Buzz Williams realizes how fortunate he is to take over a Marquette program that has three senior perimeter players who have logged a ton of minutes in their careers.

Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews have all started for their first three years.

``The biggest benefit for me is that not only are they great players, but they've also got great character and that bodes well for the transition," Williams said. ``They have been very respectful, but at the same time, they haven't tried to compare me to him (Tom Crean)."

Williams, who in in his 175th day on the job today, said with the success that former coach Tom Crean had at Marquette, he certainly doesn't plan to make major changes.

``Subtle changes," said Williams, who spent one year as an assistant under Crean after one season as the head coach at New Orleans. "I think I'll be a little more bent to the defensive side."

Williams raved about his three guards and also said that he expects another strong year from junior forward Lazar Hayward, who will likely see extensive time at power forward because of the lack of size on the team.

Hayward joined the other three players in double-figures last season with 12.8 points per game, but more importantly, he pulled down 6.5 rebounds and re-discovered his perimeter shot and made 45 percent of his 3-pointers.

``He gives us an element on both ends of the floor and is the perfect compliment to the three guards," Williams said. "His demeanor fits us perfectly. Not to take anything away from those three guards, but he's earned the right to be mentioned with them."

Who would have thought that Ousmane Barro, who averaged a paltry 5.5 points and 5.5 rebounds last season, leaving would be a hit for the Golden Eagles.

``We're going to miss him," Williams admitted.

That's because Marquette will be forced to go with senior Dwight Burke, a role player, and unheralded freshman Chris Otule in the middle.

``He's going to have to help us," Williams said of the 6-foot-10 Otule. ``He's come a long way, but he's still a long ways away."

EARLY RETURNS FOR ULM

Two years ago, Louisiana-Monroe was picked to finish in the cellar and Orlando Early's Warhawks wound up winning the west division title in their first season in the Sun Belt.

ULM returned just about everyone and the Warhawks were 4-4 last season and coming off wins at Iowa and against Rice. Then starting point guard Brandon Roberts went down with another torn ACL.

Early tried moving the team's top scorer, Tony Hooper, over to the point and that didn't work. Neither did trying a pair of walk-ons at the position.

``The season just got away from us," Early said.

ULM finished 10-21 overall and 4-14 in league play. However, Roberts is back and Early is optimistic in his fourth season at the helm.

``This is probably our most talented team top to bottom," he said. "Even though we won the division two years ago, we didn't feel as though we had a true Sun Belt roster. We played to our strengths, caught people off-guard and everything that could go right did go right."

Early envisions a backcourt of Roberts, Hooper and junior college wing Jarvis Hill. If anything does happen to Roberts, the Warhawks have two other options to run the club this season with freshman Brandon Williams and junior college floor leader Reggie Lassiter.

Look for either junior college forward Malcolm Thomas or Lawrence Gilbert, a sophomore who sat out last season after transferring in from Miami, to compete for a starting spot and Raphelle Turner to get the bulk of the minutes up front.

Early's team will be deep enough so that Afam Nweke, who started 29 games last season, could come in off the bench.

RANDOM NOTES: Baylor has brought on ex-NBA player David Wesley as a student manager while he completes his undergrad degree. Wesley left Baylor 33 hours short back in 1993. ... Maryland picked up a commitment from New York big man James Padgett. ... Western Kentucky picked up Orlando Olympia forward William Green and also 6-foot-6 wing Jordan Swing out of Vestavia Hills (Ala.). ... South Dakota junior Cody Larson pledged to Iowa.