Mal to play the 3 this year

[Brooky03]

Probably does (no particular assigned player to box out). But having undersized front line players doesn't help either.

G was able to grab 5 boards per game last year. That's not far off from what our typical, normal sized, small forwards average. Roberson is a beast on the glass and rebounding was just about the only thing Coleman was consistently good at when he played. I don't think we'll be a great rebounding team, but we won't be any worse than we are in a typical season.

 

[Millhouse]

this is great news. i would say more but it would resurrect calls for one mother of all you know who voldemort threads.

 

[reedny]

G was able to grab 5 boards per game last year. That's not far off from what our typical, normal sized, small forwards average. Roberson is a beast on the glass and rebounding was just about the only thing Coleman was consistently good at when he played. I don't think we'll be a great rebounding team, but we won't be any worse than we are in a typical season.

DC2 is definitely going to help make up for the smaller, thinner front line we're running this year. But to say we'll be about typical isn't a boast. We've been marginal on the glass the last couple years. As one example, we were 125th in the nation last year in RB margin. Some of it is the zone. Some of it is personnel.

I think next year will be a different story.

 

[tbonezone]

bad idea.

 

[longislandcuse]

bad idea.

What's the alternative? We have 40 guards, 3 forwards and 2 centers.

 

[orangehomer]

can malachi handle the ball or is he just a shooter? puts a lot of strain on gbinije because cooney basically doesn't dribble unless it is a breakaway. it makes sense to put him at SF though at least to get him on the court this year. I guess it is just a question of whether you start kaleb with mike at SF and bring in malachi for kaleb, my sense is that you start mike at PG with malachi at SF and then in theory you could bring in kaleb for either guard spot and you could bring in lydon for either forward spot. hopefully coleman/obokoh can be at least serviceable for 36+ minutes at C. there are enough parts to be pretty decent but there are so many questions, is coleman healthy and are any of the freshman ready to play?

 

[Brooky03]

can malachi handle the ball or is he just a shooter? puts a lot of strain on gbinije because cooney basically doesn't dribble unless it is a breakaway. it makes sense to put him at SF though at least to get him on the court this year. I guess it is just a question of whether you start kaleb with mike at SF and bring in malachi for kaleb, my sense is that you start mike at PG with malachi at SF and then in theory you could bring in kaleb for either guard spot and you could bring in lydon for either forward spot. hopefully coleman/obokoh can be at least serviceable for 36+ minutes at C. there are enough parts to be pretty decent but there are so many questions, is coleman healthy and are any of the freshman ready to play?

Malachi can dribble. He doesn't do anything special, but his ballhandling is solid and he has a good left hand.

I also expect Cooney will expand his game more this year; he showed glimpses last year. He's capable of putting it on the deck, just needs to finish better (much better).

 

[orangehomer]

Malachi can dribble. He doesn't do anything special, but his ballhandling is solid and he has a good left hand.

I also expect Cooney will expand his game more this year; he showed glimpses last year. He's capable of putting it on the deck, just needs to finish better (much better).

I'm not sure what you are saying. everyone can dribble. if malachi has to handle the ball against Louisville or duke ball pressure can he do that? cooney can't, there are only two actual ballhandlers on the roster that we know of and that is gbinije (questionable) and joseph. maybe howard but we don't know that yet. Roberson is the only frontcourt player we know of that can even take a few dribbles off a defensive rebound and make a sane pass.

 

[Brooky03]

I'm not sure what you are saying. everyone can dribble. if malachi has to handle the ball against Louisville or duke ball pressure can he do that? cooney can't, there are only two actual ballhandlers on the roster that we know of and that is gbinije (questionable) and joseph. maybe howard but we don't know that yet. Roberson is the only frontcourt player we know of that can even take a few dribbles off a defensive rebound and make a sane pass.

When I said he can dribble, I wasn't saying it in the literal, basic sense. Yes, I'm aware every basketball player can dribble. Put simply, he has good ballhandling, especially for his length. Not great, not bad. Just good. And he has a solid left hand, which is nice.

Edit: Cooney has actually done really well bringing the ball up against full-court pressure. He doesn't break any ankles and he doesn't make guys pay for gambling, but he consistently gets the ball across halfcourt and a turnover from sloppy dribbling is pretty rare with him.

 

[orangefan13]

Agree, Its pick your poison. We will have to see who can run isolation so many questions. I could write a prediction trick play book, instead just summary.

1. Gbinije is our most physical container and probably our best lateral slider up top. Also, nobody is stopping Gbinije in transition at guard, nobody.

2. Gbinije would be best for backline also on the defensive end. laterally and strength wise. Also keep in mind Coleman and Obokoh could need more help under the bucket then usual. I don't mind that but they absolutely need to be better at collapsing baseline. Anyway, I think we will run a test early on to see how our fresh can cover ground laterally, trap, help the centers protect the basket, and rebound.

3. Gbinije is our best sideline trapper and Roberson is our second best. As we sideline trap 3x more on the left side of the court. We don't know if Coleman will run his offensive midpost like he ran out of the right side all year his first few seasons. But, if he does I like the idea of Gbinije and Roberson on the left side of the court together to trap when coleman is just inside the right elbow 15 minutes a game. Especially if Roberson can show a left handed finish around the backboard. And Coleman will have Lydon or Malachi on the right side of the court for a shorter kickout pass.

4.As for Howard, its a offensive question. 4 things to consider.
1. Will he shoot the ball from three significantly better then Kaleb.
2. It will be tough for Howard to get mintues at guard because Cooney and Gbinije are both going to want more minutes up top on the offensive end then the corners.
3. Curious on his height for SF he has the bones to fill out by his soph/jr year.
4. He could unanimously be in our top 3 driving/finishing guards, and deal well with he physical defense on a day when Kaleb isn't doing much against it without a screen.

Exciting!

 

[bozophobe]

The shorter shot clock should mitigate SU's disadvantages a bit here.

I'm wondering how much room Hopkins will have to veer from Boeheim's intentions during the suspension. maybe not much.

 

[sutomcat]

OrangeXtreme has posted this in the 'Daily Articles' thread, but I think it is worthy of it's own thread.

Per JB, Malichi will be playing small forward

Thoughts?

You know TC is going to play 35 MPG as a senior, so there was no playing time to be had at SG this season. I think this says more about what JB is thinking about playing time for Kaleb than anything else.

If MR gets serious minutes at SF, that means Swaggy G is going to play serious minutes at PG.

IMHO anyway...

 

[cuseguy]

I see Malachi backing up Lydon at SF.

 

[sutomcat]

I see Malachi backing up Lydon at SF.

I hope Kaleb makes a big step up at PG, so Swaggy G ends up playing 30 minutes at SF and the matter of who backs up up at SF is of minor importance. I can't imagine we are going to be a really good team with Michael playing PG all the time. It will be a slow, plodding team that milks 30 seconds each possession, plays the half court game almost exclusively and is painful to watch.

If Swaggy G ends up playing 30 minutes a game at PG, I agree with you that JB will eventually find that Lydon brings more to the table than Malachi does and end up playing him more.

Again, this is not a knock on Malachi. Lydon is just taller, more aggressive and a more well rounded player right now.

 

[orangefan13]

I haven't thought of his lineup before and it depends on Coleman and our freshmens outside shooting ability, but I really like it. (slow it down lineup)
C-Coleman just inside the right elbow,
SF-Malachi/Lydon perimeter on right side,
SG-Cooney also on their side and
PF/G Roberson and Gbinije on the other side
Kind of like the Scoop AO triangle of old but with a advantage. The SF on the right side instead of the left like Wes was(he had to be left as he was our isolation guy)

1. I think Malachi and Cooney could highly benefit by being close to each other on the perimeter as they both like to pullup off the dribble and will force each others man to double leaving the other one open for brief periods. Adding Coleman adds a triangle to it instead, and works the short pass for the three ball.
2. It will be really hard for teams to double from that lineup.
-- - -You can't leave Cooney/Malachi/Lydon open
- - -Colemans man can not leave him and give him inside position.
- - - Gbinijes man can't leave him open because he can just sneak in to the left elbow for the jumper at will (hes our best midrange shooter).
When it clicks on all cylinders its double team proof.
3. It leaves Gbinije out in isolation all alone and puts our PF in the low post for him to dish to, instead of on the perimeter.
4. It puts Roberson and Gbinije on the same defensive side of the floor together some for the trap.
5. Kaleb would fit into this nicely as we could always swap him to the left isolation side to spell Cooney and Put Gbinije on the right as he also likes to pullup from outside. And Roberson Kaleb would work a nice pick and roll together from that side.
7. You could also put Lydon on the left side corner to really spread the floor but we would lose our low post guy on that play.
8. You can always swap Roberson/Coleman right elbow/low post left side.
9. It could open a set play for Roberson this year to step out further as a perimeter driver and swap gbinije to the low post. This would force teams
to keep the taller guy on Gbinije and the smaller on Cooney just as we want.
10. You can always switch Cooney to the right corner and move Malchi/Lydon upfront to get back on Defense.
11. Go ahead and zone it we have 3-4 shooters out there.
12. You could put Kaleb, Gbinije on the left side together (Gbinije in the low) and Cooney Lydon/Malachi on the other side.
I think I exhausted about every idea I could.
Malachi Cooney would be dribbling left more into their shot which could be a downside but, I really like the idea of Cooney and Lydon/Mali running the short Triangle with Dajuan/Roberson.

 

[reedny]

The shorter shot clock should mitigate SU's disadvantages a bit here.

I'm wondering how much room Hopkins will have to veer from Boeheim's intentions during the suspension. maybe not much.

He won't be veering too hard wearing a neck brace.

 

[bozophobe]

Hopefully, under appeal, the NCAA will allow him to remove the neck brace in time for the ACC.

 

[Brooky03]

You know TC is going to play 35 MPG as a senior, so there was no playing time to be had at SG this season. I think this says more about what JB is thinking about playing time for Kaleb than anything else.

If MR gets serious minutes at SF, that means Swaggy G is going to play serious minutes at PG.

IMHO anyway...

120 minutes to split between PG, SG, and SF. 35 for G, 35 for TC. So 50 left for Kaleb and Malachi, right? 25 a piece? 20 for Kaleb and 30 for Malachi maybe.

 

[two3zone]

120 minutes to split between PG, SG, and SF. 35 for G, 35 for TC. So 50 left for Kaleb and Malachi, right? 25 a piece? 20 for Kaleb and 30 for Malachi maybe.

I think it's close, but I think Lydon fits in there a little bit, maybe 25 for Kaleb, 15 for Malachi, and 10 for Lydon (at SF and picking up 5-8 at PF).

 

[Brooky03]

I think it's close, but I think Lydon fits in there a little bit, maybe 25 for Kaleb, 15 for Malachi, and 10 for Lydon (at SF and picking up 5-8 at PF).

I can get on board with this.

 

[two3zone]

I can get on board with this.

Granted, it could be totally different because we don't know what Kaleb is going to bring after his inconsistenies last year and the freshman unknown from Richardson and Lydon. Who knows, any one of these guys blows up the first couple of games and we have another 30 minute guy out of those 3.

 

[SBU72]

One could argue the zone results in the poor rebounding.

Nobody would ever argue that!:rolling:

 

[reedny]

120 minutes to split between PG, SG, and SF. 35 for G, 35 for TC. So 50 left for Kaleb and Malachi, right? 25 a piece? 20 for Kaleb and 30 for Malachi maybe.

Howard? RF say's he's blowing up. I'm not expecting MR to get 30 minutes, although he can back up the 2 and 3 (in a pinch). Maybe 5 at each spot (10)? And 8-10 for Howard backing up KJ?

 

[reedny]

I think it's close, but I think Lydon fits in there a little bit, maybe 25 for Kaleb, 15 for Malachi, and 10 for Lydon (at SF and picking up 5-8 at PF).

Assuming KJ's ready (meaning that G's playing mostly SF and not taking major minutes at PG), my guess is:

PG - KJ 22/Howard 8/G - 10
SG - TC 33/MR 7
SF - G 30/TL or MR 10 depending on "situations"
PF - TR 30/TL 10
C - DC2 25-27/CO 13-15

 

[tbonezone]

nova played 4 guards for a number years and did it very well. but that would require... GULP...some changes ! won't happen here.
so JB will desperately try to get his best players minutes on the court by once again trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole.