Brown men's basketball coach Glen Miller essentially has five children: three daughters, one son, and a young basketball team that struggled through last season with almost no veteran leadership except for their longtime coach.
Miller, however, hopes that the team can put their growing pains behind them. Last year, Brown struggled mainly with consistency. Three-time All-Ivy senior guard Jason Forte, the younger brother of former UNC standout Joe Forte, was the only player to provide the team with steady play day-in and day-out. Forte and junior guard Luke Ruscoe were the team's only upperclassmen, and Miller was often forced to play four freshmen on the court at once. Miller believes, however, that this baptism by fire provided much needed experience for the team.
"A lot of the young guys last year, our freshmen, got valuable experience," Miller said. "We've got some other guys with experience coming back, too."
Although Ruscoe is the team's only senior, the Bears also feature four juniors. Miller thinks that these upperclassmen can provide the veteran leadership that last year's team was sorely lacking. He also believes that losing Forte, who averaged a team-best 18.4 points per game, may be a blessing in disguise.
"We should be a much better-balanced team," Miller said. "As well as Jason played for us, some of these young and inexperienced players probably deferred to him too much; now, I think they'll look up to their own team a little more and have more confidence in themselves and in each other."
"We should have enough players who have experience to make up for the fact that we don't have a lot of upperclassmen," Ruscoe added.
For both Miller and Ruscoe, what matters is experience on the court.
"The teams that seem to have the most success are teams that have upperclassmen who have been through the rigors for a couple of years and have matured," Miller said. "We're still young, but our freshmen have played valuable minutes. They're now sophomores, and they should be better players for it this year."
The Bears will benefit not only from having more experienced yet still youthful players, such as last year's Ivy League Rookie of the Year, sophomore guard Damon Huffman, but also from having a tight-knit group that has worked together and knows each other well. The veterans of the team have also made it their duty to lead by example and to be, as co-captain Ruscoe put it, "a guiding influence on the rest of the squad."
The Bears, however, have more to overcome than just inexperience. Last year, Brown struggled defensively, allowing opposing teams to shoot 46 percent from the field and tied for worst in the Ivy League. This problem was compounded by Brown's inability to shoot, as they were seventh in the league in field goal percentage. Another culprit in Brown's woes last season was their rebounding. In 2004-2005, they were outrebounded by a margin of more than 100. The Bears also blocked the fewest shots in the Ivy League, averaging fewer than 2.5 per contest.
Miller, for his part, plans to fix these problems by focusing on ball movement and good execution, as he tries to create a more mixed scoring balance. Last year, Brown's lack of interior shooting let opponents key in on their outside shooters, resulting in more difficult shots and fewer second chances. For the Bears to turn their struggles around, they need to work on getting the ball inside, thus freeing up the outside shot, as well as creating more high-percentage shots.
For the most part, both Miller and Ruscoe believe that Brown should have an easier time this year, thanks in large part to the experience gained last season and also because of the increased parity in the Ivy League.
"Hopefully, we're at the point where we'll have a season where first place is 10-4 or 11-3," Miller said, "and hopefully there are more teams that can knock each other off this season."
As the other Ivies look to replace starters across the board, Brown can take some confidence from knowing that their core remains intact from last season.
The road to the top of the league, however, will not be completely smooth for the Bears. This team is still young and still learning. Although Miller feels that the team has come a long way in the past year, he also knows that there is still much work to be done.
"We want to improve from game to game, to improve throughout the season, to get stronger as the season goes on," Miller said. "The only thing we can do is try to improve as a team every day."
But both Miller and Ruscoe believe that the team is good enough to contend, and both state that the ultimate goal remains the same: to win the Ivy League title.
"I don't think you should be playing if you don't have that goal," Ruscoe said.