Let's just hope we quickly pop up out of the hole and soar to the top of the standings.

Before I get into the Phase categories, let's briefly assess who we are right now. Short version: An offensive juggernaut for sure, with the ability to score in numerous ways night in and night out. Loaded with weapons big, small, and inbetween. Strengths include offensive rebounding, post scoring, attacking the basket, and not blinking when the other team builds a big lead on them, no matter the time left on the clock... but too youthful and inmature to figure out how not to dig that hole to begin with. Not good defensively yet, especially early in games. They have shown potential on the defensive end, have looked good in the zone defenses, but have much work to do to become good enough at man to man defense to achieve the stated goals of the season. So lets see how much progress they make defensively in this Phase. With that I give you Phase III.

1. Health
- Though some hate listing this as a category, I remind you injuries have derailed oh about 5 seasons at least in the last 8 years, especially last season when injuries turned a potential juggernaut into a good but not great team. We have had a few minor injuries so far with Grayson's wrist and Javin's hammy, but knock on wood, nothing major or season ending just yet. Let's hope we stay fully healthy the remainder of the way.

2, Deeeefense
- To me this is the single most important category for this team. We currently sit at #71 in Kenpom. That has to improve to get where we want to go. Say what you want, but K wants these kids to be good enough to beat anyone with man to man defense. He despises playing zone, though if a win is desperately needed and zone is the only way to do it, he will bend and roll with it. Having played only one game in the past 21 days, and with school out for 10 of those, you can bet the house they have had lots and lots of practices with the focus being on man to man defense. During this phase let's try to note a few things. 1. How much improvement there has been on man to man, and how often (or not) K bails them out by changing to zone. 2. How many quality wins we get using mostly man to man with little to no zone.

3. Rotation- Who's In, Who's Out
- Ah the most polarizing topic of all for my fellow DBR family members. This is the year K plays 10 guys!!! Yes!! vs Forget it, K will play 6, 6.5, 7 max. Well, what we seemed to have learned in the first half of the season is that the starting 5 is locked and solid as stone in Duval, Grayson, Gary, Bags, Carter. There appear to be two locks to play regularly off the bench game in and game out, those being Javin, and Bolden. (Their minutes will vary depending on match ups, and how well they are playing when in there.). Here is where it gets interesting. Alex has shown quite frankly that he can freaking play on the offensive side of the ball. K likes rotating Alex in for Gary, especially in games where Gary's shot is not falling. He can sometimes be instant offense off the bench. He must improve defensively though to get consistent PT. I think his minutes will fluxuate the most coming off the bench. He could play 3 minutes one night and 18 the next. Just depends. So we are now at 8 guys, or 7.5 if you will. We all know K is just not cool with going beyond that amount of players from Jan to April. However, one Mr. Jordan Goldwire has shown the ability to go out there when Duval needs to sit, and run the team very effectively, playing good defense, and knock down the occasional 3. Also, like one Tyler Thornton and many others before him, JG seems to be one of those unique players with lesser skills that K falls in love with and has no problem rolling with them against any opponent. We saw that against Mich St and others. In fairness, there were also several games where K gave JG DNP's and used Grayson as the sole backup PG when Duval sat. I assume K reviewed all games from both scenarios, ran the analytics and will real soon decide on one or the other strategy. Another thing to chart during this Phase. How many minutes will Alex and Goldwire see during Phase 3?

4. Grayson
- A couple of things to mention here. Prior to the wrist injury his 3P FG% was north of 50% and the kid was just killing it. After the injury his numbers dropped quite a bit, however he seemed to return to form against Evansville. This team needs his points, especially from 3 to give the big guys more space inside to operate (more on that below) The other thing, which is maybe uncomfortable but requires watching, ACC teams are going to go at this kid very hard. That is a given. As will their fans though that doesnt worry me at all to be honest. I'm positive he either tunes it out totally, haves fun with it, uses it to fuel him, or any all of the above. Opposing players though... they are going to jaw at him, bump him, foul him hard, bait, instigate, you name it. Grayson will have to show tremendous restraint but make no mistake he takes no crap off nobody, which to be honest I have no problem with that, at all. He just needs to be smart and harness it enough that he doesn't do anything to cause a distraction. A championship team doesn't need distractions. Let's see how he performs and how he handles the junk that is surely coming his way during this Phase.

5. 3 Point Shooting For Balance
- This has been discussed since the summer. Can we be a good 3 point shooting team? Bagley, Carter, and Bolden really need the other guys to shoot it well enough from deep that defenses can't just ignore everyone but Grayson out there and pack it in against the bigs both stifling post scores as well as blocking driving lanes for the perimeter guys to drive it and attack. Grayson is money. We know that. Trent has been hot and cold but certainly shows promise. Alex has also shown a good stroke from out there, but will he be on the floor to even take them? The next best option surprisingly seems to be Carter. He has shown a very nice stroke. Bagley has also hit a few though I have to admit I cringe each time Bagley launches one. Goldwire has hit a few timely 3's as well but like Alex, will he be on the floor to take them. In my mind this is going to be a very important aspect of this team's success. Phase 3 should give us a decent amount of data to assess with. (It should be noted that we are currently #1 in Kenpom Offense, so we are knocking down enough 3's to be successful, which is why I didn't list offense as a category)

So there you have it. It starts tomorrow when a very good and talented FSU team rolls into Cameron. Getting a win will not be easy but it is certainly needed. I for one do not want to start conference play 0-2 including a loss at home.

I look forward to the communities thoughts on these categories and others if I left out something you feel is important.