As the college basketball regular season approaches, Eastern finds itself with a team that is both inexperienced and talented.

The Panthers have only two seniors on the team for leadership, but head coach Rick Samuels and his staff are excited about a group of fairly fresh faces they hope will surprise the Ohio Valley Conference this year.

Eastern does not boast of name recognition any longer but provides a team that is made up of players who are ready to make a name for themselves.

In the process, the Panthers will implement a different style of play as they adjust to the new strengths of the team. A year ago, Eastern’s offense revolved around the set offense and mainly relied on the jump shot.

This year, the Panthers have an offense that is more balanced between its perimeter players and the people they have in the post. Instead of relying on the jump shot, these Panthers will have a more potent offense from the inside-out.

“There is no doubt that our offense is more balanced,” Samuels said. “The big guys will be more of a factor for us this year because we have been working to initiate a a true post up game.”

The Panthers will have senior forward Jesse Mackinson to be the leader of the front court. But the test for Eastern up front with new players such as transfer Aaron Harrison who is currently a junior. He played two years at Triton Junior College and will be up against Division I opponents for the first time in his college career.

This could be a positive for Eastern, which hopes that Harrison and the rest of the team will surprise their OVC competition.

“Top to bottom our team is talented,” Samuels said. “That is why I think we could surprise quite a few people this year.”

The team may be talented, but they are also untested. The team will rely on sophomore guard Josh Gomes to become a scoring threat from the perimeter. Also they will hope that the rest of the younger players progress throughout the year, and become factors as time goes by.

“I think that we are a deeper team than we have been in awhile. Watching these guys grow as a team will be exciting,” Samuels said.

With the deeper team, more competition throughout the roster will be the result because many players are similar in their level of play.

The Panthers will use their upcoming exhibition game against International Select on Saturday, to get a better idea of what the main rotation will be when the regular season starts.

“We have ideas right now as to who will start, but it is not set yet,” Samuels said. “We do know that we have seven or eight guys who could very well work there way into the starting lineup.”

The youthfulness on this team leaves some questions to be answered as the team prepares to start the regular season. According to the coaching staff, patience will be needed because until the team grows together many questions will remain unanswered.

The Panthers will open up its 2003-2004 season at the NIU Convention Center as the Panthers will attempt to upset the preseason Mid-American Conference favorite Northern Illinois Huskies in Dekalb.