In Reply to: My bad? posted by BuscH on May 08, 2024 at 23:22:10
your conclusion is right on - and a very exciting thing for this as a foundational year for the second generation of Mick Cronin's program.
i suspect SI lists Brandon as a guard based on his height but he's played as a forward all last year - imo he's a forward. Plus not sure how you are counting the front court - i'd say we have three centers and four forwards but it's just a labeling exercise. Depends on who wins time where. But just as a stating point i'm expecting our SC transfer and Stefanovic to split time at the wing (3) spot, Bill and Dailey to do so at the wing-forward (PF or 4) and our transfer Jackrabbit to split time with Mara at the center spot with Brandon W to compete for time at the 3 and 4 spots and Devin W to be back up at the 5-4.
Not enough minutes - that's going to be very interesting to see how that all plays out once they've had a couple months playing. i love Brandon's attitude and effort but don't see him getting many minutes this season - think he needs to become a 3 at his size and looking at all the talent that could take him a good year to do. Devin W also - we have what - two centers both just sophomores, one moving up to a higher level of competition and the other having to add a good deal of strength to be effective so Devin could get some minutes at the 5 spot.
Think the 4 will be very solid with the two primary guys and the 3 also - very solid with those two - Bilo and Dailey.
Guard will be fascinating. Andrews starts. Imo, the toughest competition - as you were saying - should come at guard. However it starts - Harris at the 2? - there's a logjam. Expect Freeney will be support and garbage time minutes. But Harris, Perry, Clark and Mack are going to really compete for minutes. Could be Mick will look for combinations that work well together -- going into '94-'95, i felt strongly that the X factor for that team was its ability to go big (Zidek et al) or smaller and quicker (JR at C and Toby at the 2 spot). We could play teams with huge posts - UConn, OK State - with Georg to negate their aircraft carrier centers and we could play quick teams - ARK - with JR and Toby. This team may well develop a situational approach to player usage.
The negative about playing more than 7 guys is what John Wooden said about losing the cohesiveness wherein every player on the court knows exactly what each of his teammates is going to do in any situation. Wooden said every time you substitute you lose some cohesion. (You can do it in the NBA because you do nothing but play ball for month after month - many more games together and key players can stay more than a couple or three years - but at the college level it's harder - which is why so many successful coaches reduce their playing rosters significantly in the tournament as you know,.)
Seems to me if you can settle on specific combinations of players, though, you can at least minimize that effect somewhat. Like teams that substitute two or three players as a sort of unit after the first media timeout or thereabouts. Those two or three are mostly playing together every game so their familiarity with one another is enhanced.
Several have speculated about that here and i wonder if Mick won't look to find those combinations. Andrews starts at the point with Clark and Perry behind him looking to play the 1 when Dylan rests. Dominick and Sebastian seem to me to take the off guard slot. But i really like teams that can play multiple guards with PG skills together and especially as the season goes along, i expect Perry has the potential to earn more floor time playing alongside Dylan also.
This is going to be a really interesting team. My biggest question is how we prove out at the 5 spot. We're going to be super stocked at all of the other spots on the floor and, as you said, "Competition is going to be brutal for playing time." For sure