When he put together a class ranked in the national top 10 by one recruiting service, UAB coach Mike Davis said his 2007-08 Blazers "will be the best team I have ever coached."

The problem is: recruiting grades don't win games. Two members of that class -- guard Terrence Roderick and forward Keenan Ellis -- never played because of academics and the Blazers lost two experienced starters during the season -- first-team all-conference guard Paul Delaney III to a season-ending knee injury and junior forward Walter Sharpe to academics.

The Blazers overcame some ugly early season losses and put themselves on the NCAA Tournament radar late in the season. They appeared to be well on their way to an at-large bid when they lost 94-56 at Memphis in their final regular-season game. Then they lost 78-68 to Tulsa in their only C-USA Tournament game.

The NIT came calling, and the Blazers did win at VCU in the first round before closing their season with their third loss in four games, an ugly 75-49 defeat at Virginia Tech on March 24.

"We just got rattled," Davis said after the loss at Virginia Tech. "The crowd just rattled us. You hate to say that but it happened."

Davis called the season as a whole "a heckuva year" with a 23-11 record and a second-place finish in C-USA at 12-4. Robert Vaden decided to pass up a chance to turn pro, so the Blazers will return everyone but Frank Holmes, a forward who was more of a role player than a key contributor.

The Blazers are counting on the return of Delaney, and Davis is hopeful about the progress of Sharpe, whose academic future has a chance to improve now that he has finally been diagnosed with sleep apnea and is learning how to handle it. Roderick also has a chance to be eligible next season.

"The hopes for next year will probably be the same we had at the beginning of this season," said Vaden, who finished third in C-USA with 21.1 points per game.

Still, Davis knows the Blazers need additional and immediate help, especially with rebounding and interior scoring and defense, as well as another perimeter scorer.

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