We'll have plenty to chew on all offseason with so many possible permutations. Deepest Saluki roster in recent memory (not necessarily the best, but lots of viable options).
To me, it starts with whether the coaches want Jones to continue to be the lead PG or move him to the 2 and have Banks start at PG. It's an open question since they clearly were looking for more PG options/depth in recent weeks.
Assuming Jones starts at PG, I think you essentially have a four-man competition to start at the 2 between Brown, Wonders, Verplancken and Harvey. I think Coupet likely starts at the 3 and Domask at the 4, with Muila or Filewich the lead contenders to start at the 5.
D'Avanzo can back up both Coupet and Domask (or maybe he starts instead of Coupet).
Wonders is a big X-factor until we know how he stacks up on D.
If everyone is healthy/available, it would probably make sense to consider redshirting D'Amico or someone else (so much veteran competition at the 3/4 spots with Coupet added and D'Avanzo returning), but redshirting is so rare in the transfer era.
Should be a lot of fun.
Now that we most likely have our roster filled out, I am trying to put together my early guesses at rotations.
I believe that we will see:
Jones/Banks
Brown/Wonders/Harvey/Verplanken
Domask/Coupet
D'Avanzo/D'Amico
Muila/Filewich/Edube/Dembele
I have 13 guys listed here that I could see all fighting for playing time. I highly doubt that we play 13 guys on a regular basis so I have highlighted names in bold that I think could be at risk of not playing much (assuming no injuries). There is 100 different ways to spin the possible lineups and I'm sure at least someone out here will think I'm completely crazy. Also, everyone has 6 months to develop. We are basing this off of previous seasons. Who knows which guys will make the greatest strides before next season?
My main questions for next season are:
1) Is Wonder's defense ready for MVC level competition? If so, he could possibly start at the 2. As usual though, we just don't know what we have in him until he gets on the floor against these guys. Could start...Also could end up not cracking the rotation. Who knows???
2) How big do we play? Domask a 3 or 4? If he is at the 4, I could see Harvey/Verplanken getting time at the 2 and 3 positions. If he plays 3, they may not have as much playing time available.
3) Does Banks start? If so, I assume he must beat out Brown and Wonders as his two main challengers.
4) Do all 3 big men prove to be effective this this year? If so, do we ever play 2 at the same time? i.e. Muila at the 4 and Filewich at the 5. I personally think this one has a low chance because of defensive limitations, but could be wrong.
5) Just how good is Coupet? Does he beat out everyone for a starting job?
6) Does D'Amico get himself regular minutes? Wonders put up the huge numbers, but D'Amico has the highest chance of being a stud in this league I believe. I could see him starting at the 4 if Domask plays 3.
7) Where do Harvey and Verplanken fit in? I like both, and both showed flashes of being really good players at times last year. We just have so much talent at those positions.
I'm looking forward to a fun year! I really think that we could challenge the top teams in this conference, especially at home. The home court advantage should be back! Let's go win the MVC!
Most of the thoughts here, I like, but it's ludicrous to expect Foster Wonders to be playing ahead of Harvey and Verplancken. He should be a solid player for us in the future but some people are making him out to be Kent Williams already and we need to just let him learn and grow for a while. He's making the jump from low level high school competition to a top ten college basketball conference that is stacked with upperclassmen right now. I doubt he plays significant minutes this season and I'm high on what he could be one day, just seeing most of the board go a little crazy on him.
We will see. We just don't know what we have in Wonders yet. He may surprise us, in either a good or bad way. I agree that there is some people on here that are probably expecting too much. Mullins has all summer to evaluate and decide what he wants. But your word "ludicrous" is a bit exaggerated I think.
If everyone is healthy/available, it would probably make sense to consider redshirting D'Amico or someone else (so much veteran competition at the 3/4 spots with Coupet added and D'Avanzo returning), but redshirting is so rare in the transfer era.
I mentioned this in the recruiting thread but I agree here. Granted I think it's unlikely given the current state of college basketball to redshirt someone. I think D'Amico has potential but his jumpshot was pretty disappointing last year in high school and I think he'd benefit from a redshirt year, especially given the fact that minutes are going to be tight.
Now that we most likely have our roster filled out, I am trying to put together my early guesses at rotations.
I believe that we will see:
Jones/Banks
Brown/Wonders/Harvey/Verplanken
Domask/Coupet
D'Avanzo/D'Amico
Muila/Filewich/Edube/Dembele
I have 13 guys listed here that I could see all fighting for playing time. I highly doubt that we play 13 guys on a regular basis so I have highlighted names in bold that I think could be at risk of not playing much (assuming no injuries). There is 100 different ways to spin the possible lineups and I'm sure at least someone out here will think I'm completely crazy. Also, everyone has 6 months to develop. We are basing this off of previous seasons. Who knows which guys will make the greatest strides before next season?
My main questions for next season are:
1) Is Wonder's defense ready for MVC level competition? If so, he could possibly start at the 2. As usual though, we just don't know what we have in him until he gets on the floor against these guys. Could start...Also could end up not cracking the rotation. Who knows???
2) How big do we play? Domask a 3 or 4? If he is at the 4, I could see Harvey/Verplanken getting time at the 2 and 3 positions. If he plays 3, they may not have as much playing time available.
3) Does Banks start? If so, I assume he must beat out Brown and Wonders as his two main challengers.
4) Do all 3 big men prove to be effective this this year? If so, do we ever play 2 at the same time? i.e. Muila at the 4 and Filewich at the 5. I personally think this one has a low chance because of defensive limitations, but could be wrong.
5) Just how good is Coupet? Does he beat out everyone for a starting job?
6) Does D'Amico get himself regular minutes? Wonders put up the huge numbers, but D'Amico has the highest chance of being a stud in this league I believe. I could see him starting at the 4 if Domask plays 3.
7) Where do Harvey and Verplanken fit in? I like both, and both showed flashes of being really good players at times last year. We just have so much talent at those positions.
I'm looking forward to a fun year! I really think that we could challenge the top teams in this conference, especially at home. The home court advantage should be back! Let's go win the MVC!
Most of the thoughts here, I like, but it's ludicrous to expect Foster Wonders to be playing ahead of Harvey and Verplancken. He should be a solid player for us in the future but some people are making him out to be Kent Williams already and we need to just let him learn and grow for a while. He's making the jump from low level high school competition to a top ten college basketball conference that is stacked with upperclassmen right now. I doubt he plays significant minutes this season and I'm high on what he could be one day, just seeing most of the board go a little crazy on him.
We will see. We just don't know what we have in Wonders yet. He may surprise us, in either a good or bad way. I agree that there is some people on here that are probably expecting too much. Mullins has all summer to evaluate and decide what he wants. But your word "ludicrous" is a bit exaggerated I think.
If it was labeled as a bold prediction, I wouldn't have any issue with it. Just want people to take a step back because there's zero evidence that says Wonders has the jump on either Harvey or Verplancken. Remember, early in the season people were speculating if Harvey would be All-Valley, and Verplancken was arguably our second best guard down the stretch last year. I can't wait to see all of them together. We're very deep. But as far as what we know and can expect, I can't imagine any world where Bryan puts Wonders ahead of both of them.
Now that we most likely have our roster filled out, I am trying to put together my early guesses at rotations.
I believe that we will see:
Jones/Banks
Brown/Wonders/Harvey/Verplanken
Domask/Coupet
D'Avanzo/D'Amico
Muila/Filewich/Edube/Dembele
I have 13 guys listed here that I could see all fighting for playing time. I highly doubt that we play 13 guys on a regular basis so I have highlighted names in bold that I think could be at risk of not playing much (assuming no injuries). There is 100 different ways to spin the possible lineups and I'm sure at least someone out here will think I'm completely crazy. Also, everyone has 6 months to develop. We are basing this off of previous seasons. Who knows which guys will make the greatest strides before next season?
My main questions for next season are:
1) Is Wonder's defense ready for MVC level competition? If so, he could possibly start at the 2. As usual though, we just don't know what we have in him until he gets on the floor against these guys. Could start...Also could end up not cracking the rotation. Who knows???
2) How big do we play? Domask a 3 or 4? If he is at the 4, I could see Harvey/Verplanken getting time at the 2 and 3 positions. If he plays 3, they may not have as much playing time available.
3) Does Banks start? If so, I assume he must beat out Brown and Wonders as his two main challengers.
4) Do all 3 big men prove to be effective this this year? If so, do we ever play 2 at the same time? i.e. Muila at the 4 and Filewich at the 5. I personally think this one has a low chance because of defensive limitations, but could be wrong.
5) Just how good is Coupet? Does he beat out everyone for a starting job?
6) Does D'Amico get himself regular minutes? Wonders put up the huge numbers, but D'Amico has the highest chance of being a stud in this league I believe. I could see him starting at the 4 if Domask plays 3.
7) Where do Harvey and Verplanken fit in? I like both, and both showed flashes of being really good players at times last year. We just have so much talent at those positions.
I'm looking forward to a fun year! I really think that we could challenge the top teams in this conference, especially at home. The home court advantage should be back! Let's go win the MVC!
Most of the thoughts here, I like, but it's ludicrous to expect Foster Wonders to be playing ahead of Harvey and Verplancken. He should be a solid player for us in the future but some people are making him out to be Kent Williams already and we need to just let him learn and grow for a while. He's making the jump from low level high school competition to a top ten college basketball conference that is stacked with upperclassmen right now. I doubt he plays significant minutes this season and I'm high on what he could be one day, just seeing most of the board go a little crazy on him.
We will see. We just don't know what we have in Wonders yet. He may surprise us, in either a good or bad way. I agree that there is some people on here that are probably expecting too much. Mullins has all summer to evaluate and decide what he wants. But your word "ludicrous" is a bit exaggerated I think.
If it was labeled as a bold prediction, I wouldn't have any issue with it. Just want people to take a step back because there's zero evidence that says Wonders has the jump on either Harvey or Verplancken. Remember, early in the season people were speculating if Harvey would be All-Valley, and Verplancken was arguably our second best guard down the stretch last year. I can't wait to see all of them together. We're very deep. But as far as what we know and can expect, I can't imagine any world where Bryan puts Wonders ahead of both of them.
Southern finished in 9th place last season.
I agree it's unlikely Wonders is a Day 1 starter, but you're acting as if Harvey and Verplancken were all-conference guys on an MVC contender. Wonders has the extra freshman learning curve to work through, but they ALL have plenty to prove, as far as I'm concerned.
Lance Jones was our leading scorer in conference. I really thought his TOs were better this year. He had a few really high TO games that skewed his total. Had 8 and 7 against Loyola, but he played 43 minutes and scored 30 pts in the OT loss. Ayo Dosunmu played 38 minutes against Loyola, had 6 TOs and just 9 points. Curbelo also had 4 TOs.
Lance had a number of games in which he played 40 minutes. Of course you'd like to see no TOs, but if you're playing PG for 40 minutes, you're usually going to have some TOs. Fatigue has to be an issue.
(He played 40 against UNI though, had only 2 TOs, 27 pts, 6 assists, 2 steals, and 5 rbs - maybe his best game of the year.)
Jones soph year (25 games) 79 TOs, 35 steals, 73 assists, 13.4 ppg
Jamaal Tatums soph year (35 games) 56 TOs, 40 steals, 78 assists, 12.3ppg
Darren Brooks soph year (31 games) 54 TOs, 62 steals, 103 assists, 12.9ppg
Kevin Dilliards soph year(29 games) 72 TOs, 33 steals, 146 assists, 12.3 ppg
Darren Brooks senior year (33 games): 85 TOs, Stetson Hairston 76 TOs
Jamaal Tatums senior year (35 games) 83 TOs, Falker 91 TOs
Randall Falker's senior year (33 games) 82 TOs, Bryan Mullins (31 games) 75, Matt Shaw 75
Kevin Dilliards Freshman year (31 games) 101 TOs
I think he'll still be the PG next year.
My wish: Brown's offense really improves, Foster is wondersful, Banks and Filewich learn to make FTs, Jones cuts down on TOs, Domask and Mulia are healthy, and everybody improves, especially swiping the ball. I think we could be really good next year.
Trent Brown may be the most unloved 40% three point shooter in the MVC.
The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.
James Madison
Lance Jones was our leading scorer in conference. I really thought his TOs were better this year. He had a few really high TO games that skewed his total. Had 8 and 7 against Loyola, but he played 43 minutes and scored 30 pts in the OT loss. Ayo Dosunmu played 38 minutes against Loyola, had 6 TOs and just 9 points. Curbelo also had 4 TOs.
Lance had a number of games in which he played 40 minutes. Of course you'd like to see no TOs, but if you're playing PG for 40 minutes, you're usually going to have some TOs. Fatigue has to be an issue.
(He played 40 against UNI though, had only 2 TOs, 27 pts, 6 assists, 2 steals, and 5 rbs - maybe his best game of the year.)
Jones soph year (25 games) 79 TOs, 35 steals, 73 assists, 13.4 ppg
Jamaal Tatums soph year (35 games) 56 TOs, 40 steals, 78 assists, 12.3ppg
Darren Brooks soph year (31 games) 54 TOs, 62 steals, 103 assists, 12.9ppg
Kevin Dilliards soph year(29 games) 72 TOs, 33 steals, 146 assists, 12.3 ppg
Darren Brooks senior year (33 games): 85 TOs, Stetson Hairston 76 TOs
Jamaal Tatums senior year (35 games) 83 TOs, Falker 91 TOs
Randall Falker's senior year (33 games) 82 TOs, Bryan Mullins (31 games) 75, Matt Shaw 75
Kevin Dilliards Freshman year (31 games) 101 TOs
I think he'll still be the PG next year.
My wish: Brown's offense really improves, Foster is wondersful, Banks and Filewich learn to make FTs, Jones cuts down on TOs, Domask and Mulia are healthy, and everybody improves, especially swiping the ball. I think we could be really good next year.
Trent Brown may be the most unloved 40% three point shooter in the MVC.
34.7 percent in MVC games and a tick under 39 percent from 3 overall after the hot start to the year. But yes, if he can shoot it how he did in November/December, that would work pretty nicely.
If you think Trent Brown is going to start over Ben Coupet, I have some swamp land in Florida I want to sell you. 😉
Now that we most likely have our roster filled out, I am trying to put together my early guesses at rotations.
I believe that we will see:
Jones/Banks
Brown/Wonders/Harvey/Verplanken
Domask/Coupet
D'Avanzo/D'Amico
Muila/Filewich/Edube/Dembele
I have 13 guys listed here that I could see all fighting for playing time. I highly doubt that we play 13 guys on a regular basis so I have highlighted names in bold that I think could be at risk of not playing much (assuming no injuries). There is 100 different ways to spin the possible lineups and I'm sure at least someone out here will think I'm completely crazy. Also, everyone has 6 months to develop. We are basing this off of previous seasons. Who knows which guys will make the greatest strides before next season?
My main questions for next season are:
1) Is Wonder's defense ready for MVC level competition? If so, he could possibly start at the 2. As usual though, we just don't know what we have in him until he gets on the floor against these guys. Could start...Also could end up not cracking the rotation. Who knows???
2) How big do we play? Domask a 3 or 4? If he is at the 4, I could see Harvey/Verplanken getting time at the 2 and 3 positions. If he plays 3, they may not have as much playing time available.
3) Does Banks start? If so, I assume he must beat out Brown and Wonders as his two main challengers.
4) Do all 3 big men prove to be effective this this year? If so, do we ever play 2 at the same time? i.e. Muila at the 4 and Filewich at the 5. I personally think this one has a low chance because of defensive limitations, but could be wrong.
5) Just how good is Coupet? Does he beat out everyone for a starting job?
6) Does D'Amico get himself regular minutes? Wonders put up the huge numbers, but D'Amico has the highest chance of being a stud in this league I believe. I could see him starting at the 4 if Domask plays 3.
7) Where do Harvey and Verplanken fit in? I like both, and both showed flashes of being really good players at times last year. We just have so much talent at those positions.
I'm looking forward to a fun year! I really think that we could challenge the top teams in this conference, especially at home. The home court advantage should be back! Let's go win the MVC!
Most of the thoughts here, I like, but it's ludicrous to expect Foster Wonders to be playing ahead of Harvey and Verplancken. He should be a solid player for us in the future but some people are making him out to be Kent Williams already and we need to just let him learn and grow for a while. He's making the jump from low level high school competition to a top ten college basketball conference that is stacked with upperclassmen right now. I doubt he plays significant minutes this season and I'm high on what he could be one day, just seeing most of the board go a little crazy on him.
We will see. We just don't know what we have in Wonders yet. He may surprise us, in either a good or bad way. I agree that there is some people on here that are probably expecting too much. Mullins has all summer to evaluate and decide what he wants. But your word "ludicrous" is a bit exaggerated I think.
If it was labeled as a bold prediction, I wouldn't have any issue with it. Just want people to take a step back because there's zero evidence that says Wonders has the jump on either Harvey or Verplancken. Remember, early in the season people were speculating if Harvey would be All-Valley, and Verplancken was arguably our second best guard down the stretch last year. I can't wait to see all of them together. We're very deep. But as far as what we know and can expect, I can't imagine any world where Bryan puts Wonders ahead of both of them.
Southern finished in 9th place last season.
I agree it's unlikely Wonders is a Day 1 starter, but you're acting as if Harvey and Verplancken were all-conference guys on an MVC contender. Wonders has the extra freshman learning curve to work through, but they ALL have plenty to prove, as far as I'm concerned.
It is, of course, an unknown, but I cannot help but wonder where we would finished had our best player not gone out of the lineup with an injury three or so games into conference play, and if Muila had not missed the entire season.
If the three new freshman, or any two of them, has a season with as much relative success as Domask, Filewich, and Banks had in their freshman seasons, we will, in my opinion, be an improved team. Throw in Coupet and Muila, hard not to be pumped!
Go Dawgs!
The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.
James Madison
If you think Trent Brown is going to start over Ben Coupet, I have some swamp land in Florida I want to sell you. 😉
Nobody thought he would start last year out of the gate. I'm not entirely sure that he will, I'm just saying don't be surprised if/when he does! Coupet appears to be a great addition to this team. But lets not get ahead of ourselves putting all of the new exciting pieces ahead of what we already have in place. A lot of us did last year, including me.
Lance Jones was our leading scorer in conference. I really thought his TOs were better this year. He had a few really high TO games that skewed his total. Had 8 and 7 against Loyola, but he played 43 minutes and scored 30 pts in the OT loss. Ayo Dosunmu played 38 minutes against Loyola, had 6 TOs and just 9 points. Curbelo also had 4 TOs.
Lance had a number of games in which he played 40 minutes. Of course you'd like to see no TOs, but if you're playing PG for 40 minutes, you're usually going to have some TOs. Fatigue has to be an issue.
(He played 40 against UNI though, had only 2 TOs, 27 pts, 6 assists, 2 steals, and 5 rbs - maybe his best game of the year.)
Jones soph year (25 games) 79 TOs, 35 steals, 73 assists, 13.4 ppg
Jamaal Tatums soph year (35 games) 56 TOs, 40 steals, 78 assists, 12.3ppg
Darren Brooks soph year (31 games) 54 TOs, 62 steals, 103 assists, 12.9ppg
Kevin Dilliards soph year(29 games) 72 TOs, 33 steals, 146 assists, 12.3 ppg
Darren Brooks senior year (33 games): 85 TOs, Stetson Hairston 76 TOs
Jamaal Tatums senior year (35 games) 83 TOs, Falker 91 TOs
Randall Falker's senior year (33 games) 82 TOs, Bryan Mullins (31 games) 75, Matt Shaw 75
Kevin Dilliards Freshman year (31 games) 101 TOs
I think he'll still be the PG next year.
My wish: Brown's offense really improves, Foster is wondersful, Banks and Filewich learn to make FTs, Jones cuts down on TOs, Domask and Mulia are healthy, and everybody improves, especially swiping the ball. I think we could be really good next year.
Trent Brown may be the most unloved 40% three point shooter in the MVC.
Season 3 pt shooting:
Jones 42.6% (122 attempts),
Brown 38.9% (113 attempts),
Harvey 38.4% (73 attempts),
Banks 38.1% (42 attempts),
Verplancken 37.3% (102 attempts),
Domask 30.4% (46 attempts)
Conference 3 pt shooting:
Jones 41.6% (101 attempts),
Verplancken 39.5% (81 attempts),
Domask 35.0% (20 attempts)
Brown 34.7% (72 attempts),
Banks 34.6% (26 attempts),
Harvey 34.0% (50 attempts)
Brown was not a 40% 3 pt shooter - would be great if he is next year. Definitely improved from 1st year though, just like Jones. Doubt he'll get nearly as many attempts next year with a crowded, talented roster. I don't expect him to average 33 mins per game like he did this year.
I think Trent Brown will see about 15-25 minutes of run a game on this years team. Whether he's shooting it well or not will largely decide if its more the former or the latter, which I think suits him either way in this deep and talented back-court rotation.
I'm a huge fan of Trent and what he brings to the team, but he's not getting more than 25 minutes a game unless he shows something he hasn't shown yet. For the record, I hope he does. It'd be a great problem to have.
--Insert something witty here--
I am confident that Brown will see less minutes this coming season. I am just as confident that EVERY significant player on last years team will see less minutes. We're "adding" a top 25 JUCO in Muila, we're getting an athletic wing that will more than likely start and we're bringing in 3 quality freshmen. Definitely a good problem to have after last year.
It'll be interesting to see how the rotation shakes out. It's hard to play more than 9-10 guys consistently. Having all this depth is cool and can be helpful in certain situation, but ultimately the best thing would be if 6-7 players can separate themselves and play really well together, and then just have other guys chip in here and there as needed. It would probably be more helpful to have a smaller number of guys playing at a championship level than a bunch of players who are decent but not going to get you where you want to go. But having all the competition for playing time should help guys elevate their games.
It'll be interesting to see how the rotation shakes out. It's hard to play more than 9-10 guys consistently. Having all this depth is cool and can be helpful in certain situation, but ultimately the best thing would be if 6-7 players can separate themselves and play really well together, and then just have other guys chip in here and there as needed. It would probably be more helpful to have a smaller number of guys playing at a championship level than a bunch of players who are decent but not going to get you where you want to go. But having all the competition for playing time should help guys elevate their games.
I agree with this. Games are only 40 minutes, and its not the deepest teams that always win. Being deep really helps, but I just can't figure out who can't fit in. It will be a miracle to not lose a few guys to the transfer portal next offseason simply because of the amount of talented players that we have that expect a bigger role than what they actually get.
