By Ed Morrone

Considering the season opener is just two days away (Saturday at Patriot League frontrunner Holy Cross), it’s time to ditch the traditional Hofstra basketball column for a week. With head coach Tom Pecora fielding a team full of uncertainties in many spots, it’s time to break this thing down for you, the fans. You’ve got questions, I’ve got answers. Here are some of the biggest ones heading into Saturday:

Can Antoine Agudio step up and be the leader?

It’s no doubt Agudio, who enters the season opener with 1,664 career points, is well on pace to break the program’s 42-year old record of 2,222 held by Steve Nisenson. But Agudio’s biggest challenge isn’t going to be scoring—we all know he can do that by now. No, the question is can the best 3-point shooter in Hofstra history be the team leader with Loren Stokes and Carlos Rivera gone? There are several talented newcomers (Nathaniel Lester, Darren Townes, Dane Johnson and technically Charles Jenkins and Greg Washington) that will eventually do serious damage, but they need someone to guide them and that someone is Agudio. I know one thing for certain: Agudio is bristling at the whispers that he won’t be able to take Hofstra to the promised land and is dying to prove the doubters wrong.

With Stokes and Rivera gone, where will the points come from?

Aside from Agudio (who could average 25 points per game), this is the question on everyone’s mind. Redshirt freshman guard Charles Jenkins looked like a natural scorer in last week’s exhibition win over Northwood and could quickly become the best option when Agudio is facing double teams he’s sure to see. Arminas Urbutis has shown promise and may be ready for an increased role, and Greg Johnson looks poised for a breakout season. After that, it’s new guys such as Lester and Townes who will have to step up.

So how about that new and improved frontcourt?

The new look Pride frontcourt can take solace in one thing: it can’t possibly be any worse than last year’s version. Too much of a burden was placed on Mike Davis-Sabb and Chris Gadley (who has since transferred to Canisius) and they underachieved big time. Pecora responded by bringing in Dane Johnson (6-10, 290) and Townes (6-7, 210) from junior colleges to pair with the return of Washington (6-10, 200), who redshirted last season with academic ineligibility issues. Throw in Urbutis (6-9, 225) and Davis-Sabb (6-7, 240) in a decreased role, and things are beginning to look up for the frontcourt players.

Which player from last year should I expect to step up the most?

Without a doubt, Greg Johnson. The junior point guard had an entire offseason to think about his mental breakdown to end the Pride’s CAA Quarterfinals loss against George Mason and looks incredibly determined to bust out in 2007-08. He still can’t be counted on as a scorer, but Playstation should be a shoo-in on the CAA All-Defensive Team. He has the ability to be a threat across the board, as evidenced from his stats from the exhibition game (nine points, seven rebounds, six assists, five steals and only two turnovers in 33 minutes at point guard).

Which new face will have the biggest impact?

Technically this should be Jenkins, who saw all of his action in 2006-07 on the practice court. But since this is actually his second season with Hofstra, let’s look elsewhere. It could be Townes, who averaged 9.5 points and 9.8 rebounds for Globe Institute of Technology as a sophomore. He needs some refining on offense, but Townes looks like he could be just the type of player Hofstra needs: a hard-nosed, physical worker on defense that can become an eventual scoring threat. Honorable mention to Lester, the 6-foot-4-inch true freshman guard from Brooklyn who will be wearing Stokes’ No. 1 jersey.

How good can this team be?

Expectations are low in Pecora’s seventh season at the helm of the Pride, which could be a good thing. After 2005-06’s NCAA Tournament snub, the world turned a watchful eye toward Hofstra last year, picking the Pride as preseason favorites to win the CAA. It’s hard to say Hofstra underachieved last season, especially after posting a 14-4 mark in conference play, but that’s exactly what happened. Considering how high the hopes were last November, last season was one of the most disappointing ones in quite awhile. Picked to finish fifth in the conference this season, nobody seems to expect much now that Stokes and Rivera are gone, which is fine, because this year’s team can do without the heavily scrutiny it faced last year. But the pieces are certainly there. Pecora has a bonafide superstar player (Agudio), depth up front, talented newcomers and some solid returnees (namely Urbutis and Greg Johnson), ingredients that could make Hofstra a legitimate dark horse in the CAA.

With that being said, how good is the CAA?

Good, as usual. But it’s not so good that an underdog team like Hofstra can’t make some definite noise. George Mason is at the top, and with all five starters back (including Final Four holdovers Will Thomas and Folarin Campbell), they are the runaway favorite, at least in this writer’s opinion. VCU and CAA Preseason Player of the Year Eric Maynor (whose stock rose dramatically when he torched Duke in last year’s NCAA Tournament) are next, but after that, it could be up for grabs. Old Dominion and Drexel will be solid, but like Hofstra, they lost more than they bring back. James Madison and UNC-Wilmington could be in the mix as sleeper teams, but expect Hofstra to be fighting for that ever-elusive ticket to the Big Dance in Richmond, Va., when March rolls around.

Enough is enough, give us a prediction!

I hate doing this, but at the same time I know this is the thing people want to know about the most. Do I think Hofstra is the best team in the conference? No, but they aren’t as far off the pace as people might think. Sure, they lost a lot, but they have some pretty intriguing pieces in place, it’s just a matter of putting them together in the proper way. Pecora himself said to expect his team to take it on the chin early in the non-conference portion of the schedule but that he fully expects the Pride to start gelling once those CAA games start coming at everyone in full force. With that being said, 12 conference wins should be within reach, which would be more than enough to make sure Hofstra is playing meaningful games in March. I’ll give the example I keep citing for this year’s Hofstra team: VCU was picked to finish sixth in last year’s preseason poll, and they were one or two more clutch Maynor shots from advancing to the Sweet 16. Long story short: Keep the faith, we’ve got a long season ahead of us and it all begin on Saturday