I don’t know how much of an impact Ferguson will have, if he gets many minutes at all. Seems like a developmental piece to me that might not get any minutes at all next year. Could be completely wrong though.
You’d love to have 13 amazing players on scholarship but that’s so unrealistic because everyone wants their minutes. Ferguson seems like a project but he has the size and athleticism we’ve been looking for.
Rotation is probably looking like this:
PG: Johnson, Newton, Banks
SG: Jones, Brown, Wonders, Banks
SF: Domask, D’Amico, Ferguson Jr
PF: Muila/Ebube, D’Amico
C: Rupert, Muila/Ebube/Hornecker
Not sure who starts at the 4 right now. Muila and Rupert seem very similar so if Ebube is ready, I wouldn’t be shocked if he started.
Going to be interesting to see how the guard rotation shakes out. The Newton addition seems like it’s going to take minutes from Dalton Banks and one of Banks, Trent Brown, and Foster Wonders is going to be an odd man out at the 2 guard. Given how much Mullins loves Brown, I’d imagine he gets a good amount of minutes. Really hope his back holds up and he can hit 3’s with consistency.
I think this team is better than last year just based on improvements that will come from within but I worry a lot about the offense again. I think Xavier Johnson will make the offense better but Newton was really the only scoring addition this offseason, Johnson is more of a facilitator.
Muila can not play the 4. You will not see him there. Newton won't be playing much, if any PG. He is a SG. We have PG covered with Johnson and Banks. Also, it will be interesting to see how Wonders is used. With the log jam at the SG, I can see Wonders playing the 3 at 6'5". He will still be able to use his range at the 3.
I don’t know how much of an impact Ferguson will have, if he gets many minutes at all. Seems like a developmental piece to me that might not get any minutes at all next year. Could be completely wrong though.
You’d love to have 13 amazing players on scholarship but that’s so unrealistic because everyone wants their minutes. Ferguson seems like a project but he has the size and athleticism we’ve been looking for.
Rotation is probably looking like this:
PG: Johnson, Newton, Banks
SG: Jones, Brown, Wonders, Banks
SF: Domask, D’Amico, Ferguson Jr
PF: Muila/Ebube, D’Amico
C: Rupert, Muila/Ebube/Hornecker
Not sure who starts at the 4 right now. Muila and Rupert seem very similar so if Ebube is ready, I wouldn’t be shocked if he started.
Going to be interesting to see how the guard rotation shakes out. The Newton addition seems like it’s going to take minutes from Dalton Banks and one of Banks, Trent Brown, and Foster Wonders is going to be an odd man out at the 2 guard. Given how much Mullins loves Brown, I’d imagine he gets a good amount of minutes. Really hope his back holds up and he can hit 3’s with consistency.
I think this team is better than last year just based on improvements that will come from within but I worry a lot about the offense again. I think Xavier Johnson will make the offense better but Newton was really the only scoring addition this offseason, Johnson is more of a facilitator.
Muila can not play the 4. You will not see him there. Newton won't be playing much, if any PG. He is a SG. We have PG covered with Johnson and Banks. Also, it will be interesting to see how Wonders is used. With the log jam at the SG, I can see Wonders playing the 3 at 6'5". He will still be able to use his range at the 3.
Yeah I can’t imagine they’re playing Muila and Rupert much at the same time together, if at all. I have hope that Rupert will develop on the offensive end, people that covered Saint Peter’s said he got better as the year went on and he scored 11 against Purdue in the Tournament.
I’d imagine Ebube plays with Rupert a lot and Muila spells Rupert off the bench. I don’t think Muila is a guy that’s ever going to see a heavy workload given his injury history but I am a bit higher on him than most. Rupert seems pretty similar, he even was a 52.4% FT shooter last year so we have that to look forward to.
I don’t know how much of an impact Ferguson will have, if he gets many minutes at all. Seems like a developmental piece to me that might not get any minutes at all next year. Could be completely wrong though.
You’d love to have 13 amazing players on scholarship but that’s so unrealistic because everyone wants their minutes. Ferguson seems like a project but he has the size and athleticism we’ve been looking for.
Rotation is probably looking like this:
PG: Johnson, Newton, Banks
SG: Jones, Brown, Wonders, Banks
SF: Domask, D’Amico, Ferguson Jr
PF: Muila/Ebube, D’Amico
C: Rupert, Muila/Ebube/Hornecker
Not sure who starts at the 4 right now. Muila and Rupert seem very similar so if Ebube is ready, I wouldn’t be shocked if he started.
Going to be interesting to see how the guard rotation shakes out. The Newton addition seems like it’s going to take minutes from Dalton Banks and one of Banks, Trent Brown, and Foster Wonders is going to be an odd man out at the 2 guard. Given how much Mullins loves Brown, I’d imagine he gets a good amount of minutes. Really hope his back holds up and he can hit 3’s with consistency.
I think this team is better than last year just based on improvements that will come from within but I worry a lot about the offense again. I think Xavier Johnson will make the offense better but Newton was really the only scoring addition this offseason, Johnson is more of a facilitator.
Muila can not play the 4. You will not see him there. Newton won't be playing much, if any PG. He is a SG. We have PG covered with Johnson and Banks. Also, it will be interesting to see how Wonders is used. With the log jam at the SG, I can see Wonders playing the 3 at 6'5". He will still be able to use his range at the 3.
Agree that Newton is more of a 2 or 3 than PG, and that the point should be handled by Johnson and Banks (and maybe even Jones for a few minutes here and there).
I'd be surprised to see Ebube or Muila play anything but the 5 with their limited offensive skill sets, and not sure if Rupert will just be a 5, too, or if he'll play some 4 ... almost all of his scoring was around the rim, but he does seem to have at least some versatility to his game, and it's fun to think about he and Ebube out there at the same time from a physicality standpoint.
Agree that Ferguson seems like he has an uphill battle to get time with the depth on the roster, with the caveat being that there are a lot of talented scorers in college basketball between 6-4 and 6-7, and SIU doesn't have a lot of natural defensive matchups for those guys. Pretty much just Domask (who you don't want to wear down on defense too much) and D'Amico.
I don’t know how much of an impact Ferguson will have, if he gets many minutes at all. Seems like a developmental piece to me that might not get any minutes at all next year. Could be completely wrong though.
You’d love to have 13 amazing players on scholarship but that’s so unrealistic because everyone wants their minutes. Ferguson seems like a project but he has the size and athleticism we’ve been looking for.
Rotation is probably looking like this:
PG: Johnson, Newton, Banks
SG: Jones, Brown, Wonders, Banks
SF: Domask, D’Amico, Ferguson Jr
PF: Muila/Ebube, D’Amico
C: Rupert, Muila/Ebube/Hornecker
Not sure who starts at the 4 right now. Muila and Rupert seem very similar so if Ebube is ready, I wouldn’t be shocked if he started.
Going to be interesting to see how the guard rotation shakes out. The Newton addition seems like it’s going to take minutes from Dalton Banks and one of Banks, Trent Brown, and Foster Wonders is going to be an odd man out at the 2 guard. Given how much Mullins loves Brown, I’d imagine he gets a good amount of minutes. Really hope his back holds up and he can hit 3’s with consistency.
I think this team is better than last year just based on improvements that will come from within but I worry a lot about the offense again. I think Xavier Johnson will make the offense better but Newton was really the only scoring addition this offseason, Johnson is more of a facilitator.
Muila can not play the 4. You will not see him there. Newton won't be playing much, if any PG. He is a SG. We have PG covered with Johnson and Banks. Also, it will be interesting to see how Wonders is used. With the log jam at the SG, I can see Wonders playing the 3 at 6'5". He will still be able to use his range at the 3.
Yeah I can’t imagine they’re playing Muila and Rupert much at the same time together, if at all. I have hope that Rupert will develop on the offensive end, people that covered Saint Peter’s said he got better as the year went on and he scored 11 against Purdue in the Tournament.
I’d imagine Ebube plays with Rupert a lot and Muila spells Rupert off the bench. I don’t think Muila is a guy that’s ever going to see a heavy workload given his injury history but I am a bit higher on him than most. Rupert seems pretty similar, he even was a 52.4% FT shooter last year so we have that to look forward to.
Yep, we definitely have to hope that Rupert's FT shooting improves because we do not want 2 significant bigs with FT issues in Muila and Rupert. We also have to hope that Ebube turns out to be a decent FT shooter. I think Rupert has much more potential to be a scorer than Muila. He probably has even more potential for scoring than Ebube. Rupert averaged 4.4 points, but only in 13 minutes a game. I think he has the potential to eventually be a 10+ point scorer if the plays 25 minutes. Especially given he was a true freshman last year and scored more as the season progressed.
I’d be really concerned about the offense next year if Newton isn’t getting much run. Outside of Domask & Jones there’s a lot of questions about who can score. I expect Domask and Jones to take even bigger steps up on the offensive end, especially with Johnson at point guard. But outside of that, Brown and Banks have both been inconsistent scorers. D’Amico will likely get better but he seems more of an all-around player than a guy who is going to score much. I have hope for Wonders but not sure how much playing time he’s going to get and not sure how much you can expect out of a guy in his first D1 season, same with Ebube.
Just feels like this team is going to struggle to score again next year and if that’s the case, they need to improve a lot on the defensive end. To use Saint Peter’s as an example, they were a pretty poor offensive team last year but were able to win because they were 25th in defensive efficiency. As good as SIU was on the defensive end last year, they ended 100th in defensive efficiency. That’s got to improve a lot.
I’m pretty happy with the overall offseason. I think SIU got guys that fill a lot of needs and think we’re a better team than last year but we really didn’t address the offense and that’s a bit worrysome. Hoping the staff figures out ways to make sure the offense doesn’t become stagnant like it did way too many times last year.
I would bet the farm that Newton is starting; we need his scoring, and I think the preference to go with a 4-guard lineup is still in play:
Johnson
Lance
Marcus
Newton
Muila / Ebube / Clarence
@insaluki thanks for missing the point that recruiting is a gamble at any level
Brown got significantly less minutes this past year (I am aware of the injury) including the last 5 games of the season. I know coach loves what he brings to the team, but he just doesn't score enough and lacks the size the new players add. If I were to guess, I'd say his minutes will be further reduced. The X-factor for me will be Wonders who factually speaking couldn't crack the lineup last season and many are hoping, if not expecting, to be a main scorer. While I had high expectations last season, for him specifically I wouldn't be shocked if he came in and averaged double digits nor would I be surprised if he ends up playing just a minor role due to defensive deficiencies, i.e. Harvey.
@insaluki thanks for missing the point that recruiting is a gamble at any level
I'm fully aware of the risk, Was just trying to explain that like many things in life, there are LEVELS of risk. Putting $10k on an established stock is risky, putting $10k on a start up stock is also risky. But the inherent risk with the start up is much higher. The unknown of a D2 player is higher than that of a D1 player. The unknown (risk) of grabbing a HS player who played weak competition is higher than that of someone who plays in the Chicago Public Schools.
Ferguson might surprise you guys. The staff loves him. 😉
Our class balance is better now, which probably isn't quite as important in the NIL/Portal era, but better none the less.
4 years eligibility - Wonders, Ebube, Hornecker (if he doesn't redshirt)
3 years eligibility - Rupert, D'Amico, Ferguson
2 years eligibility - Domask, Jones, Banks, Johnson, Brown
last year of eligibility - Muila, Newton
We could be good next year and even better in 2023/24 if Jones and Domask both use their extra covid year. It could be a bit of a transition year in 2024/25, but the portal is always an X factor.
Our class balance is better now, which probably isn't quite as important in the NIL/Portal era, but better none the less.
4 years eligibility - Wonders, Ebube, Hornecker (if he doesn't redshirt)
3 years eligibility - Rupert, D'Amico, Ferguson
2 years eligibility - Domask, Jones, Banks, Johnson, Brown
last year of eligibility - Muila, Newton
We could be good next year and even better in 2023/24 if Jones and Domask both use their extra covid year. It could be a bit of a transition year in 2024/25, but the portal is always an X factor.
Is Muila on his last year of eligibility? I’m sure he could have received a medical redshirt for the year he missed. SIU listed him as a Junior last year.
Our class balance is better now, which probably isn't quite as important in the NIL/Portal era, but better none the less.
4 years eligibility - Wonders, Ebube, Hornecker (if he doesn't redshirt)
3 years eligibility - Rupert, D'Amico, Ferguson
2 years eligibility - Domask, Jones, Banks, Johnson, Brown
last year of eligibility - Muila, Newton
We could be good next year and even better in 2023/24 if Jones and Domask both use their extra covid year. It could be a bit of a transition year in 2024/25, but the portal is always an X factor.
Is Muila on his last year of eligibility? I’m sure he could have received a medical redshirt for the year he missed. SIU listed him as a Junior last year.
Yep, next year is his 5th year. He sat out his initial year at SIU due to injury. I guess he could possibly get a 6th year due to the covid rule if he gets a medical redshirt for his 1st year at SIU. However, with 3 other centers on the roster I'm not sure if that would be a priority. We will need at least 1 point guard and a power forward in the 2023 class and at least 1 point guard in the 2024 class. We will lose both Johnson and Banks after 2023/24 so having 2 open scholarships next year would be valuable.
Our class balance is better now, which probably isn't quite as important in the NIL/Portal era, but better none the less.
4 years eligibility - Wonders, Ebube, Hornecker (if he doesn't redshirt)
3 years eligibility - Rupert, D'Amico, Ferguson
2 years eligibility - Domask, Jones, Banks, Johnson, Brown
last year of eligibility - Muila, Newton
We could be good next year and even better in 2023/24 if Jones and Domask both use their extra covid year. It could be a bit of a transition year in 2024/25, but the portal is always an X factor.
I would also add that IF SIU does in fact do well the next 2 years (WIN a lot of games and perhaps make a meaningful year end tourny) then the staff has a much better chance of filling in the holes after Domask, Jones and Johnson leave. Either way, things are looking much better today than they were just a few days ago.
I understand some of the guarded feelings when it comes to D2 transfers but they are no different than any other recruit from any level you don't know for sure what they will be until we see them on game day fact is recruiting is a gamble even 5 stars at the blue bloods sometimes doesn't pan out and walk on or 1 star becomes all conference you just never know
Surely there will always be exceptions but 99.9% of the time a random team of 5 star recruits will beat the snot out of a random team of walk-ons.
Strongly disagree with this statement 😉
