Next man up! Maybe we find a diamond in the rough with the freed up playing time available!
I hope so, but I’m not even sure where the potential for a diamond in the rough is. This one may hurt as much as Mast due to our lack of wing depth. I’ve been saying we need to add more wing shooters for years, and we never seem to add those guys like Utah State had that can just flat out shoot it and go off in a game even off the bench.
The roster as currently constructed has two shorter point guards (they can’t fill in on the wing much), one redshirt guard (who hasn’t shown much shooting ability yet), one post who hasn’t provided much yet in three years. Then five other post players (Henry plays much better at the four, and is not a wing). I trust Leons more as a wing than I do Henry.
So with six posts, one redshirt, and two short points, that leaves four players. Two are the starters and one is a senior, unlikely to grow much beyond what he has been. Ville has been great in the role he has played so far as a bench shooter with improved, albeit slow, defensive footwork. He’s a senior, so I can’t expect huge surprises there. I worry about expanded minutes for him limiting his effectiveness.
So the only player that even has the potential to be a surprise diamond in the rough is Christian Davis. No one knows what he is yet, but he’s looked fairly raw in limited garbage time minutes. I must admit I’m a little nervous about our guard depth. We are now either going to have to play really short, play a post on the wing, or hope Davis really surprises. Defense on the wing also worries me now.
I don’t love it, but at least the injuries so far should be cleared up by the bulk of the conference season. I’m really questioning the logic of having essentially only four scholarship spots for wing players this year, one being an unknown in terms of contributing this year. Hickman and Deen need to really step up now for a few weeks.
