R Jay wrote:
Questions:
What will become of Justin Patton? Will he play or redshirt?
How will Mo Watson Jr. do in replacing Austin Chatman?
What will Cole Huff provide?
Will James Milliken keep his head on straight and improve his game?
Will Geoff Groselle be able to stay healthy?
Can Isaiah Zierden come back from a second major knee injury?
Will Martin Krampelj be the surprise of the Big East in 2015-16?
- Patton plays, but only around 10 a game this year. He's in mid development growth spurt, but is very, VERY long and defensively will be an asset off the bench while he can run enough to play O in spurts
- Watson will be just fine. Similar players, but Watson is more physical in the paint and finished better. IMO also a more creative distributor with east coast toughness that we've needed
- Huff gives us a quality, versatile scorer who can make space for everyone. He's a deep shooting 3 pt threat, can post at 6-8 and can drive to the basket. There's a reason Michigan wanted him so much.
- Milliken seems to be on the straight and narrow. I'd like to see him improve his handle on drives as that would add another dimension to his game offensively.
- Groselle staying healthy is a huge key. Offensively, he's one of the best post scorers in the BE when he's on the floor and playing. He certainly looked pretty healthy in the last 10 games of last year and his performance reflected that.
- Zierden - I say yes. with the type of injury he had, it is the typical fix to try rehab the first time and then go to surgery if it recurs (at about a 50% rate). Doctors said the extraneous damage was limited and the surgery has had good results with other players/athletes. He's a shooter we desperately needed last year
- I doubt he's the "surprise of the BE", but I think he plays and plays well. He's a good athlete with length (6-11 wingspan) and legitimte 3 pt shooting range. He needs to bulk up more to play a ton of minutes in the BE. I think eventually he develops more as a 3, but his skills are more 4 for now. His playing time is probably dependent on where Huff and Hegner spend their time and on whether or not Thomas gets playing time at the 3 for his defensive capabilities.
Good analysis overall. We will be young, but overall we will be longer, more athletic and also more skilled and explosive offensively. This is a team that functions based on the ability to make shots and spread the floor and with Zierden out we struggled to get space anywhere. Even with him during the OOC we were continually on the edge. In the end, I think the key factor is that there isn't a position on the floor that won't be stronger this year and there are about 3 times as many shooters the coach can put on the floor. Only exception might be PG where we will be at least a push, IMO.
PG: Chatman was a very good facilitator, but was never a scorer and really struggled when asked to do more of that. Watson will at least be a push and I think he brings additional toughness and swagger to the team -- something we desperately needed in the backcourt last year and at the end of games.
SG: Milliken came into his own and is back next year, Zierden should return giving us depth. Add in Thomas an athletic guard with a 6-10 wingspan and our 2's look a lot different than they did during the conference season last year.
SF: Huff, Harrell, Thomas. Huff is discussed above and is a veteran scorer. Harrell is yet another 3 PT shooter with length. Thomas can play defense against any wings pretty much.
PF: Hegner, Huff, Krampelj - all 3 of these guys can shoot around 40% from 3 to stretch the floor in our offense and have the height to play the position in the post.
C: Groselle, Hegner, Hanson, Patton - a lot of options here. I think we play Groselle as much as we can up to around 20 minutes a game, and then fill in after that. I really think we see Hegner playing the stretch 5 this year. He's 6-10 and is working to bulk up for the season. Hanson needed to recuperate as he played with an injury a good part of the BE season, and Patton we've discussed a lot already, but he should contribute off the bench to start.