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Message: [QUOTE="RF2044, post: 2142238, member: 40"] Great post, Tomcat. I'll add that those lines can blur, because we often have players who can slide into more than one of those traditional positional roles. I.E., power forwards who can play center in our system a la Lydon, wings who can be either shooting guards or small forwards, forwards who have versatility a la CJ Fair and Southerland, who don't fit cleanly into either position in a traditional sense, etc. So I don't know that we need to establish the positions so rigidly in constructing the roster. The key for me is whether the personnel on hand can adequately FILL the various roles. And as you state, right now we don't have a true 3 [although Battle COULD play there in a pinch], we might not have a point guard capable of starting [unless Howard bounces back in a big way, or unless Washington is more ready to contribute than expected]. We land Tucker / Ayala, and this is a HUGE bounce back for the staff, rounding out a top 25 caliber class. This would then be an important foundational class that replenishes depth and puts a bunch of much needed program guys back into our base. But there's no superstar [barring Ayala or Tucker emerging as a high major contributor, which admittedly could happen] in the bunch -- which fuels my belief that we only go as far next year as Battle / Thompson take us. Here's hoping both make the proverbial sophomore jump, which definitely isn't outside of the realm of possibility. If Thompson returns as an improved rebounder who doesn't treat defense as optional, and Battle becomes the go to guy who fuels our offensive attack while establishing himself as a lottery pick -- again, both of which could easily happen -- then we might be onto something, and be much better than most will project next season. Will also be interesting to see who [if anybody] might be out there as a fifth year transfer candidate. Would love to see us land that SF from Rice [just for example], as an experienced guy who could step in at the 3 and start immediately, and provide us with a consistent shooting / scoring threat who can serve as the third consistent scorer behind Battle and Thompson. If THAT happens, this will turn into a very, very good class. Far cry from what it seemed when we only had two recruits to flesh out a five person class. [/QUOTE]

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