Will Rashad Be a Starter?

[it's boogie time]

This will be a heckuva team if Salley is coming off the bench. I don't think he will be. He's the only one with experience and I look forward to him getting better. I think he fits the power forward position well.

I like that BU is two deep at each position. It should make for quite the battles in the summer and practice.

It's tough for me to guess a starting lineup since I haven't seen many of them and I haven't seen Ray Brown play in over a year and it looks like he has bulked up since then.

[georgethedog]

I think we start:

David Collins (7'0")
Anthony Thompson (6'10")
Sam Singh (6'9")
Will Egolf (6'9")
Danny Ruffin (5'10")

Yes, last year we had the 4 guard lineup, next year it will be the 4 center lineup. Great thinking Mob!

[Majik45]

I think we start:

David Collins (7'0")
Anthony Thompson (6'10")
Sam Singh (6'9")
Will Egolf (6'9")
Danny Ruffin (5'10")

Yes, last year we had the 4 guard lineup, next year it will be the 4 center lineup. Great thinking Mob!

At least our rebounding problems from last year would be solved with this line-up.

[Braveman]

I think JL will have the luxury of going with a "match-up" lineup each game- in that he will see who has been playing well and who matches up with the opposition...

DR& JC will start and probably Matt-- after that, I think match-ups will dictate a lot...

So basically you will see a lot of minutes divided amongst the newbies...

I see the guys off bench in this order....
AW
Cole-Scott
Rashad
DW
RB
SS

As always- guys will have to earn starts/PT...

[amckillip]

I think JL will have the luxury of going with a "match-up" lineup each game- in that he will see who has been playing well and who matches up with the opposition...

DR& JC will start and probably Matt-- after that, I think match-ups will dictate a lot...

So basically you will see a lot of minutes divided amongst the newbies...

I see the guys off bench in this order....
AW
Cole-Scott
Rashad
DW
RB
SS

As always- guys will have to earn starts/PT...

I think Braveman here is right, some players don't like this(i.e. the best players should start, period) but I think this is probably what will happen, I'm not sure if MS is guaranteed starting, and you forgot about DC. But I agree with the matchup philosophy.

[Da Coach]

JucoJunction just put up an article about Rashad Austin signing with Bradley. It confirms that Rashad just visited New Mexico State last weekend, but reconsidered Bradley and called Jim Les yesterday.--

http://jucojunction.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=666914

that article will require a password to see in it's entirety, but here are some of the key points--
Rashad Austin, (SO) 6-foot-7 (240), from Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, CO, made Coach Les a very happy man when he decided to sign on with the Bradley Braves for next season yesterday.
"Rashad's a solid-big shouldered guy with really good skills," said Les.
Austin led NJC to a 34-2 record this season and a 7th place finish at the national tourney in Hutchinson, KS. Rashad averaged 13.3 ppg and 7.9 rebounds.
"Rashad is a very loyal kid and Bradley recruited him for two years," said NJC head coach Eddie Trenkle.
Rashad visited Bradley back over the Christmas holiday and just visited New Mexico State last weekend.
"The Rancho Cucamonga, CA native is a power forward who can step out and shoot the 17 footer and brings a lot of energy to the table," said Trenkle.

[BradleyBrave]

Ruffin
Crouch
Warren
Austin
Collins

We can still play the 4-out/1 in offense, as we did when Salley started alongside Zach in JC's absence. We just may not shoot as many 3's with some more capable bigs.

[MacabreMob]

Ruffin
Crouch
Warren
Austin
Collins

We can still play the 4-out/1 in offense, as we did when Salley started alongside Zach in JC's absence. We just may not shoot as many 3's with some more capable bigs.

WHAT?????

Crouch is gonna start before JJ???

Oh wait...





just kidding.

[BU1999]

I am glad the coaching staff will have the very difficult job of figuring out who to start.
Some programs only have a couple starting-caliber kids and fill out the rest of the playing time with role players.
Next year will be deep, as will the year after.

[dogsrus]

Options, its all about options and depending on the matchups and whos hot JL will have plenty of them (options). And like someone stated the competition in practice should be fierce with some spots open.

[real fan]

Ruffin, Warren, Crouch, Austin, Collins with Cole-Scott, Brown Williams, Salley , Egolf, Maniscalco, Singh and Thompson off the bench ; this is quite some team as it has a lot of good scorers and quickness plus the size we did not have last season.

[romar]

Options, its all about options and depending on the matchups and whos hot JL will have plenty of them (options). And like someone stated the competition in practice should be fierce with some spots open.

Practice is going to be key - My guess is that unless some of these guys produce head and shoulders above others, the way you practice leading up to the next game could be a deciding factor as to who starts. I could see one or two spots being up in the air week in and week out.

If a "starting line-up" is settled upon, I could also see full line changes or 4 player rotations.

The key to me (& I've said this before) is that JL has built a team that has the potential to kill the opponent with depth much like the teams we've seen the last couple of years in Memphis & Miss St. Little or no drop off from starter to back-up and enough of a change between players to make for some quick easy baskets.

The nice part is this upcoming season BU has a ton of known commodities unlike last year. Just think, if these freshman produce to the standards set by AW last year and the JUCO's produce similar to ZA, MS, TB, WF & LW - it's a little mind boggling as to how good this team can be. Sure, I'm a card carrying Kool-aide drinker, but you don't have to be Kreskin (David Blaine for the younger guys) to see what's on the horizon for this BU team. The last thing I like is that from everything I've read, BU now has a bunch of kids who want to play in Peoria. How exciting!!

[tornado]

chicagohoops calls Rashad Austin a "stud", and will make
an "immediate impact for Bradley."

http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/rashadaustin.html

[Stryker]

chicagohoops calls Rashad Austin a "stud", and will make
an "immediate impact for Bradley."
http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/rashadaustin.html

Yeah, from what i have heard of him he has a great chance of being in the starting line up. I simply cannot wait for next season to start!

[tornado]

As many of you might know from my previous posts, I actually have an acquaintance who has seen Rashad Austin play most of his games and who has given me some info on him before.
I got an e mail from this source who says that he is sure BU fans will love the effort Rashad gives and assures me that Rashad is one of the MOST consistent players around, virtually never having an off night.
He also gives his congrats to BU for landing Rashad, and here are a few quotes from the recent e mail
(and this is a BradleyFans exclusive!!)

"He'd be an excellent addition..."

"As physical as he is in
stature and the way he plays, he always guards the other team's biggest
guy. He obviously knows how to win as he's led his team to over 25 wins...

In my opinion, he's been the most reliable/consistent player this
season in that his stats don't vary from game to game. ..."


Sounds good.....can't wait........