Eastern basketball said goodbye to Henry Domercant over the past year, and has waved goodbye to any sort of notoriety that the team might have had entering the new season.

The 2002-2003 basketball season entered with high hopes on the Eastern campus with seniors such as Domercant, J.R. Reynolds and Craig Lewis leading an experienced back court.

Many people thought the Panthers would have an outside chance to go to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Ohio Valley Conference and receiving the automatic bid that is given to the top team in the conference.

Eastern came into the year with moderate predictions for the team, as they were officially placed fourth in the OVC in the preseason polls.

This put the team in a position to have a solid season and put themselves at or near the top of the conference.

But the team went through an up-and-down season that ended with the Panthers right at the .500 mark overall at 14-14. Eastern also managed a 9-7 record in the OVC.

Now the Panthers have to enter the 2003-2004 in a completely different role.

Instead of having players who have a bull’s eye on their backs, they will have players with relatively little experience. Eastern will have to be the surprise of the OVC this year if it is going to find its way into the upper echelon of the conference.

No more Domercant. No more Reynolds. No more Lewis.

Who exactly is on this team?

For the most part, the Panthers consist of unknown players who will now have the opportunity to prove themselves, it will be a trying year for head coach Rick Samuels and his staff.

The preseason polls this year no longer place Eastern in the middle of the pack. Instead, the Panthers find themselves toward the back of the pack. Ninth in the conference is what many of the pollsters have made as the preseason mark for Eastern.

One thing Eastern will have in its favor will be the element of surprise. If the players Samuels will put on the court on a regular basis break out in a big way, maybe the Panthers will find the new group to be an exciting group of young players.

Everybody knew how Domercant and his crew played last year. They took the up-tempo game when it was there, but for the most part, Eastern liked to run the half court offense. This allowed for Domercant to run around the screens and work himself open enough for a jump shot.

The offense went through the highly touted senior last season. Now the offense is up for grabs.

Samuels has the choice of establishing the post more than he did last year.

He probably hopes that the big body of transfer Aaron Harrison will open up the post. All 6-foot-9 inches and 290 pounds of Harris could provide the Panthers with a dominant low-post presence.

But the question marks that surround this team have already started as Harris has gone down with a Jones fracture in his left foot.

So who can actually predict what will happen with this team?

There are too many unknowns right now for any preseason poll to actually give a fair look at the team.

So take what the pollsters say this week with a grain of salt, because not very many people can figure out what this team is going to present this year.