If It Is Time For BU To Go 'Big', How?

[AZ BU Fan]

If BU decides to go "Big" in 2009, like some posters have suggested, what should the starting line up, and depth chart, look like?

My suggestion would be:
First Team
6'0" Maniscalco 6'4" Warren 6'4" Roberts 6'9" Egoff 6'9" Singh

Second Team
6'0" McCain 6'4'' Dunston 6'7" Brown 6'9" Prosser 6'11" Thompson

Third Team
6'0" Simms-Edwards 6'4" Eastman 6'7" Knezevic

Hopefully Egoff and Prosser would be athletic enough to guard other teams' big forwards on the perimeter. If not, BU will have a lot of centers on the roster that can't all play at the same time...

I'd be interested in what others with more experience/knowledge think!

[mexicobufan]

Taylor Brown will start.............

[mrcoachdude]

Taylor Brown will start.............

I concur......

[Bradleyguy10]

IMO, there's no chance Egolf and Singh are starting at the same time. It's highly unlikely they are EVER on the floor at the same time to be honest. We'll have an undersized 4 in Taylor Brown. My preferred starting line up if everyone is healthy and ready to play is SM, AW, CR, TB, WE. Second string pg I believe will be EM for SM to rest or take the #2 from AW. DD will come in for the #2 and #3 player often. If JP is as good as some advertise he'll be able to sub for the #4 spot for TB and CR will be switched to the "4" every so often when we go small. And hopefully AT will be 2nd string for WE but it will likely be SS taking up the 2nd string minutes for the 5.

[real fan]

Maniscalco-Warren-Roberts-Brown-Egolf
Maniscalco-Warren-Brown-Prosser-Egolf
Maniscalco-Roberts-Brown-Egolf-Thompson
McCain-Maniscalco-Warren-Brown-Singh
These different lineups have a lot to do with whom is healthy, my pick with everyone at full strength is the 1st one but hopefully the teams we play should have something to do with who starts as we need to look at the oppositions players in order to determine how we want to matchup against them.

[AZ BU Fan]

If Prosser and Egoff ARE both able to play the 4 or 5, BU can put out a pretty good line up with a balance of scoring, defense, rebounding...Hope JL sticks with a line up and rotation of players which lets them concentrate on a single position, vs changing positions during games.

PG Maniscalco, McCain, Simms-Edwards
SG Warren, Dunston, Eastman
SF Roberts, Brown, Knezevic
PF Brown, Egoff, Prosser
C Egoff, Prosser, Singh, Thompson

I have always liked AT's quickness and soft hands for a big man...If he ever adds weight, strength and attitude to be the 5 at this level.....

[BU RICK]

We've got so many good players this year, it will be interesting to see who are the ones that get the most minutes.

OK, here we go and I'm probably going to get in trouble with some. I don't like JL's substitution patterns. With that said, I was very happy when my Illini friend called me and said "did you see the Tribune this morning, Bradley hired Jim Les". And I'm still very happy, he has brought some good players into Bradley.

I just don't like his substitution patterns. For example,last season, Dodie starts the game and makes two three point shots in a row and then 30 seconds later, 4-5 minutes into the game he and 1-2 others are taken out to bring cold players in. I just don't get that, you've got to let the players warm up. I used to be able to run a mile and a half before breaking a sweat and I always ran the fastest when sweat was pouring off me.

Another example. It was fun to watch Michael Jordan, at the end of the first quarter he'd be at the line and there wasn't a bead of sweat on his head, completely dry, by the fourth quarter sweat would be pouring off him and that's when he made some of his best shots, when his body was hot.

Didn't JL and Hersey play 36-38 minutes a game. If JL coached Hersey would he have taken him out before he got physically hot, who knows?, might not have led the country in scoring.

All I'm trying to say is figure out who your best players are, on any given day, and let them play. Doesn't mean you can't substitute, but let them play longer periods of time. The other players will understand and get their chance.

[ph]

I'll agree that many of JL's substitution patterns occur at inopportune times, but with all our injury luck; I'm not sure you could ever say JL plays (what he thinks is) his best 5 too little. It almost seems he plays some players too much, which slows the growth of the backup players needed to fill in minutes when a "top 5" is injured.

JL likes to "play the odds" so generally he keeps playing what he belives to be the season's best players more than a game's best players.

[Braves4Life]

figure out who your best players are, on any given day, and let them play. Doesn't mean you can't substitute, but let them play longer periods of time. The other players will understand and get their chance.

I, too, agree with this philosophy BU RICK. I'd like to see BU go with a strong 7-8 man rotation where we have 3 guys averaging double figure points (and one guy who is "the star" of the team and averages 18+ ppg). It seems most of the great teams (especially mid-majors) adhere to this philosophy (including the Les/Hawkins teams).