I think you could comfortably say that JJ, Bell, Freeman and Lampkin are all essentially locked in as starters. The fact that Bell hasn’t entered the portal at all tells you all you need to know
I'm really sick of this "locked in starters" discussion.
Did we have "locked in starters" last year, like we did with JB?
No, we didn't. There were 9 1/2 guys who, when healthy, we could expect to see on the floor.
Carey & Hima (the "1/2"), got to play more than 10 minutes a game.
Of the remaining 9 guys, we had 7 who could play about 20 - 30 minutes a game.
The other two (MacLeod and Cuffe) gave us decent depth and 10-15 minutes a game. That's 9 guys who played regularly, and nobody play excessively. Plus the 3rd and 4th centers, who made up half a guy over the course of the season.
It wasn't until we were down to 7 guys by the end of the season that the minutes went up significantly for Mintz, Starling and Maliq Brown.
Two years before, the year of the Boeheim Brothers, we had FOUR GUYS average 35-38 minutes a game, and two or three of them were in the Top 10 in minutes played for the whole country that season.
Then we had Jesse for 28 minutes a game, and 3 guys who were really just bench players - Symir Torrence, Frank Anselem and freshman Benny Williams, who got quite a few quick hooks. Those guys got only about 10 minutes a game, and were never real contributors; they were hardly part of the team.
This new coach plays
more players
fewer minutes. You get more depth that way, and players don't get so worn down and injured if you play enough of them over the course of the season, and don't overwork them when they're hurt.
Remember how many guys struggled through seasons on injured legs under Boeheim, or an injured shoulder? Matt Moyer, Bourama Sidibe, gosh, we could make a list.
Our team
going forward is going to be 9 1/2 guys - 4 in the front court, 4 in the back court and a swing guy, and add 1/2 for your third center.
Those guys are mostly going to play 20-30 minutes a game. That allows 8 or 9 guys to get real minutes, not just one stretch in the first half, and maybe another appearance in the 2nd half if the game's not too close, like we used to see under later stage Boeheim.
We have room for 2 more front court players, and 2 more guards. We got the center we needed. We still need a "true" playmaker kind of PG. But we need a slasher scorer (Westry, or perhaps Gayle), and we need another 3 point shooter. If we can combine two of those things in 1 guy, then that's better.
But we have to fill those roles to have a complete roster. No one guy cures all our ills. No one guy should be "guaranteed" to start on the kind of team Red is trying to build. The best guys will get their minutes.
I see Red's future ideal team as Illinois 1989 that knocked us out of the Elite 8 - 8 guys who were wicked athletes, and were interchangeable, all between about 6-4 and 6-9 who could score and defend multiple positions. The old Denny Crum Louisville teams with the McCray brothers and Darrell Griffith were built that way, too.
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