The way I see it, this team could win as few as 10 games or as many as 20. But I don't believe it's unreasonable for us to hold out hope for the latter. After all, who could have guessed that last year's team, so highly regarded at the start of the season, would eventually be regarded as one of the worst OU teams in the last 30-plus years?
It's possible that the 2010-11 Sooners will be equally surprising. By that I mean maybe they could win 18-20 games, be competitive against other Big XII teams, maybe even make a run at the postseason.
I can't predict Capel's starting lineup this coming season; I doubt that even Capel knows at this point. But I do expect Davis, Pledger and Fitzgerald to continue to be in the rotation, based on the fact that each of them contributed last season and all three improved significantly as the season progressed. Newcomers Blair and Newell will almost certainly share time at the point. I'm excited about both of these kids. Newell looks like he could be a big time scorer, and Blair was very impressive in his freshman season. How long has it been since we've had one true point guard? And now it appears we have two!
I can't help but believe that Clark is a future superstar and will make a big contribution as a freshman. Don't know if Taylor will be a big factor right off the bat, but by all accounts he's a very tough and determined player with enough skill to excel in the Big XII.
Also don't know what we should expect this season from the other new guys: Neal, Washington, Thompson, Ahmed. But with the possible exception of Ahmed, who is a total unknown, all of them appear to be the kind of hard-working, team oriented players that OU so desperately needed last year.