If replacing Cameron Jones -- NAU's record holder in career points -- wasn't enough, coach Mike Adras is being tested in one of his most trying offseasons.

The Lumberjacks graduated Jones, starting forward Shane Johannsen, and key contributors Eric Platt, DeAngelo Jones and Julian Olubuyi after ending their season in the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament. Adras also dismissed 6-foot-8 center Josh Lepley last spring, and senior 6-9 forward Austin Smith left the program shortly before NAU classes began this fall.

And before the first official practice, returning leading scorer Gabe Rogers was lost for at least the first eight weeks of the season with a torn labrum in his right shoulder.

So much for a smooth offseason during the transition from "Life after Cam Jones." Now fans have to wonder how many wins, or close losses, the Jacks can put together this season.

With nine newcomers -- five freshmen, four junior college transfers -- Adras has experienced a difficult preseason before entering his 13th year as head coach in Flagstaff.

"I'm still looking for that (go-to) person," Adras said on a conference call.

"You're talking about replacing our school's all-time leading scorer, and I don't see that presently on this roster. It's going to have to be done by committee rather than by a single person."

As the Jacks begin their season with a three-game tournament starting today in San Francisco, Adras is left wondering what would have been best for his young squad.

"It's not ideal," he said. "With this group, I'm kind of looking at it wondering if that was a good decision or not to open the season in a tournament like that versus playing a game and getting a chance to watch yourself and understand what you did well, what you didn't do well before you play the next game. We're not going to have that. We're going to play three straight games without any reflection on ourselves and how we're going to do against the next team."

But not everything is riding on the fresh faces. Among the seven veterans are junior point guard Stallon Saldivar and senior forward Durrell Norman, who return as starters and look to increase their production to help offset the key departures while awaiting Rogers' return.

"Stallon is a stabilizing force for us," Adras said. "He led our league in assists last year and I'm hoping for that to continue.

"That's one position on the court I feel good about."

While the starting five will most likely change during the season, Saldivar and Norman are grouped with junior guard Michael Dunn, sophomore forward Max Jacobsen -- a 6-8 transfer from Clackamas (Ore.) Community College -- and 6-3 freshman Colin Gruber, who is seeing plenty of first-team action after Rogers' injury.

Freshman guards James Douglas and Danny Cheek are also expected to see minutes and, along with Gruber, fit Adras' "Recruit to Shoot" motto. But for all three, playing better defense will net them more playing time. Generating offense is almost never a problem for Adras' Jacks, but playing consistent defense is a way to earn his favor.

"It's converting a mentality to them. They've grown up on the highlight plays. It's how they've played with their club ball -- you get rewarded for one spectacular play and it doesn't matter if you've made five bad plays," Adras said. "That's the mentality that we're trying to change right now. It's not very easy."

With only three Jacks standing above the 6-foot-6 mark -- all of them new -- rebounding and interior defense will likely remain a sore spot throughout the season.

During last week's 93-71 exhibition win over Western New Mexico, junior transfer Ephraim Ekanem alleviated some of those concerns with a physical 16-point, 10-rebound performance.

"I thought Ephraim was terrific," Adras said. "He made a lot of nice plays for us."

But for Adras, that was expected. He is waiting to see how his big men respond against taller competition.

"I was really happy with what (Ekanem and Jacobsen) did, but we were the bigger team (in that game), so they should have dominated," Adras said. "How are they going to do when we're not the bigger guys? That's going to be the key because that's going to happen to us."

Jacob May can be reached at jmay@azdailysun.com or 556-2257.