And the award for most improved ...

There's a point in the preseason where you're just about out of questions.

That point has arrived.

OK, "out of questions" isn't quite right. But "out of new questions about the upcoming season" isn't too far off. Which is why it's good there's an exhibition game in College Park tomorrow.

At that point, it'll be possible to draw some conclusions. For now, the evidence that exists is drawn from intrasquad scrimmages and the team's own comments.

But those have some relevance at this stage.

And so here was today's reaching-for-straws question --- whose game is more different now than at the end of last season?

Two guys mentioned by both Eric Hayes and Greivis Vasquez were a pair of juniors, guard Adrian Bowie and forward Dino Gregory.

"Dino's been playing pretty well," Hayes said. "He's been scoring more on the block. he's got a lot more post moves than he did last year. Adrian's been shooting the ball a lot better. He's been making 3s and that's going to make it tougher on the other guys. I don't know how many guys are going to look completely different from their games last year."

Added Vasquez: "I think Sean [Mosley] is playing different, I think Adrian, Eric. I think a lot of us --- Dino. Now he can really shoot the middle-range jumper. Two new guys we never had before. I think a lot of things are different."

The Bowie-can-shoot-better storyline will be worth watching this season, since he fared reasonably well the first half of last season before fading.

As for Gregory, some offensive improvement would clearly make him a different --- and much more dangerous --- player.

"I felt at the end of the year, rebounding-wise [and] defensively, he was as good as we played against in those last three, four games where we played well," coach Gary Williams said. "Offensively, probably he wasn't as good as some of the guys he played against. Now, I hope he can pick up that part of his game where he's reaching that level."

--- Patrick Stevens