Reiber's best position

[Nycrusupporter]

Many have said he isn't fast and quick enough to play significant minutes at the 4.

When you have a size advantage you don’t need to be that quick, it’s all positioning. If you are bigger you can play further off the ball to stop drives and can still disrupt perimeter shots with your size.

 

[Scangg]

And many have said he's not big enough to play the 5, especially in this conference.

Reiber's athleticism has looked pretty good imo. Someone noted somewhere that Harper isn't exactly the most athletic guy either. Harp defended the position via wide body and good length.

And I do admit to needing to see baby steps first. So I wouldn't commit to Reib's as the full time 4 out of the gate, but I would like to see him get some minutes at the spot.

Dean can't dribble like Harper

 

[Scangg]

BTW almost every team will not have a pure center on the court for at least 10-15 minutes or so every game.

Purdue - Behind Edey it's Caleb Furst who is kinda Reiber-ish in his game.
Ohio State - Zed Key starts. They have a 6'11" freshman but we'll see how much he plays. They could play Seth Towns or Justice Sueing as a small-ball 5, worse versions of EJ Liddell basically.
Michigan State - Joey Hauser might be starting at the 5 for them.
Illinois - There's not a true center on the roster. Mayer and Hawkins are 6'9" and 6"10" but they're not exactly Kofi.

On and on it goes.

We can't get caught fighting the last war. Guys like Trevion, Kofi, Harrar, even going back to Liam Robbins and Micah Potter/Nate Reuvers from 2021 are gone and they haven't been backfilled by similar players. Penn State's tallest guy is 6'8". Indiana's backup 5 is a 6'8" freshman unless it's Race Thompson then it'll be a 6'8" senior. Maryland's tallest guy is 6'9" and that guy (Julian Reese) has a forward-ish game. When Dawson Garcia is out of the game for Minnesota, Isaiah Ihnen will probably be the "5" and he's definitely a F and not a C. Wisconsin has a 7 footer but last year they had two of them.

This. Dean is plenty big enough to be a backup 5. We can only assume he adds a few pounds of muscle as well