New starting line-up

[brocks]

should be this:

Maniscalco
Cole-Scott
Collins
Wilson
Austin

Fire away!

[MacabreMob]

[BradleyBrave]

Well, I am kind of in favor of putting everything up for grabs like we did 2/3 of the way through '05-'06. Quite frankly, I think some guys are getting a little comfortable and not 'bringing it' every game. I am not at practice, so I don't see what goes on, so maybe I am way off. I hate to single anyone out, but I think maybe Andrew Warren needs to sit a little bit and get some fire in his belly or something. I'm not advocating sending him to the end of the bench the way JC got sent there in '05-'06, but maybe do what we did with 'Cellus and make him earn his minutes back. I know he's only a sophomore, but I think fans (myself included) get frustrated that it's 25 one game, 4 the next. If it was a consistent 10-15 points every game, I doubt anyone would be as upset with his play. Since he is so inconsistent, maybe he should come off the bench for a while to perhaps simplify his role a bit.

As far as a total lineup change, well I don't know. I know there are some guys I want to see more of, and guys I want to see less of -

I know we haven't seen much of him, but I saw some athleticism and court sense from Austin that we haven't seen from a big man all year. I also saw some fire, and we haven't seen that from too many guys either. I don't think there's a snowball's chance in h-ll that he starts him over Salley, but I want to see Austin playing 20+ minutes the rest of the year. He's big, he's athletic, he's hungry, and I think he's got some post moves too if we give him a chance.

I want to see more Cole-Scott in a pure shooter/scorer role. That might sound crazy because of his %'s, but there's only one way to get out of a slump, and that's to shoot your way out. He's got an explosiveness that no one else has, and if he can ever get that jumper to fall he will really be an asset. He has gotten a little better with more minutes as of late, and he's gonna be playing next year. Might as well get him some time now.

I want to see less of Egolf. He's got no fire, never looks at the basket, and quite frankly looks like an Alaskan moose in headlights on the court. I think he's talented and will be a very good player when it's all said and done, but he just isn't ready.

I want to see less of Salley. I think he's best suited in a reserve role. He's absolutely worthless on offense and average on defense.

Again, I think it's time to put any and all spots up for grabs and see what we get.

[buballer82]

My new starting five would be:

Sam Maniscalco
Jeremy Crouch
Theron Wilson
Rashad Austin
Sam Singh

I my opinion this would give us some much needed beef inside with Austin and Singh, give us our best option at shooting guard with Crouch, and give us some quickness and rebounding from the 3 with Wilson. I applaud Sam Maniscalco for stepping in and playing a heckuva game.

I feel like Salley has no business playing at all.

I also feel like Andrew Warren is not a good shooter at all. His shot has always looked forced to me and there is no smoothness to it at all. I shudder every time he puts it up, even when it goes in.

Maybe Jim Les read my words of "FREE RASHAD AUSTIN!!!!!".

Now that hes free, my new slogan will be "START RASHAD AUSTIN!!!!"

When he was in the game the energy changed completely. Why Les put the original starters back in blows my mind. Austin looked impressive for someone who has spent the whole season on the bench. The post move he put on two UNI big men and dished to Wilson was something I haven't seen since Andrews last season. He is such a physical presence he needs to be on the floor. I don't care how a player plays in practice. In the words of Allen Iverson, "Practice, Practice? We talkin' bout practice! Not a game! Practice!" Im with you AI, screw practice. I don't care who performs in practice, I care who will perform in games.

[Braves4Life]

I want to see less of Egolf. He's got no fire, never looks at the basket, and quite frankly looks like an Alaskan moose in headlights on the court. I think he's talented and will be a very good player when it's all said and done, but he just isn't ready.

That is funny as he!! Thanks BBrave! You just made my night!

[1508 Barker]

When a player like Ruffin goes down with an injury it is an opportunity for someone on the team to step up and fill in the role. In my mind the most logical person to step up is Andrew Warren. At times we see glimpses of how great he can play (23 points against Wright St.) and in other games (Michigan St. and Northern Iowa) Andrew just does not show up on the court. I expect more out of Andrew and from what I see times he has the ability to be a major contributor to this team.

JC simply had an off night of shooting. Everybody has those nights and I am sure that will only lead to additional shots before or after practice for Jeremy. I did notice his thumb was trapped. Does he have a lingering injury that is effecting his shot?
I liked what I saw in Austin. In the 10 minutes or so that he played he was in there fighting for rebounds (Something this team needs to do more of) and had a nice assist to Theron Wilson that really got the crowd in the game. I liked the combination of Wilson and Austin on the floor together.

I also would like to see more emphasis on getting the ball down to the big men that will create shots that have a higher percentage of being made. Many of the shots that we took last night were not bad shots, but if we develop the inside game it can fill in for the nights when the three's are not falling. Even the last two minutes of the game we stuck with the outside shot as opposed to driving to the basket and trying to get a three point play by driving to the basket and trying to draw a foul from the other team. WE have the personnel (Collins, Austin, Sighn, Salley) on this team to have an inside game.

I hope what we see from this team in the next couple of weeks is a hunger that the '05-06 team had when there was some adversity on the team and not what we saw from the 03-04 team when Philipe Gilbert went down for the knee injury. Its time for someone to step up on this team and it needs to be Andrew Warren.

[Dallas Brave]

My new starting five would be:

Sam Maniscalco
Jeremy Crouch
Theron Wilson
Rashad Austin
Sam Singh

At this point, I agree that coaching staff needs to experiment and see what combination plays together best because we can not continue to fall so far behind at the beginning of these games.

I think the above list is interesting ... I would also like to see the players above but swap out Singh and put in Collins. In retrospect, giving SS the opportunity to start against UNI would have been nice.

[wily coyote]

My new starting five would be:

Sam Maniscalco
Jeremy Crouch
Theron Wilson
Rashad Austin
Sam Singh

I my opinion this would give us some much needed beef inside with Austin and Singh, give us our best option at shooting guard with Crouch, and give us some quickness and rebounding from the 3 with Wilson. I applaud Sam Maniscalco for stepping in and playing a heckuva game.

I feel like Salley has no business playing at all.

I also feel like Andrew Warren is not a good shooter at all. His shot has always looked forced to me and there is no smoothness to it at all. I shudder every time he puts it up, even when it goes in.

Maybe Jim Les read my words of "FREE RASHAD AUSTIN!!!!!".

Now that hes free, my new slogan will be "START RASHAD AUSTIN!!!!"

When he was in the game the energy changed completely. Why Les put the original starters back in blows my mind. Austin looked impressive for someone who has spent the whole season on the bench. The post move he put on two UNI big men and dished to Wilson was something I haven't seen since Andrews last season. He is such a physical presence he needs to be on the floor. I don't care how a player plays in practice. In the words of Allen Iverson, "Practice, Practice? We talkin' bout practice! Not a game! Practice!" Im with you AI, screw practice. I don't care who performs in practice, I care who will perform in games.

Buballer. I like your 5 but as long as all we run that weave its not going to happen with 3 bigs. We do need to go bigger because we are not shooting it like last year,but if the weave is our only offense we won't see 3 bigs in with limited ball handling ability.

[real fan]

My starting 5 would be;
Maniscalco
Crouch
Salley
Wilson
Singh

I would run a regular offense with Singh in the low post and Salley out high rotating them back and forth; the weave is only good if you are trying to run time off the clock when you have the lead; A.Warren should be driving more and taking pullup jumpers in the lane as that is his strong point; Austin looks as if he can contribute , Collins and Egolf have regressed but I believe if you posted either of those guys up and ran some plays for them that they could contribute; Cole-Scott needs to stay in the gym and shoot after practice just to get his touch back as he is not shooting the ball like he is capable of .

[squirrel]

Well, I am kind of in favor of putting everything up for grabs like we did 2/3 of the way through '05-'06. Quite frankly, I think some guys are getting a little comfortable and not 'bringing it' every game. I am not at practice, so I don't see what goes on, so maybe I am way off. I hate to single anyone out, but I think maybe Andrew Warren needs to sit a little bit and get some fire in his belly or something. I'm not advocating sending him to the end of the bench the way JC got sent there in '05-'06, but maybe do what we did with 'Cellus and make him earn his minutes back. I know he's only a sophomore, but I think fans (myself included) get frustrated that it's 25 one game, 4 the next. If it was a consistent 10-15 points every game, I doubt anyone would be as upset with his play. Since he is so inconsistent, maybe he should come off the bench for a while to perhaps simplify his role a bit.

As far as a total lineup change, well I don't know. I know there are some guys I want to see more of, and guys I want to see less of -

I know we haven't seen much of him, but I saw some athleticism and court sense from Austin that we haven't seen from a big man all year. I also saw some fire, and we haven't seen that from too many guys either. I don't think there's a snowball's chance in h-ll that he starts him over Salley, but I want to see Austin playing 20+ minutes the rest of the year. He's big, he's athletic, he's hungry, and I think he's got some post moves too if we give him a chance.

I want to see more Cole-Scott in a pure shooter/scorer role. That might sound crazy because of his %'s, but there's only one way to get out of a slump, and that's to shoot your way out. He's got an explosiveness that no one else has, and if he can ever get that jumper to fall he will really be an asset. He has gotten a little better with more minutes as of late, and he's gonna be playing next year. Might as well get him some time now.

I want to see less of Egolf. He's got no fire, never looks at the basket, and quite frankly looks like an Alaskan moose in headlights on the court. I think he's talented and will be a very good player when it's all said and done, but he just isn't ready.

I want to see less of Salley. I think he's best suited in a reserve role. He's absolutely worthless on offense and average on defense.

Again, I think it's time to put any and all spots up for grabs and see what we get.

Great post BB. . .up until now, what has been the point for Collins, Austin, and Singh to work hard in practice if Egolf is going to continue to eat so many minutes and not produce and Salley continues to play the majority of the game overmatched because he is out of position?

The redshirt on Thompson (though a nice luxury for our future) continues to look puzzling to me as I think he showed a greater ability to produce than other new players.

This team was generally overhyped by this board. . .that's why its not wise to believe anything until the team starts playing games.

Early on we saw some nice things, but this could spiral out of control fast if JL does not make some changes.

I think the players are losing confidence in the staff as well because they aren't prepared or given a chance to compete for some of these battles.

[Beninator]

The redshirt on Thompson (though a nice luxury for our future) continues to look puzzling to me as I think he showed a greater ability to produce than other new players.


I think the players are losing confidence in the staff as well because they aren't prepared or given a chance to compete for some of these battles.

Two things:
1.)The Thompson redshirt was the right thing to do.imo Squirrel, I think that we are on the same page as AT probably showed the best post moves in the scrimmage etc than any of our big men to date. But AT simply doesnt have the frame to compete night in and night out in division 1 hoops this year.

2.) I think that the second point of yours that I emphasized is very accurate.

[MacabreMob]

This team was generally overhyped by this board. . .that's why its not wise to believe anything until the team starts playing games.

C'mon Squirrel. Comments like that shows your disdain for this board.

This board didn't overhype the team. I'd say some posters overhyped the team.

But I think we all enjoyed the hype. I'd rather take the hype than be condescended to at another board.

Btw - where were you yesterday? You not playing the horn this winter break? I went over to say hi and didn't see ya.

Maybe another time.

[Da Coach]

I want to see the team turn things around as much as anyone, but let's get realistic.
Egolf is not eating up anyone else's minutes. As the coach has said many times, minutes are earned in practice. What have Collins, Singh, and Austin done to deserve more minutes?
Collins plays 12 min a game, as much as any other non-starter, and hasn't scored a point in the last 3 games. Singh and Austin have been even less productive.

Thompson, if he wasn't redshirted, would not have made any difference in where we are now. Redshirting him was the right decision then and now.

Maybe some fans have lost confidence in the team or the staff, but I can assure you that the players have not.

And whatever "hype" anyone perceives from here or anywhere has nothing whatsoever to do with where this team is at. How do we get to the point that we include "hype" in this discussion of what is wrong?

But if it helps anyone feel better to take a shot at the posters on this board, go ahead. I will take full responsibility for the team's shortcomings if it helps anyone feel better.

[Beninator]

Well just to stir the drink a little more... the shake up starting 5

Warren- running the point
Maniscalco-sharing duties at the point with AW
Wilson
Austin- I am the self appointed president of his fan club for getting RA more minutes.
Salley---salley is a salley but like it or not, I think he is our best option inside currently and I think he plays better when there is another big in the lineup.

[squirrel]

Not blaming the board for the team. . .but if it floats your boat and makes you feel better, go on right ahead and pat yourselves on the back (?!?). Just highlighting the point that other posters felt duped by the hype. I wouldn't have said anything had others not mentioned being disappointed by the newcomers and feeling misled by the "hype".

If you recall I kept saying its not wise to believe anything from practice and being constantly prodded for it. If you look good in practice, something is wrong.

The point is that there is no incentive to work hard in practice if they're not going to play even when those who are "earning" PT are not producing.

In reality, this team's problems likely aren't as big as they seem right now, but they have the potential to blow up and go south fast. . .

MM--thankfully I had a prior engagement before yesterday's game time had been determined, so I had to miss the atrocity.

I'll be there for the future outs.