Lineup Next Year

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JMWZ

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Since this season seems to have come to a close, it may be a good idea to look toward next season. I'm interested in what the lineup will look like next year, here's what I think:

PG: Kevin Dorsey
SG: Nate Mason
SF: Carlos Morris
PF: Joey King
C: Bakary Konate

Hopefully factored into the rotation: Gaston Diedhiou at the 4, Charles Buggs at the 3 or 4, Dupree McBrayer at the 2, and a JUCO guy like Chris Boucher who can contribute at the 4 and 5.

I'm of the opinion that Jonathan Nwankwo and Jarvis Johnson won't be huge contributors next year (I'm sure some disagree) but even so, freshman will be heavily burdened next year. Hopefully this year's class is better than last year's.
 

I think Buggs starts and Morris is an offensive sparkplug off the bench. King will start and be a massive weakness for us again, unfortunately.
 

JMWZ said:
Since this season seems to have come to a close, it may be a good idea to look toward next season. I'm interested in what the lineup will look like next year, here's what I think:

PG: Kevin Dorsey
SG: Nate Mason
SF: Carlos Morris
PF: Joey King
C: Bakary Konate

Hopefully factored into the rotation: Gaston Diedhiou at the 4, Charles Buggs at the 3 or 4, Dupree McBrayer at the 2, and a JUCO guy like Chris Boucher who can contribute at the 4 and 5.

I'm of the opinion that Jonathan Nwankwo and Jarvis Johnson won't be huge contributors next year (I'm sure some disagree) but even so, freshman will be heavily burdened next year. Hopefully this year's class is better than last year's.
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I don't think Morris starts next year unless he figures some things out in terms of playing in the offensive scheme and learns to play defense. He'd be better placed as instant offense off the bench. I think McBrayer starts at the 3 - perhaps 10 games in. King, I think he starts but unless he learns to black out and play better on D also- I could see someone stepping in there- a spring recruit, Buggs or even Diedhou.

I think Nwankwo will play 10 minutes a game or more- backing of Konate along with Gaston who will occasionally slide over to center.

Jarvis might surprise. He did what he was asked to at DeLasalle. You could tell he was just gliding out there. He's very under control and I could see him coming in to calm things down at times. He's got to improve that shot however. I also think that at least one of the guys, Buggs, Diedhou or Morris comes back after the summer and makes a big transformation as a player for the better.
 

I definitely agree that we have to have Buggs out there so we arent mid major sized again. Plus if Morris cant control his ill advised shots id rather see them comming from a 6th man spark off the bench. Plus he could play some with Deidhiou who is a physical 4.

As much as i hated the Tubby stare that was given at players for making ill advised shot attempts, i felt it killed confidence, I feel Pitino is at the opposite end, where someone like Deidhou is taking 3's?? Andre should have the green light to fire whenever but pretty much everyone else should be working an offensive set in the half court.



MadtownGopher said:
I think Buggs starts and Morris is an offensive sparkplug off the bench. King will start and be a massive weakness for us again, unfortunately.
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Mason and King

bga1 said:
I don't think Morris starts next year unless he figures some things out in terms of playing in the offensive scheme and learns to play defense. He'd be better placed as instant offense off the bench. I think McBrayer starts at the 3 - perhaps 10 games in. King, I think he starts but unless he learns to black out and play better on D also- I could see someone stepping in there- a spring recruit, Buggs or even Diedhou.

I think Nwankwo will play 10 minutes a game or more- backing of Konate along with Gaston who will occasionally slide over to center.

Jarvis might surprise. He did what he was asked to at DeLasalle. You could tell he was just gliding out there. He's very under control and I could see him coming in to calm things down at times. He's got to improve that shot however. I also think that at least one of the guys, Buggs, Diedhou or Morris comes back after the summer and makes a big transformation as a player for the better.
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IMO The two most important people are King and Mason. Those two have the capacity to lead us. And they must. It is much, much harder to lead without being a starter. If you listen to Pitino, the player he trusts the most is King. (same for me) (which also has to be a pretty big clue why we didn't have a very good season this year...you need better players and mentally stronger people). King has to be our grit and glue.
 


march madness said:
As much as i hated the Tubby stare that was given at players for making ill advised shot attempts, i felt it killed confidence, I feel Pitino is at the opposite end, where someone like Deidhou is taking 3's??
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You mean like this?

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Go Gophers!!
 

60's Guy said:
IMO The two most important people are King and Mason. Those two have the capacity to lead us. And they must. It is much, much harder to lead without being a starter. If you listen to Pitino, the player he trusts the most is King. (same for me) (which also has to be a pretty big clue why we didn't have a very good season this year...you need better players and mentally stronger people). King has to be our grit and glue.
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I totally agree with those two as the leaders. That said, King could be a great leader as a 6th man or a starter if his attitude is right. One thing about King is that we had the perfect storm in terms of a bad combination of players. No way could you put Eliason and King in together to play in Pitino's scheme. The presence of Walker produced open looks for King. However, in Walker and King you put two terrible defensive rebounders and defenders in the lineup together. Add Morris to that and you have the disaster on the boards that this team had.

So, my hope for next year is that we can put combos of guys on the floor that complement each other. King might look a whole lot better on the floor along side of Konate who I think will be a very good rebounder with another year of play. Then the ability to sub somebody for Morris or replace him if he isn't up to snuff on defense.....
 

JMWZ said:
Since this season seems to have come to a close, it may be a good idea to look toward next season. I'm interested in what the lineup will look like next year, here's what I think:

PG: Kevin Dorsey
SG: Nate Mason
SF: Carlos Morris
PF: Joey King
C: Bakary Konate

Hopefully factored into the rotation: Gaston Diedhiou at the 4, Charles Buggs at the 3 or 4, Dupree McBrayer at the 2, and a JUCO guy like Chris Boucher who can contribute at the 4 and 5.
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If that's the starting lineup, I don't see why we wouldn't have serious problems again next year. I like Joey and I think he needs to play significant minutes because he has developed into a confident and very efficient shooter, but he has no business being the starting power forward or even playing inside very much. He simply isn't mentally oriented that way and is a terrible rebounder. If he starts, then Pitino should start a three forward lineup and recruit someone (like Boucher) who will go after rebounds.
 

From a skill level view, I'm pretty sure Jonathon is going to beat out Gaston and Bakary. He looks way better in his footwork.

And I think Jarvis will surprise, he is custom made for Pitino's system.

PG- Dorsey/Mason
SG- Mason/Johnson/McBrayer
SF-Buggs/Morris
PF- King/Konate/Gaston
C- Jonathon/Konate/Gaston

I could see them going small and running Jonathon/Buggs/McBrayer/Mason and Dorsey at times. Should be interesting, a good Patriot league team due to the inexperience.
 



IF we can land Ellison he is the type of player I could see starting right away. I would expect us to land a juco or grad transfer big either would be fine but I would prefer a grad transfer because then that scholarship would be available next year again and you wouldn't need to bank a scholarship this Spring if you didn't want to but still could. That could be either a PF or a C if it was a PF I think we would just see more of Diedhiou at the C spot. I also think it will be interesting to see where Buggs gets the majority of his minutes next year. It wouldn't be surprising to me to see him play some more at the PF spot if we don't get a PF this spring and do get a guy like Ellison that could play a decent amount at SF right away. If we do land Ellison and a grad transfer C I see the lineup looking something like this:

PG-Dorsey(FR),Johnson(FR),Mason(SO)
SG-Mason(SO),Morris(SR),McBrayer(FR)
SF-Ellison(FR),McBrayer(FR),Buggs(JR)
PF-King(SR),Buggs(JR)/Diedhiou(SO)
C-Grad Transfer(C),Konate(SO),Nwankwo(FR)
 

Goldy Gopher said:
PG-Dorsey(FR),Johnson(FR),Mason(SO)
SG-Mason(SO),Morris(SR),McBrayer(FR)
SF-Ellison(FR),McBrayer(FR),Buggs(JR)
PF-King(SR),Buggs(JR)/Diedhiou(SO)
C-Grad Transfer(C),Konate(SO),Nwankwo(FR)
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This is definitely best case scenario. I hope it happens (although I don't think King starts in this scenario).

Ellison is far from a sure thing. We probably won't get a grad transfer; those type of guys usually look to join a contending team since they only have one year left to play. A JUCO is more likely and almost as good, so I hope we get a JUCO big.
 

Who is this Ellison guy and do we have a realistic shot at him?
 

MadtownGopher said:
This is definitely best case scenario. I hope it happens (although I don't think King starts in this scenario).

Ellison is far from a sure thing. We probably won't get a grad transfer; those type of guys usually look to join a contending team since they only have one year left to play. A JUCO is more likely and almost as good, so I hope we get a JUCO big.
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Agreed that lineup was all hypothetical kind of based on our best case scenario as far as recruiting this Spring goes. I know that grad transfers usually look to join a contending team but I did see a grad transfer is going to Northwestern next year so I think there is a chance we could end up with one.
 



Yeah but NW has a very young team with a year of experience under their belt.
 


NW grad degree for free = pretty valuable. But yeah, not impossible to get a good grad transfer, just unlikely.
 


Goldy Gopher said:
IF we can land Ellison he is the type of player I could see starting right away.
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How much do you really know about this guy? He isn't that highly rated. God knows this program has had experience with sons (Sampson, Pitino, and as much as I liked him, Austin) who have not been nearly as impressive as their fathers.
 

cjbfbp said:
How much do you really know about this guy? He isn't that highly rated. God knows this program has had experience with sons (Sampson, Pitino, and as much as I liked him, Austin) who have not been nearly as impressive as their fathers.
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Very good shooter and good size at 6-6. Would have probably been more highly recruited if not for an injury suffered early in the season.
 

cjbfbp said:
How much do you really know about this guy? He isn't that highly rated. God knows this program has had experience with sons (Sampson, Pitino, and as much as I liked him, Austin) who have not been nearly as impressive as their fathers.
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It sounds like he has blown up his senior year- after all the ratings are kind of set. I think they would love to get another 6-5 type player in here to potentially pair with McBrayer at times. Pitino's defense could be much better with a 2-3 combo that is 6-4 - 6-5 and able to run the floor. I could see Mason, Dorsey or Johnson at time playing the point with two big guards on the flanks. Lots of combos possible.
 

MadtownGopher said:
This is definitely best case scenario. I hope it happens (although I don't think King starts in this scenario).

Ellison is far from a sure thing. We probably won't get a grad transfer; those type of guys usually look to join a contending team since they only have one year left to play. A JUCO is more likely and almost as good, so I hope we get a JUCO big.
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Any more indication on who we're looking at for a JUCCO big? Boucher is the only name I see anywhere.

Also, Ellison has soon good offers, but do we know how many scholarships Maryland has to offer? (They only have one signee so far) Rutgers has 3 signed, a 1, 2, and 3.
 

I would take an the Austin Hollins type player every year. Very complete player, shot was not consistent, but the rest of his game was solid. Smart player on both ends of the floor and cold shoot free throws decently. We would have won 4-5 more games this season if he was still on the team. Never made stupid plays late in games. He was the only consistently good all-around B1G-level player Tubby left.
King teamed with any of next year's centers is a better match than pairing him with either EE or Mo. None of the senior bigs from this year are mobile, jump well, or rebound well. That does assume improvement on the part of the new comers, but they will improve and they are better athletes than the seniors.
 

corcoran1 said:
I would take an the Austin Hollins type player every year. Very complete player, shot was not consistent, but the rest of his game was solid. Smart player on both ends of the floor and cold shoot free throws decently. We would have won 4-5 more games this season if he was still on the team. Never made stupid plays late in games. He was the only consistently good all-around B1G-level player Tubby left.
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Agreed. He was one of my favorites over the last couple of years and I probably shouldn't have included him with the other sons of famous fathers. He wasn't anything close to his father but was plenty good enough for us.
 


MadtownGopher said:
NW grad degree for free = pretty valuable. But yeah, not impossible to get a good grad transfer, just unlikely.
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Northwestern had a grad transfer this year (from Yale I think), but he was a barely serviceable backup center so your point remains. It's very difficult for a midlevel program to get a higher quality grad transfer. Purdue got one with John Octeus; he was a steal. OSU's Anthony Lee didn't play that much after being highly recruited as a grad transfer. We offered one from Tenn State last year who had a bunch of offers. He went to Ole Miss and did OK. We could most likely get a grad transfer but probably not a very good one.
 

I hate to even bring it up with the free scholarship glut we already have, but are there any candidates or rumors about anyone who might transfer out?
 

With the players we do have signed, it is hard to see this team making the tournament next year. We will be very inexperienced and relying heavily on freshman and sophomores who have had limited playing time. But perhaps i am putting too much on experience as this year had four significant seniors that played and didn't step up to the plate. Let's hope Pitino signs Ellison for some size at guard (also adds depth) and a senior transfer or Juco big guy to come in and provide minutes. At least we will start moving in The right direction. For once Pat R got it right, this year was a disaster.
 

PG: Nate Mason
SG: Marcus Marshall
SF: Charles Buggs
PF: One of the JUCO's we are after
C: Senior Transfer

Defensive rebounding was atrocious this year. Part of that is because we play so much zone, but you can't deny Joey is one of the worst rebounders in the league. I'm also not sold on Bakary as the unanimous starter, especially after his very poor preformance in the last game of the season. Hopefully he proves me wrong and has a great summer, but I also hope we get a stopgap so Konate and Nwankwo have more time to develop.
 

XMan said:
With the players we do have signed, it is hard to see this team making the tournament next year. We will be very inexperienced and relying heavily on freshman and sophomores who have had limited playing time. But perhaps i am putting too much on experience as this year had four significant seniors that played and didn't step up to the plate. Let's hope Pitino signs Ellison for some size at guard (also adds depth) and a senior transfer or Juco big guy to come in and provide minutes. At least we will start moving in The right direction. For once Pat R got it right, this year was a disaster.
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I always think the age thing is overrated. It seems like every year, there are teams having great years leaning very heavily on underclassmen, and senior heavy teams underperforming. It makes for a convenient excuse for when you have a young team and a bad year, but as you pointed out, we had plenty of experienced seniors this year and still fell flat on our face.
 

Nwankwo will get 10-15 minutes a game unless Konate and Diedhiou never see the court at the same time again. Weather they play together or not, its a virtual guarantee that these two will average 7-9 fouls between them every game.
 

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