Although their season does not begin until Nov. 22 with the North Country Tip-Off Tournament in Potsdam, NY, the men's basketball team has already had one major turn-over: Losing all-time scoring leader Rashad Williams to graduation. Williams, a forward, scored 1,928 points in his career, breaking the school record set in 1958 and averaged 21.9 points last year, for a team that finished 8-17. Four of the five starters from last season are no longer with the team. In addition to Williams, forward Bobby Brayboy '02 also graduated, guard C.J. Enere '05 transferred and forward Jason Roberts '03 chose not to return to the team. The only remaining starter is guard and tri-captain Greg Kristof '04.

So far, most of the starting spots still remain open. Only the other captains, forward/center Glenn Wright '05 and forward/center Bryan Lambert '04 have locked up starting jobs. Lambert is an unusual case because, although seven players from last season are no longer on the Brandeis roster, he returned to the team after choosing not to play his sophomore year.

"Last year, I wanted to focus more on baseball, but I missed playing basketball a lot," Lambert said. He averaged 11 points as a first-year and should give the Judges both scoring and leadership.

With the starting lineup anything but certain, the six first-years have the opportunity to contribute right away. So far, center Pat Collier '06 has distinguished himself.

"I think Pat has done a good job playing inside," Coach Chris Ford said.

In the mean time, Ford is "still waiting for other guys to step forward." But, the uncertainty does provide "incentive for the guys," according to Ford.

The Judges have several important positives going for them. Although many players did not return, five players have, and they are now more familiar with each other's styles on the court.

"I see us as more of a core now. Basically,we got a chance to play together last year and work as a team," Wright said.

Other major strengths include having mobile, big men, team speed and the fact that the team is "probably a harder working group on the whole," Kristof said.

Unfortunately, there are also many negatives working against the Judges. With no seniors, the team is fairly inexperienced. The tallest player is Lambert at 6-9, which leaves Brandeis undersized in relation to its UAA opponents. They also need to work on some of the fundamentals.

"I just hope our guys make more layups, foul shots and jump shots," Ford said.

The Judges will need to make all three of these consistently if they want to remain competitive, because without Williams there is now no one major source of offense.

"Without having a big-time scorer, we'll have to spread things out," Lambert said.

There will be a lot of shots to go around, but making them could be another story. The Judges shot 42.9 percent from the field last year, and that will have to improve for them to be successful.

"We can design the best plays and execute the play to perfection, but it comes down to the player delivering," Ford said.

For a program that has not had a winning season in each of the last four years, they are keeping things in perspective.

"The program has been at the bottom of the UAA and we need to improve that," Kristof said. But, Wright added, "At best, we'd like to be over .500."

Reaching the magic number of .500, however, will be a slow process.

"We're going to have to take baby steps before we can take big steps. Last year, we relied on Rashad and CJ doing the scoring. Hopefully the ball will be spread around more, so that guys have the opportunity to contribute," Ford said.

Despite the challenges facing the Judges, Wright remains optimistic. "I'm looking forward to a good season," he said.

The first home game is on Dec. 3 against Suffolk University at 7 p.m.