Next years starting 5 & bench
- Thread starter WPUknight
- Start date
He isn’t...currently. But people need to take the long view now that this is a real program. Many real programs can redshirt big guys and then keep them on the bench for a year or two before getting them minutes.
I predict if he’s back, Doucore makes a big enough leap where he’s a solid 3rd big man and by his senior year, can be an X factor. I doubt he ever becomes the star he was predicted to be, but I think we can squeeze production out of him
I think Palmquist is going to play a big role next season. From what we know so far, he has really impressed in pratice. Also, I have noticed in many of the interviews Pikiell has done this week, he has brought Palmquist name up almost every time the topic of next year comes up.
I think he is going to have to be better at more than just free throw shooting to start.
I think Young starts. He's a senior next year and he's earned it.
I dont think that'll be a lot to expect. We have never landed a recruit of his caliber. I expect an above average big ten center from day 1
Doucoure needs a transformational offseason if he's going to see the floor for any length of time next year. It's not unheard of for bigs to blossom in their 4th years... but he's definitely running out of time. I think the last 3-4 passes he got in the post this year resulted in a travel before he got a shot off. Definitely needs to improve in a lot of areas, and without a real "aha" moment this offseason, I can't see him cracking the 8-9 man rotation.
I think SP is pretty conservative.
Geo
Caleb
Montez
Ron
Myles
Geo
Caleb
Montez
Ron
Myles
Unless one of the freshman forwards really jumps off the page on day one, I'd expect McConnell to at least start the season with this lineup. It's possible that a guy like Mag could be a revelation and start on the wing (Baker, Mathis, Mag, Harper, Johnson)... but until we see any of the freshmen, I'm penciling him in there as a placeholder.
I think we are preseason picked to finish 5th in the BigTen and open with a ranking between 17 and 19.
Things we really need next year that are VERY doable.
Myles needs to improve footwork and stamina. (and obviously FT's). Its ridiculous Myles cant start because of his tendency to get in foul trouble. Lazy fouls and bad footwork get him in trouble.
Mulcahy needs to bulk up. He will never be one of the faster players on the court but I'd love (with his height) for him to be able to post up smaller guards. He could be a match-up nightmare for opponents.
Myles needs to improve footwork and stamina. (and obviously FT's). Its ridiculous Myles cant start because of his tendency to get in foul trouble. Lazy fouls and bad footwork get him in trouble.
Mulcahy needs to bulk up. He will never be one of the faster players on the court but I'd love (with his height) for him to be able to post up smaller guards. He could be a match-up nightmare for opponents.
I'm greedy. I want more like the top 3 B1G and the top 15 nationally. :Laughing
I like this starting lineup a lot. Rotation will be key, just exciting with all this depth. Love the Jones commitment and ... Omoruyi
Young was the only Guard with more Turnovers than Assists. I doubt Pike will turn over the reins of the Offense to him. Also think he's perfect for adding a spark off the bench.
Mulcahy needs to become a shooter of some kind. As many noticed, he fades left on his shot which is probably due to some habit, leg imbalance. His drive and post pivots are good. He still needs to be a 3pt threat to really be effective. Not even worried about his defense at this point.
For the year, yes, but he definitely came on strong down the stretch with his assist/turnover ratio and grew into a much better distributor. Hopefully that carries forward into 2020, and he fully takes on that role.
Over the final 10 games on a per 40 min basis:
Baker: 4.49 ast, 2.24 tov, 2.00 ast/tov
Young: 3.35 ast, 2.36 tov, 1.42 ast/tov
Mulcahy: 2.67 ast, 1.33 ast/tov
Over the final 5 games on a per 40 min basis:
Baker: 3.81 ast, 2.62 tov, 1.45 ast/tov
Young: 4.55 ast, 1.30 tov, 3.50 ast/tov
Mulcahy: 2.44 ast, 0.98 tov, 2.50 ast/tov
This.
You really have to throw out the first half of the year with Jacob. Yeah, I know the stats nerds will just say that I'm randomly ignoring part of the sample size, but I say BS to that.
It's clear Jacob needed the first 10 or 12 games to reacquaint himself with competition after a one year layoff, and he also needed to acclimate to playing with our guys. Once he did that, and once he reigned himself in and started playing within himself, he became a PLUS player on offense.
I liken this situation to Harper's 3-pt shooting last year. He started the year something like 3-24 as a true freshman, but shot about 35% starting in January. Sure, his season percentage was 28%, but -- combined with the fact that he was a true freshman just learning the ropes in November and December -- the sample size in January and February was large enough to conclude that he would be a solid shooter this year. He ended up this year shooting 35% overall from 3-pt range.
So what does this mean for JY? Well, combined with his stellar defense, Young's offense during January and February now makes him one of the top 4 players overall on this team, along with Baker, Harper, and Mathis. I think he deserves to start.
Also have to understand that these players aren't automatons that are consistently their year-end results all year, or that will just pick up where they left off. Young clearly improved over the course of the year, and became one of our stronger and more efficient players down the stretch.... much like McConnell did last year. One can hope that he will continue that into next year... but McConnell came out really strong this season off a strong finish last year, then faded as the season progressed.
I really hope Young continues to develop and builds on his strong finish - he's certainly shown he's more than capable.
Still don't know if that means him starting, though, because Baker is almost certainly going to continue as our starting PG next year. He's shown he's much better with the ball in his hands than he is off the ball, and I really see him running the show and calling out the plays as a four-year starter and senior captain. While there will be plenty of minutes with both Baker/Young on the floor, I don't know if that means starting them both. It's entirely possible we move Mathis more to a wing/SF role and put Baker/Young at the two guard spots - but Mathis is a bit small for that defensively at just 6-4 (and it would mean having the two best perimeter defenders on the floor together, without the ability to roll one and then the other onto an opponent's best guard).
Doucore will step up and give us some meaningful minutes next year but we need a 3rd guy IMO just like this year. Cliff will probably be that guy. He was probably our strongest or second strongest rebounder and clogs up the lane against teams that can drive. If he makes that jump that Shaq did he may score a few here and there as well but that likely will not be his role other than dunks and putbacks..
Also I don’t care who starts, we have a lot of guys coming back and the minutes played will get figured out in chunks like this year. The guys who played a lot at the end will continue. Caleb and Mulcahey will play more with Yeboah leaving. Whoever is hot down the stretch will get the extra minutes like Tez And JY did this year.
Totally agree
PM cannot be an effective player at this level until he can shoot the mid range jumper and three
I see something in his leg push
I think he’s to square to the basket with his feet
It’s tough to keep the right elbow in if your right foot is not slightly ahead of the left
I'd be a bit shocked if we were picked to finish above 8 in the B1G, while it is more probable to be ranked around 17 to 23. The B1G preseason picks would really depend on the in's & out's of the other teams, but despite our ascending the ranks, it would still be hard to put us ahead of over half of the B1G teams.
Concerning our starting lineup, I'm not sure JY will get the nod. As noted above, starting JY kind of changes the defensive rotation, as he tends to work together with Tez to neutralize the best backcourt player. I can see JY playing starter minutes, though, especially in end game situations. He was definitely a closer as the season was coming to the business end of things.
I agree. I see why Pikiell has him in because he does the little things and some big things very well. Still, ball handlers have to keep the defense honest.
He´s square. Just a habit with the leg push and fading left.
I also think it´s important for McConnell to be able to work in a half court offense without having the ball in his hands. Becoming a consistent shooter for him is important because like most freshman, a shooter like Palmquist are not going to be ready to go first year or better, first ten games. The team needs McConnell to get himself figured in a half court offense while not having the ball in his hands.
Not sure what makes anyone think Caleb is starting next year. He was barely getting minutes once geo came back. It’s clear that the best lineup is young-geo-Tez-rhj-Myles.
He’s entering year 4 in the program and barely getting garbage time. Its not like Shaq was all that great in front of him.
McConnell had basically two different seasons this year, and slumped hard over the last 12 games.
First 19 games: 22.7 min, 7.4 pts (.453 FG, .389 3P), 4.3 rb, 2.1 ast, 1.6 tov, 0.9 stl, 1.6 pf
Last 12 games: 19.3 min, 5.7 pts (.342 FG, .000 3P), 2.8 rb, 0.7 ast, 1.2 tov, 0.7 stl, 1.6 pf
Don't know what was going on with him, so can't speculate - but he really struggled with confidence down the stretch, passing up a lot of open looks, missing shots that were his bread-and-butter over the first 2/3 of the season, and seeming to overthink things both offensively and defensively.
From my perspective, I see this:
- Baker will start, and be our primary point guard. He's better and more comfortable with the ball in his hands and calling the plays, and is our best and most consistent handle and distributor. He's also the best we have right now with the ball in his hands with 5 seconds on the shot clock. I don't see us running him off ball as his primary, though he'll also get minutes there.
- Mathis and Young won't start together. The 1-2 punch of perimeter defense isn't as effective when they are both starting - because that will give us longer stretches where both are off the floor, leaving opponents' best guard to get more comfortable. This year we almost had one or the other on the floor all 40 min of every game... and if both are getting in the 25 min range, that's only about 10 min of overlap.
- Harper and Johnson will start.
So, that leaves Baker, Mathis OR Young, Harper, and Johnson.... and one open starting spot. Returning players that could fill that SG/SF role would be McConnell and Mulcahy. Incoming players would be Mag and Palmquist. Given that, and the "non-slump" success McConnell has had here (second half of freshman year through 19 games of sophomore year), it's not a far reach to pencil in McConnell there at this point until we know more about Mag/Palmquist.
Stop with this nonsense. the kid hasnt even committed yet. Myles is our starting Center.
I agree players can improve, but noting Young was better for a few games at the end of the year and comparing that to 50% of Harper's freshman season also ignores the 2 other full seasons of data on Young at Texas. His career assist rate over 92 games is 11.9% and a TO rate of 18.5% while shooting 27% on 3s, 47% on 2s, and 64% on FTs. It's not like Young just started slowly for the season, he has 3 full years of being a not efficient player with a terrible assist rate. The odds of him magically turning into a quality PG as a senior are pretty slim. I mean Paul Mulcahy had better assist and shooting numbers this season than the entirety of Young's career. The odds of him making a leap and being a decent PG are probably far higher.
Degaz correct
Took Jacob young nearly a half a season to get over his “earl duncan-itis”...
I really think some are over reacting. Maybe we should just let Steve and the other coaches decide who will play how many minutes. They are the closest to the situation and I am sure they will make the right decisions. I trust them more than any of our fans. Our players have great chemistry and they all play for the good of the team. I feel everything will work out for the best. I myself am just looking forward to next season and seeing our team improve in all aspects of the team.