Obviously one of the few downers about the summer tour was Haanif not being able to play. The result, of course, is that none of us (except maybe a select few) have had the opportunity to see him play since he arrived at MU.

After watching the other four frosh play on the trip, my view of this team's potential definitely increased; all four appeared to be more talented, more skilled, and more mature than I had anticipated.

Based on a few comments Wojo made about Haanif, I can not help wondering if he, too, might be more advanced in terms of his development than what we have generally seen from the overwhelming majority of freshmen in the past eight years, even those with solid reps coming in like Christopherson, Erik, Jamail, Vander, Juan, Todd, Steve, Jr., JJ, Sandy, among others. (I did not include Junior or Mbakwe as both were injured and hardly played until the end of the season.)

So, what if Haanif is as good - or even almost as good - as Traci.....or what if he is as good, or possibly even better, than Sacar? I mean it is certainly possible.

For that matter, what if it turns out that Haanif earns/deserves as many mpg, or even more mpg, than JJ....or even Sandy?

Granted, my thoughts about the other players are based on pre-season games against suspect competition. Basically everyone on the roster other than Luke and Duane still have to show they can produce against high-major opponents. Still, it's hard to ignore the impressions the players made in Italy and Switzerland, and I can't avoid pondering whether or not Haanif would have been equally impressive had he been able to play.

Kind of brings a smile to my face.