Again, I am referring to my own personal intrigue, not who I feel the best players will be.  And by intrigue, I am referring to the unknown... what should we expect from this player, how much or how little will he produce, etc.   What I really liked about Trey's game (besides being a big guard which is almost always a good thing) were two things.  First, he displays a level of fearlessness which comes from knowing you're a good player.  Confident but not cocky as they say.  Second, and I may have referenced this last month, but after several consecutive misses from outside, Trey then started taking the ball to the hoop.  Scored some easy baskets.  Watched the ball fall through the hoop.  The psychology behind that can not be overstated.  Once you've done it a few times, guess what usually happens?  The outside shots start to fall as well, which was exactly what happened with Trey.
 
So because I have already developed a sense for what Trey and Christian will bring to the table, I am less intrigued by those guys.  However, I am no less excited.
 

Jacoi and Garrett would be my most "intriguing" players.

Very intrigued to see if Jacoi's skills at a major high school level translate to running a Div 1 team as a freshman.  Considering the small number of star freshman PGs in my tenure as a GW fan, I lean towards caution.

Garrett is intriguing because of the unknown factor of the year off and the Rothstein post naming him as an early favorite for a starting spot.  Big solid kid with a great outside shot would be a huge asset if he an hold his own on D.

(Trey early comp for me is Carl Elliott who showed the same stat-stuffing skills as I expect from him)

I feel like I'm going to end up choosing all the guys between 6'7" and 6'10" for this question haha.

1) Benny Schroeder - may end up being among the most productive of the newcomers, but I'm just really intrigued by his potential ability to play a number of positions on the court. He probably won't need to play the 1 (or bring the ball up) but theoretically he can play 1-4 and possibly small-ball 5 on the court. I can't remember the last player who was that versatile with his height at GW. Given the number of newcomers and the potential versatility, you could throw out a number of lineup combinations and pick which ones are the most intriguing (maybe a follow up to this thread at some point). If I had to guess, Benny would find his way into a lot lineups because of his versatility.

2) Garrett Johnson - feels like the potential x-factor of the team. It's good to see him make his way back to the court but there is question about rust since he hasn't played in a minute. I originally saw him as a "nice to have" depth piece going into this year (with bigger contributions down the road) but his ability to be more of a factor in year 1 would be a huge boost for the team. If his defense translates by conference play, watch out.

3) Babatunde Akingbola - for pretty much the same reasons as others have alluded to above. When he got more minutes his sophomore year, he did produce. He seems willing to shoot threes (as his nickname suggests) but for us he just needs to do the little things down low as a guy who contests shots defensively, rebounds, and finishes lobs near the hoop. This feels like an answer by default because we don't really have anyone else to play at the 5 (despite Keegan's Kenner performances, I'm not still buying him to be a true backup to Stretch). Still, Akingbola is a guy who posted 5 blocks in one game against Missouri where he didn't even play that much. Even if he only plays half the game due to foul trouble, that kind of rim protection has been absent for years.

4) Christian Jones - I've watched him play and know he's got the skills to contribute, but I'm more intrigued about his role this season. Perhaps I'm incorrect in my perception of the freshman backcourt, but somehow it's seemed that Jacoi (passing) and Trey (shooting) have more firm roles/designations and Christian is the third guy in the equation as a guy who does a bit of both but maybe doesn't have a specialty. It would make sense to naturally pair him with Max in lineups, but as I mentioned earlier in the offseason CC isn't going 10 deep by conference play, so someone is going to be left out even if they have what it takes to see the floor.

5) Antoine Smith/Zamoku Weluche-Ume (tie) - putting them in the same category because the only times I've watched them they've played on absolutely atrocious teams which may be underselling their ability to contribute and I'm intrigued watching them play on a team that looks competent. Antoine played at UIW and Evansville at the D1 level. I think it's safe to say regardless of how GW performs this year, this will probably be the best team he's played on at the highest level of college. He may be flying under the radar as a guy who may be a lower-ceiling version of Garrett but has the experience to bury big shots when we need it.

Zam's FIBA team this summer was similarly not very good and in pretty much any of his games that I've watched him play big minutes he's been far and away one of the most impactful guys on the team. I don't expect him to play a ton this year, but I'm in general a fan of his game and interested to watch him in the games he does appear in during OOC play. His potential ceiling is tremendous. While Weluche-Ume's game does not jump out quite like Tafara's did when he first committed here, I feel similarly about what their games can be down the road.

It was tough leaving Darren Buchanan off the list, because there are some intriguing aspects to his game. At first glance, you would think he's most comfortable operating out of the post but he handles the ball quite well for someone his size and I can see how CC would compare him to a Draymond Green. Maybe it's because they both came from the same HS in DC, but I'm just seeing a replacement for Ricky on the floor (which is probably unfair to both players). Buchanan isn't afraid to shoot threes but the consistency isn't there yet which also reminds me of Lindo. I also see Jacoi similar to Brayon Freeman as a guy who is probably not as good of a scorer but a better passer. They both were the starting PG on good prep teams and I think that Jacoi will similarly be able to quarterback the team come conference play given his experiences. I'm looking forward to watching Hutchinson and Autry play, but not intrigued to the same degree as the versatile forwards, partly because of the question marks in the frontcourt this year - I'm less worried about the backcourt.
 

A few comments on dmv's post:

* The big hole in Schroeder's game is outside shooting.  21.7% from 3 at the U20.  He could be versatile at some point but was more of a one-trick pony with drives to the basket (very good at that trick) in his games.  Reminds me of Pato who was also a poor 3pt shooter when he was a freshman, but his defense was a couple of notches better.

* I think Jones' advantage over the other two guards is his defense.  The kind of long, annoying guard that VCU seems to have every year.

We should not lose sight of the fact that last season, our three-player bench (after EJ and Keegan were lost) consisted of two players who I'm guessing CC would rather have not played if he had that luxury, plus Amir who was playing his heart out after having undergone multiple injuries.  Starters could not afford to get into foul trouble which I'm convinced had much to do with why the defense was so soft.

CC did coach the defense at Miami.  After last season, I would have to believe he will be emphasizing defense.  Aside from arguably Stretch and JB, it does not appear as if we would be at a tremendous deficit should any of our other players get into foul trouble.  That in and of itself is a recipe for far greater defensive intensity.