Lineup Predictions

[BradleyBrave]

BB... Why?

He played in 29 games as a freshman at UWM, not a ton of minutes but he has one year of division 1 experience along with one year of development in his body and in JL's system.

That is 2 more years then both Roberts and McCain combined. JL shows he will play JUCO and freshmen but he has also shown that he will sit them if they are not ready to play both mentally and physically. People are giving minutes to players who have never played a second of Divison 1 and have never played for JL, the only JUCO that I can think of who walked in and got minutes immediately was Wilson. Everyone else has had sparatic minutes at best, especially early.

I am not convinced that there will be huge minutes available to McCain or Roberts. But everything will depend on who stays healthy, works hard and is ready to compete everyday.

He's a walk-on, and a walk-on for a reason. That automatically puts him behind anyone who we have used time, money, and other resources on to get to come to school here.

In regards to McCain/Roberts - I don't see McCain playing at all next year, but I see Roberts getting a few minutes based on his size and athleticism. I don't see any of our newcomers getting big minutes because of how much we have returning, and I don't see us needing to rely on them for big minutes either.

[houstontxbrave]

He's a walk-on, and a walk-on for a reason. That automatically puts him behind anyone who we have used time, money, and other resources on to get to come to school here.

In regards to McCain/Roberts - I don't see McCain playing at all next year, but I see Roberts getting a few minutes based on his size and athleticism. I don't see any of our newcomers getting big minutes because of how much we have returning, and I don't see us needing to rely on them for big minutes either.

I agree walkons generally are not viewed as players who get minutes, but Danny Adams was a walk on and played plenty.

I find it though very difficult to know who will or wont see the floor next season on a day in April when the Cubs blow a 7 run lead in Pittsburgh I am sure many of us would have not thought Wilson would have done what he did when he signed his letter of intent and many probably believed TCS would take minutes all season.

I love the speculation but to flat out say someone will not see the floor, when that person did play games at the Division 1 level is a bit premature.

[Big Mike]

RT will see the floor next year and EM will get a lot of minutes! BB you need to settle down....your losing it way too early into next season!

[it's boogie time]

After the obvious three of Wilson, Warren and Maniscalco, I don't have a clue. New guys are always a crapshoot and none of the returning guys did nothing this year to get meaningful playing time when it was available.

I like that we have a lot of people contending to get those minutes. I hope some people emerge over the summer. Bradley needs to get away from this 6 or 7 man rotation if they are going to play effective uptempo basketball.

I do like that BU redshirted a player this year and I would like to see that continue next year.

[mrcoachdude]

He's a walk-on, and a walk-on for a reason. That automatically puts him behind anyone who we have used time, money, and other resources on to get to come to school here.

In regards to McCain/Roberts - I don't see McCain playing at all next year, but I see Roberts getting a few minutes based on his size and athleticism. I don't see any of our newcomers getting big minutes because of how much we have returning, and I don't see us needing to rely on them for big minutes either.

RT can play at this level and should contribute next season...if nothing else a ZONE BUSTER!

[tornado]

Here are a couple thoughts regarding next season's starting lineup...
just to show how hard it is and how totally inaccurate we all have been each of the past two years...

Back in the fall of 2006, we had a pick-em to see if anyone could win a prize by accurately picking the starting lineup for the first game.
Guess what.......we had 50 different guesses and NOT ONE was right, as nobody foresaw Jim Les' 4-guard starting lineup, so everyone struck out!

Then in 2007 we did it again!!
This time 53 people guessed 32 DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS of five players,
and still almost all got it wrong...two were right but one was sorta disqualified as he guessed twice.

http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=4829

http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=4829&page=5

Later this summer/fall we'll probably do it again, but let's wait and see what all personnel changes we might have.

[thefish7]

I agree walkons generally are not viewed as players who get minutes, but Danny Adams was a walk on and played plenty. From the description of Thornton you are describing Egolf.

I think whatever we can say about Will Egolf, he's very quick for a 6'9 player, and can really really jump. (I think he is the AK high jump record holder for HS, or at least a state champ)

[thefish7]

That is a good question. My other question would be is McCain only gettin 4 minutes a game? From all that I have read and heard about this young man is that he can contribute right away. I see him playing about the same minutes as SamMan next year. Could be wrong but he sounds like he may be a freashman DR or even better then that next year. The guy can can really go and can create. Only time will tale

I put 4 minutes on there, not because I think he's bad... I actually have this feeling he might be one of our best players and soon. It's just that his position(s) is(are) very crowded, and he's a freshman. My numbers up there assume a lineup that uses two "bigs" almost all of the time, as that's how I'd like to see it. If Coach Les sticks more to the "4-guard" then McCain or other guards could see a lot more minutes.

[mrcoachdude]

I think whatever we can say about Will Egolf, he's very quick for a 6'9 player, and can really really jump. (I think he is the AK high jump record holder for HS, or at least a state champ).

Agree with you there....I think he had a mojor adjustment issue...as some Frosh do.....he is a gifted athlete and will contribute next year....wow will we be deeeeeep

[SFP]

I agree with BradleBraves4life my starting 5 prediction right now:

SM
DD
AW
TW
AT?? there's not much choice in how JL will run our O.

In terms of minutes I hope they all see less than what most are predicting. This year our starters had no legs to finish and JC had no legs to finish off Tulsa. I'd like to think we can go 10 deep and be very solid.

Next 5 should be and hopefully contributing at least 1/3 of the minutes:
TCS 8 minutes
Roberts ?? or McCain ??
WE 8-10 minutes
SS 6-8 minutes
RA 10 minutes
DC 20 minutes

Throw in Thorton and that's 13 men. The question is can we play at a fast pace with all these guys and sustain that pace and quality over a season. Also someone is going to need to step up as a shut down defender! We were lacking that this year! If that person steps up they will see extended playing time! I believe we can press a teams full court for 40 minutes with this team and create easy baskets. I still think if we allow teams to set up 1/2 court offense they will kill us inside and out rebound us. If we make lay ups there are no offensive rebounds. This type of game will only be instituted if we have the depth at guard that JL needs to run his system.

[houstontxbrave]

I think whatever we can say about Will Egolf, he's very quick for a 6'9 player, and can really really jump. (I think he is the AK high jump record holder for HS, or at least a state champ)
.

Fine he is athletic.

But there have been a lot of players who can jump out of a gym but are not basketball athletic. He has time to prove he is basketball athletic, this past season did not show those skills nor did it prove that he is basketball athletic.

Basketball athletic has nothing to do with jumping over a pole, it has to do with going to the glass and rebounding over other, moving without the basketball to open positions, taking a player off of a dribble. Moving your feet to get defensive position running the floor etc.

[BradleyBrave]

I like Ryan Thornton a lot. He's a local kid, and I think by the time he's a senior he could be a nice player. A 6'7" kid with his shooting ability can certainly find a role, especially in a perimeter-oriented offense. However, I don't think that predicting a walk-on to give any significant minutes on what projects to be a VERY deep team makes much sense. There will be 10 more proven DI commodities on the roster than him, and 3 much more highly regarded recruits.

[TheHeemyMonster]

I like Ryan Thornton a lot. He's a local kid, and I think by the time he's a senior he could be a nice player. A 6'7" kid with his shooting ability can certainly find a role, especially in a perimeter-oriented offense. However, I don't think that predicting a walk-on to give any significant minutes on what projects to be a VERY deep team makes much sense. There will be 10 more proven DI commodities on the roster than him, and 3 much more highly regarded recruits.

I dont know how any person can expect the kid to play at after him not playing at all at wisconsin milwalkee then not playing at all this year.

[Dallas Brave]

Starters
1 - DD
2 - AW
3 - TW
4 - AT
5 - DC

[ER3]

I like Ryan Thornton a lot. He's a local kid, and I think by the time he's a senior he could be a nice role player. A 6'7" kid with his shooting ability can certainly find a role, especially in a perimeter-oriented offense. However, I don't think that predicting a walk-on to give any significant minutes on what projects to be a VERY deep team makes much sense. There will be 10 more proven DI commodities on the roster than him, and 3 much more highly regarded recruits.

Do we really project to be a VERY deep team next year??? I guess I don't see it right now. It may pan out that way, but we were supposed to be embarrassingly deep this year and that obviously was the furthest thing from the truth...
I see Maniscalco, Warren, and Wilson as three guys that should give us 30+ minutes per game next year...
I see Dunson as a logical guy to expect 20+ minutes per game from based on the fact that he played a significant amount of minutes as a freshman in the Big 12 and didn't embarrass himself...

That's four guys...and then what??? I see a lot of question marks after that...
Collins, Austin, Cole-Scott, and Egolf - these guys ranged from inconsistent to completely non-existent this year...you'd assume they would all be better prepared to succeed as 2nd year D-I players...but are you really expecting great things from any of these guys next year? That may be a stretch. Collins showed a little bit down the stretch that may give us hope that he could be a 15-20 minute per game guy next year...but the other 3 totally disappeared...
Thompson - potential, absolutely...but the guy is still undersized and hasn't played a single minute of D-I basketball...and we're going to count on him to play 25-30 minutes per game next year? I hope he hits the ground running, but I think that is way too much to expect from him as a freshman.
McCain, Roberts - first year D-I players that weren't highly recruited guys out of HS/JUCO...hard to expect much from them in their first year here...
One open scholarship that I hope will end up going to a solid 4 year recruit...we need a difference maker here...
Singh - he is what he is...a real nice guy to have on your team. Sets good screens, can chip in with an occasional basket or two on a pick and roll.

I don't know...I don't see a deep team for next year...I feel good about having some sort of expectations for a quality starting lineup of SM, AW, TW, DD, and some combination of AT/DC...but after that, I don't see a lot of clear cut answers from the bench...to be classified as a very deep team, I think you have to be banking on major, major improvements from guys like WE, TCS, RA.

Hopefully these guys will all see the minutes that are sitting out there waiting for them next year and they will use that as motivation to really develop themselves and their games during the offseason. Then we would have a chance at being a far deeper team than I expect next year.