He has had a few short sessions to work with his team already this fall, and coach Jim Boylen said he's encouraged about the early progress it has made.

"I'm excited about what we've got done so far," he said.

Several players are nursing nagging injuries -- sophomore guard Carlon Brown is recovering from a sore shoulder, freshman center Jason Washburn has a bruised hip and freshman guard Chris Hines sprained his ankle -- but Boylen believes his message is sinking in far earlier this season than it did last.

"We're coming," Boylen said. "We're becoming more of a team. I think you can see that."

Yes, you can.

Center Luke Nevill and Brown were among the upperclassmen who took younger players aside for encouragement or instruction during practice today, something Boylen has been trying manically to get his players to do since he arrived. Finally, it appears they're learning to do it without being pushed.

"We have five freshmen and four seniors," Boylen said. "We can't go too slow for the seniors, but you can't go too fast for the freshmen. It's like that math class, you know, where you have the kids who get it, and guy who's really struggling with it, like I was. So I'm really conscious of that, and trying to do the best we can. Our goal is to go from good to great."