My early take on next year

[orange03]

With obvious assumptions...

G-MCW/Triche
G-Triche/Cooney
F-Fair/Southerland
F-Rak/Fair/Southerland/Grant(RS)
C-DC2/Rak/Keita

A very good lineup capable of winning 25 or so games and could be a factor in March. If I had to guess a top 10 team--Capable of being better than that but until we see how MCW responds to starter minutes and if Triche can consistently show he can be a go to guy type, and if TC knocks down enough shots... tough to rank them higher at this point.

Landing Noel would catapult us into the top 3 to 5 teams in the country and one of the favorites to cut down the nets. Would give our front court a ridiculous amount of talent/length/depth that nobody could counter with. Obviously as low a chance as it is, having Waiters come back would make us a top 5 team off the bat. Dion would be one of the faces of college basketball and make us a favorite to land in the final 4. Don't see that happening but until he officially declares, all we can do is speculate.

 

[newmexicuse]

With obvious assumptions...

G-MCW/Triche
G-Triche/Cooney
F-Fair/Southerland
F-Rak/Fair/Southerland/Grant(RS)
C-DC2/Rak/Keita

A very good lineup capable of winning 25 or so games and could be a factor in March. If I had to guess a top 10 team--Capable of being better than that but until we see how MCW responds to starter minutes and if Triche can consistently show he can be a go to guy type, and if TC knocks down enough shots... tough to rank them higher at this point.

Landing Noel would catapult us into the top 3 to 5 teams in the country and one of the favorites to cut down the nets. Would give our front court a ridiculous amount of talent/length/depth that nobody could counter with. Obviously as low a chance as it is, having Waiters come back would make us a top 5 team off the bat. Dion would be one of the faces of college basketball and make us a favorite to land in the final 4. Don't see that happening but until he officially declares, all we can do is speculate.

Grant won't shirt as things stand now. I think he may well have the best skillset to replace KJO though is more of a 4 than a 3 as compared to KJo.. Fair's game doesn't start at the perimeter, and Dirty can't slash. Grant will obviously need time, but he may well end up being similiar to KJo two years down the road. Grant is probably the closest to a "pure" 4 we will have on our roster. Fair & Dirty are hybrid 3-4s. DC2 & Rak are best case hybrid 4-5s though both may well be better suited for the 5 spot. probably the same w Noel if we get him.

I do not see Rak getting token starts again at PF. Rak is still a big project at PF - his collegiate game is at the five spot where he will be ready to be a big factor by next season. I would see RAK starting at the five unless we get Noel. I am not sure about DC2. If he can play at the 4 then he can start there, but it is hard to envision him covering that much ground in our zone. If not maybe Dirty starts at the four.

All in all we have quite a few square pegs in the frontcourt that may have to go into some round holes

I hope Jimmy doesn't play his silly game of starting kids & giving them 2 minutes as we have seen the last two seasons. Start em for real or don't start em.

So my depth chart with your assumptions would be (and no token starters):

G-MCW/Triche
G-Triche/Cooney
C -Toss-up between Rak & DC2 then BMK
F - CJ, Dirty
F - Dirty, Rak (or possibly DC2), Grant

A dark horse position change for me, could be BMK at the four !!! - He brings zero in O skills to that position, but he sure would be able to cover the ground on the D end much better than Rak or DC2. If DC2 played well enough as a frosh at the five to bring a strong inside threat ala AO or Rick, then we could have the luxury of playing a strictly defensive player at the 4 spot in the Zone.

 

[jdubs30]

UNC, UK, Kansas, Baylor and OSU will all lose a lot; arguably more than us. We should be preseason top 10 easy, top 2 or 3 with Noel.

 

[orange03]

Grant won't shirt as things stand now. I think he may well have the best skillset to replace KJO though is more of a 4 than a 3 as compared to KJo.. Fair's game doesn't start at the perimeter, and Dirty can't slash. Grant will obviously need time, but he may well end up being similiar to KJo two years down the road. Grant is probably the closest to a "pure" 4 we will have on our roster. Fair & Dirty are hybrid 3-4s. DC2 & Rak are best case hybrid 4-5s though both may well be better suited for the 5 spot. probably the same w Noel if we get him.

I do not see Rak getting token starts again at PF. Rak is still a big project at PF - his collegiate game is at the five spot where he will be ready to be a big factor by next season. I would see RAK starting at the five unless we get Noel. I am not sure about DC2. If he can play at the 4 then he can start there, but it is hard to envision him covering that much ground in our zone. If not maybe Dirty starts at the four.

All in all we have quite a few square pegs in the frontcourt that may have to go into some round holes

I hope Jimmy doesn't play his silly game of starting kids & giving them 2 minutes as we have seen the last two seasons. Start em for real or don't start em.

So my depth chart with your assumptions would be (and no token starters):

G-MCW/Triche
G-Triche/Cooney
C -Toss-up between Rak & DC2 then BMK
F - CJ, Dirty
F - Dirty, Rak (or possibly DC2), Grant

A dark horse position change for me, could be BMK at the four !!! - He brings zero in O skills to that position, but he sure would be able to cover the ground on the D end much better than Rak or DC2. If DC2 played well enough as a frosh at the five to bring a strong inside threat ala AO or Rick, then we could have the luxury of playing a strictly defensive player at the 4 spot in the Zone.

I like Grant and his skill set, but he won't take any minutes from Fair or Southerland next year. If he doesn't RS, he'll get typical frosh minutes next year. Noel changes everything.

 

[orangefan13]

Just doing a quickchecklist...

We will bring a tough defense just like this year.
We will have a good guard defender who can extend in MCW to replace Dion.
We will have better rebounding then this year.
We will not have quite as good of turnover protection but we will have solid ball handlers.
We will have some post moves. We will finally have a big who can play off the dribble if not a couple.
We will have guards that can attack the paint we lose Dion and Scoop but MCW and Triche will still bring it. Maybe even Cooney.
We will most likely have a better three point shooter in Cooney although Dion came on pretty strong. Same with James.
We will have a better three point shooter at SF in James although we have to replace KJO off the dribble that could be a challenge and has to be Fairs Job. Grant is in the mix also.
We will finally be able to go tall at the four for offensive boards, and if we grab Noel or Rak steps up we will be able to interchange our bigs in the high and low post. We haven't done that since the 1980's if I had to venture. Quite a stat.
We will be really deep again but worry about depth with injuries some without Noel or a 4th guard.
We bring the experience with Triche and Southerland as seniors Fair, Keita as Jrs. 4 upperclassmen.
I think we will be a pretty good FT shooting team but DC Rak and Keita could use some work I imagine.
I do worry about DC's conditioning would like to get him up to the speed of the college game get him out to some legal college level camps in the offseason to get him ready.

I think this team could have more balence then this years on the offensive end and really convert in the halfcourt and we already know our transition status.

Really there is reasons to think this team next year could be better then this years even. I think the balence could be there and will be better on the offensive end.