Next Year's Team and Minutes

[Out of Balance]

I like getting off to a good start and not having to worry about a sparkplug off the bench to get us going or to play catch up! I like putting the other team in that position! I think putting our best defense player on the opponents best player from the start is very important! I like the idea of throwing them out of their game and not allowing him to get in a rhythm and build his conference. Don't get me wrong about a strong bench as it is very important to have players come in that can do the job. I just like to get out of the gates early and set the tone of the game! If DD is our best defense player I want his butt in the game from the beginning and we know he can score. Last year was just that. playing sixth man with a broken hand. This year DD is back in the starting lineup and the spark (if needed) will have to come from someone else stepping up and we have guys that can do it. Just my opinion guys

[SFP]

OOB I agree with what you just posted. The one drawback of SM is his ability to guard a quick guard. EM does put a lot pressure on the opposing point guard and DD is a lock down defender. I hope JL does not have a starting 5 lock and starts his players on how they practice and match ups. We have the ability to make teams play lineups that they do not feel comfortable with.

[houstontxbrave]

OOB I agree with what you just posted. The one drawback of SM is his ability to guard a quick guard. EM does put a lot pressure on the opposing point guard and DD is a lock down defender. I hope JL does not have a starting 5 lock and starts his players on how they practice and match ups. We have the ability to make teams play lineups that they do not feel comfortable with.

You are right about SM, how many times did we worry and often complain about SM and him getting beat off the dribble last season, but also his lack of ability to finish at the rim.

EM MUST improve his mid range game from last season. How many times last season did he get to the lane but was unable to finish an open mid range shot? He has great quickness but his shooting confidence last season was sorely missing, good form but not to often a good result.

DD is so quick and finshes well, especially with the left hand. I am not sold on his jump/set shot he shoots from the field but he is pretty strong with the dribble and gets to the line or finishes well.

I really dont think you will or can go wrong with any of the 3 and I think you will see a lot of all three in various combinations. Of course AW and his return will eat minutes away at the 2 but there are still lots of minutes to go around, and I will not be surprised to see JE getting some minutes at either the 2 or 3 and Edwards seeing some 1 but likely not a ton.

I really like our ability to move parts around at the 3, 4 and 5 but several of those parts are either unproven, raw or young. Prosser, Milos both will have an adjustment period, Roberts has great athletic ability but his shooting was quite suspect last season, Brown I think will log a lot of minutes at both the 3 and 4, but to me the biggest impact will be from if Will has returned to the court both healthy and has confidence. If he continues on the path he was on last season I see a very strong combination at the 5 with him and Singh.

Thompson is the bigtime X factor. What if his light bulb goes off and he shows up ready to play and with a bigtime hunger? That allows for depth we have not seen at the 5 in I cant remember how long at Bradley. Lots of IF's but I think the biggest impacts are to be from the expanded game of EM, Roberts, Brown, Egolf and Thompson.

Should be very exciting.

[scout4126]

I've given you what I think will be the lineup but here is what I think would be the most affective lineup.

PG-DD
SG-AW
SF-CR
PF-TB
C-WE
6-SM
7-SS
8-EM

In my opinion Dodie Dunson, Chris Roberts, and Andrew Warren are the best players on the team followed by Sam Maniscalco and I believe if JL will allow DD and CR to play more on their athletic abilities we can be very successful.

I'd bring SM off the bench as a sparkplug scorer, put Sam Singh in the same role he played last season, and EM as a backup to SM and DD. I also wouldn't mind putting CR at the '4' some and moving DD or SM to the wing. Some say we may not have enough ball handling in that lineup but I've watched DD for years and he is a point guard in every since of the word when playing that position. If AW was healthy last season we would have seen it.

Talent wise I think this is the best lineup as well. DD is the best guard and defender, AW is the best scorer from the wing, CR is the most athletic and active wing and can make things happen on both ends of the floor. I'm pretty sure that most will agree that TB and WE are our best bets at the post positions this coming season unless CR starts at the 4.

[shaunguth]

DD is so quick and finshes well, especially with the left hand. I am not sold on his jump/set shot he shoots from the field but he is pretty strong with the dribble and gets to the line or finishes well.

I can't agree with this. DD had a better overall shooting percentage than both SM and EM, even though those two shot better from inside the arc. DD was the most efficient 3-point shooter on the team last year.

I do agree on how very important the other players you mentioned will be on the upcoming season.

[houstontxbrave]

I can't agree with this. DD had a better overall shooting percentage than both SM and EM, even though those two shot better from inside the arc. DD was the most efficient 3-point shooter on the team last year.

I do agree on how very important the other players you mentioned will be on the upcoming season.

I should have prefereced that I just do not like his shooting form, I do realize that his numbers were actually quite good overall and from 3. I just dont like the set push shot he does.

[shaunguth]

I should have prefereced that I just do not like his shooting form, I do realize that his numbers were actually quite good overall and from 3. I just dont like the set push shot he does.

Hey......whatever gets the job done. I might tend to agree if he wasn't our best 3-point shooter. I was surprised to see that both SM (.515) and EM (.490) shot better than DD (.486) from inside the arc.

[SFP]

Overall though SM hit some real big shots and when he had the time to set his feet and square up he could the 3 from anywhere better then anyone on the team. The problem was that the other teams were zeroing in on him because if they stopped his shooting they could play a nice zone on us. Now with AW in the mix I believe SM will be able to increase his 3 pt shooting % substantially because teams will have to spend a lot of effort on stopping him first. With the back court depth we'll have a nice rotation that should stay fresh throughout the year. I believe we'll see DD play the 2-3 position and SM the 1-2 and AW mostly at the 3 except when CR and AW are on the floor at the same time. I'll be shocked to see DD, AW, CR, TB in all at the same time because I do not see anyone except EM or SM playing the 1 ever.

1- EM 23 SM 17
2- SM 10 DD 15 AW 10 JE 5
3- AW 20 DD 5 CR 15
4- TB 25 CR 5 JP/MK 10
5- WE 25 SS 10 JP/AT 5

We will have an 8 man rotation for the most part come league play unless one of the freshmen really stand out. This all could change if JL starts playing like Missouri.

[BU RICK]

There is so much possibility and combinations this season that I can't even venture a guess yet. We got depth that we haven't seen in awhile. I don't think it matters much who starts but who plays good each game and finishes the game. I'm sure it's gonna be fun The games real early are going to be big for us and I thank the staff for scheduling them. If we win at BYU and win the Vegas tournament - I would hope to think we'd soon be ranked.

[real fan]

We have a good problem with so many players on the team that could start, a lot will depend on what changes our staff will be making on our offense and defensive sets, I hope they decide to go with a more traditional set of 2 guards, 2 forwards and a center, my choices to start would be:
pg Maniscalco
sg Warren
sf Roberts
pf Brown
c Egolf
Hopefully Egolf , Prosser and Thompson could also play the 4 or 5 as Singh will only be a 5.
Milos sounds more like a 3 and McCain is only a pg while Dunson could play 3 positions, Eastman sounds like a sg and Simms-Edwards could help at the 2 guard positions. I still say a lot has to do with what changes are made on offense and defense. I would really like to see this team use a full court press more as we are long and athletic.

[scout4126]

We have a good problem with so many players on the team that could start, a lot will depend on what changes our staff will be making on our offense and defensive sets, I hope they decide to go with a more traditional set of 2 guards, 2 forwards and a center, my choices to start would be:
pg Maniscalco
sg Warren
sf Roberts
pf Brown
c Egolf
Hopefully Egolf , Prosser and Thompson could also play the 4 or 5 as Singh will only be a 5.
Milos sounds more like a 3 and McCain is only a pg while Dunson could play 3 positions, Eastman sounds like a sg and Simms-Edwards could help at the 2 guard positions. I still say a lot has to do with what changes are made on offense and defense. I would really like to see this team use a full court press more as we are long and athletic.

I like the lineup but, as I said before, I'd rather have Dunson in there over Maniscalco. He gives you everything Sam does plus more defense, more size, and more versatility.

[SFP]

I like the lineup but, as I said before, I'd rather have Dunson in there over Maniscalco. He gives you everything Sam does plus more defense, more size, and more versatility.

I was going to say something about heart but **** they both lay it out! I suspect that JL will go with match ups during the game and start the players that hustle the hardest during practice and deserve it one way or the other.