You are selling Freeman and Voskuhl short by not mentioning them, as well as El Amin, a year later (I originally had Moore on this list. On the other hand, he was shielded from the pressure on that squad as a freshman.).
Kirk King was the unquestioned emotional leader, along with Ricky Moore, in '96-'97, but when he was suspended for the rest of the season, his portion of the load shifted squarely to Rip, Freeman (his de facto replacement) Jake.
El Amin gave the program it's swagger again. It was written about in the Daily Campus season preview, but it was obvious by the time they took the court for real.