With so many new faces and young talent added this offseason, the SMU men's basketball team will lean on its veteran guards, Boopie Miller and B.J. Edwards, to provide leadership and stability.

Second-year head coach Andy Enfield and his staff brought in three transfers and five true freshmen to join returning starters Miller, Edwards and Samet Yiğitoğlu, along with two redshirt freshmen. While the roster's talent level will be higher, there will be players adjusting to SMU or college basketball entirely, putting added emphasis on Edwards and Miller to bring it all together.

"Boopie and BJ have been playing extremely well," Enfield said. "... We'll rely on those guys for leadership and consistency because, as you know, when you have half the team as freshmen, freshmen are a little inconsistent at times. Our senior guards have to carry us."

Enfield praised both for their work this offseason in order to take the next step in their respective development. They were key to SMU's success last year and will have to take a step forward in order for the team to do the same.

Miller was a big part of last year's team achieving what it did during its first season in the ACC. Miller averaged 13.2 points per game, scoring in double digits in all but seven of his 28 games, and he scored nine points in three of those. He didn't just score, though, averaging 5.5 assists per game.

That was enough to earn him Preseason Second Team All-ACC honors. While he appreciated the recognition, not being on the first team has motivated him to take the next step.

"He knows our system. He knows what we expect of him," Enfield said of Miller. "He also knows what our goals are for him, and he's been an amazing leader. He's improved this offseason as much as any player we've seen in a while. We expect an all-league performance from him and consistency on the defensive end. His defense has improved. He wants to play in the NBA one day, and I think he knows what he has to do, at his size, to be drafted or have a career in the NBA. He's worked hard towards those things, and you really see it on a daily basis."

But Miller missed five games towards the end of last season, with the Mustangs going 2-3 in his absence. That was motivation not just to work harder, but also smarter as he tried to become more durable this offseason.

He worked with strength coach Kurtis Shultz to add almost 10 pounds of muscle this offseason while continuing to develop as a playmaker.

"I feel very, very confident. I was mad about being injured, so I was in the weight room a lot just working on my body," Miller said. "I feel like I work hard, but sometimes you've got to work smarter, not harder, all the time. I feel like me being healthy and on the court will help the team a lot. … It hurt me deeply because I feel like we could have went to the (NCAA) tournament and even made a run in the ACC tournament as well. But things happen for a reason, and I'm going to come back even stronger."

Edwards has played the most games in an SMU jersey out of anyone on the roster. He has 68 games with 65 starts under his belt for the Mustangs. He developed from more of a distributor-only in his first year on campus into more of a scorer too, averaging just under 10 points per game last season, while still increasing his assists to 3.7 per game.

Now even more will be asked to do even more on the offensive end.

"B.J. Edwards, same thing, a lot of improvement," Enfield said. "We need BJ to score a little more for us this year because we lost three double-figure scorers. He's capable of that. He's improved his shooting, and he's improved his decision-making. And, of course, he can steal the ball because he set the school record last year."

After the season, Edwards took some time off. But when he came back, he went right into becoming a better and more consistent scorer. 

That starts at the 3-point line, which will give him more scoring opportunities and open up his ability to use his teammates.

"As soon as I got back to it, me and Coach Andy, we started working on my 3-point shot, getting it faster and more efficient for this upcoming season," Edwards said. "Then, really just a lot of conditioning, running hills and staying in shape, because without being conditioned it's going to be hard to play."

The goal was to build the roster around the three returning pieces. One of those pieces, Jaron Pierre Jr., C-USA Player of the Year and the No. 4 scorer in the NCAA last season with 21.6 points per game, is helping out on both ends of the floor.

"Jaron makes me better," Edwards said. "I get to guard Jaron every day in practice, or Boopie, so that's going to help me on defense. Then playing alongside them opens the floor for me even more."

The journey to SMU was different for both players. 

Edwards began his career as a hometown hero at Tennessee, but after one year came to SMU. As for Miller, he arrived at SMU following stops at Central Michigan and Wake Forest.

Now Edwards is in his third season and Miller his second, giving them an understanding and familiarity that feeds into the rest of the team.

"It just makes everyone more comfortable," Miller said. "The two leading guards that were here last year, us going against each other in practice each and every day, pushing each other, fouling each other, making each other better each and every day. It's comfortable for everybody, so the freshmen see that, and they're going to want to go hard and play defense as well. I'm very excited about me and BJ's career this year, finishing out this year in the ACC season."