Shooting sticks out to me as a potential liability. We're going to miss Gibbs in this regard more than people think, IMO. Jackson is billed as a shooter but he's a freshman so my expectations aren't high. Larrier is another unknown, as is Adams. Entering the season, Purvis is our only proven three point shooter. That could be a problem, but I'm guessing at least one other guy will emerge as a consistent threat from deep.
I'm also not sold on the half-court offense. Purvis hasn't proven to be a 'get-your-own' guy, and I still think Adams is probably a year away from being that guy on a consistent basis. Larrier will score some, but we don't know whether he'll be able to solidify a sustainable role within a functional offense. If he's a sophomore DeAndre Daniels or a sophomore Rodney Purvis, I don't think that moves the needle much.
As others have mentioned, rebounding could be an issue, particularly if it becomes clear that Gilbert, Adams, Purvis, Larrier, and Brimah are our best five.
Broadly, a strength should be athleticism, which should translate to defensive success and precious transition points that could vitalize a weltering half-court offense. More specifically, where we lost a lot with a guy like Gibbs (and for all the complaining, Ollie was able to construct a top 25 defense around his shortcomings) was help defense, the sort of spontaneous, play-saving plays that Napier and Boatright spoiled us with. Gilbert and Adams won't be that from day one, of course, but you know at his core Ollie is a guy who wants his defense to fly around and pump out teaching tape type stuff like they did in 2014. Hamilton and Gibbs both improved greatly as the season went on, but they weren't the type of guys who were going to dig down from the weak side on a dump off pass to a big (check out the Maryland tape, Trimble killed us with this; the Boneyard predictably blamed Brimah) and still be able to splurge back out to a shooter on a reversal.
I don't know if we're going to be markedly better than we were last year. If I had to bet on it, I'd say no. But I'd wager we're more fun to watch than the last couple teams, and hopefully, that will set the stage for a special 2017-18.