105--I have the unfair advantage of hindsight on this one. But that 2006 team fell apart. Maybe that taints my memory. But I'll take this year's team any day of the week over that one. This year's backcourt is hands down better/deeper and the team is deeper.
I'm not sure I would agree. This year's backcourt may ultimately prove to be better, but it certainly isn't clear-cut, hands down better. I also don't think this year's backcourt is deeper than the 2005-06 backcourt (prior to the Fears transfer). That year we started Fears-Green-Troutman and the 1-2-3, with Chatman-Davis-Halbert as the backups. This year we've got Cooper-Coleman-Freeman, with only promising but untested freshmen Johnson and Kellogg in reserve. Now I'd certainly agree that this year's crop has the better potential and a higher ceiling, but in terms of experience, prior production, and depth, the 2006 backcourt was better.
The bigger advantage for this year's squad is front court depth. Whereas this year we can go 4-5 deep (Washington, Keely, Baltic, Kellogg, and Jacobs), in 2006 we really only had Leon, a true freshman battling mono in Tillman, and then two 3s (Johnny Jackson and Halbert) that slid over to the 4.
So overall, heading into 2005-06 we had a deeper and more experienced backcourt, but a really thin front court. Heading into 2010-11, our backcourt has lots of potential, but is a little short on experience, while the front court is deep, albeit without a dominant low post scorer like Leon.
If we get good coaching, and avoid defections/injury, I think that this team should be better on the whole. However, this time 5 years ago not many people would have predicted that Fears would bolt, Tillman would get sick, Jackson would be inept at the 4, etc.