On paper, the best team I've seen at Cuse in a long time

[DirtDog44]

If this teams finds a way to gel, we could be scary good by mid season. I honestly don't remember a team having this much talent and depth in the recent past. I'm just hoping JB uses a lot of these weapons and doesn't go with a 6 man rotation. Our talent really demands at least an 8 man rotation this year.

My prediction for the starting lineup:

- PG - John Gillon
SG- Andrew White III
C- DeJuan Coleman
SF- Tyler Lydon
PF- Tyler Roberson

I think Gillon / White / Howard and Battle all split time during each game and that Coleman starts each game but Pascal plays more minutes. Moyer and Thompson ride pine and play sporadically.

 

[Dave85]

Now can they play championship quality defense?

 

[Section 314 Row C]

I can't imagine Battle not starting at SG.

 

[RandygoCuse]

Lots of talent. It's a good problem to have but I feel like two of our three best players (Lydon and Roberson) play the same position and thus one will most likely come off the bench. I think Lydon will see some time at the three but he's a more natural 4 - at least in college.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I've been having dreams of Chukwu and Lydon make Harry Giles look like Charles Smith (circa 1993) at the rim.

 

[EastCoast2]

5 years later and fans still can't spell DaJuan correctly. DaJuan. Not Dejuan or Dajuan.

 

[OrangeDW]

We are loaded. We'll need to gel on both ends of the court, but on paper there is nothing lacking. We've got size, athleticism, shooting, ball handling, depth. Boeheim's teams have been generally good for a long time as far as guys finding their roles, so I would think that will happen and we'll have a great team.

 

[pearl31]

Battle won't not be starting.

 

[DirtDog44]

I just don't see Boeheim bringing in 2 highly experienced grad students with an intention of having them come off the bench.

 

[kjb120]

I just don't see Boeheim bringing in 2 highly experienced grad students with an intention of having them come off the bench.

Im not going to debate the starters as that has been done in pretty much every thread, but the one person I am certain will be a starter is Battle. Maybe he plays the back of the zone on defense so that White can play up top as the 2, but on offense Battle will play the 2 or have the ball in his hands a lot.

 

[Dave85]

Here's my blowing air out of some orifice guess at who's starting:

PG - Gillon
SG - Battle
SF - White
PF - Roberson
C - Coleman

I think Lydon, Howard, and Chukwu come off the bench. Thompson and Moyer will play limited minutes.

 

[RandygoCuse]

5 years later and fans still can't spell DaJuan correctly. DaJuan. Not Dejuan or Dajuan.

Yes, because when our school is in charge, the spelling is always right.

 

[SoBristol]

Deepest team through 9 or 10 players -- yes.

Best top 5 players (the ones who will play in tight games)? I might go with 2010 or 2012.

 

[dasher]

Deepest team through 9 or 10 players -- yes.

Best top 5 players (the ones who will play in tight games)? I might go with 2010 or 2012.

Our second team in 2012 had MCW, Dion, Southerland, Fair and Baye. You think this second five is better?

 

[SoBristol]

Our second team in 2012 had MCW, Dion, Southerland, Fair and Baye. You think this second five is better?

Debatable. Fair & Dion got starters' minutes with that team, so let's say the second team was Southerland (7 pts) and Rak (not the senior version -- 2.3 pts that year) at forward, Keita (also 2.3 pts, but good defensively), Triche (9 pts) and MCW (as a skinny frosh -- 2.7 pts, but more if JB went a tad deeper than 3 guards ).

The second five this season (in terms of minutes): Coleman, Thompson, Moyer, Howard & Gillon. Difficult to predict what Moyer & Thompson will actually contribute ...

 

[dasher]

Debatable. Fair & Dion got starters' minutes with that team, so let's say the second team was Southerland (7 pts) and Rak (not the senior version -- 2.3 pts that year) at forward, Keita (also 2.3 pts, but good defensively), Triche (9 pts) and MCW (as a skinny frosh -- 2.7 pts, but more if JB went a tad deeper than 3 guards ).

The second five this season (in terms of minutes): Coleman, Thompson, Moyer, Howard & Gillon. Difficult to predict what Moyer & Thompson will actually contribute ...

The second 5 is the 5 that don't start.

 

[Day2]

Look for Gillon or Lydon to "take one for the team" and come off the bench. They'll both be in when it matters, though.

 

[dollarbill44]

5 years later and fans still can't spell DaJuan correctly. DaJuan. Not Dejuan or Dajuan.

It's French for "of the (fem.) Juan". We should all know how that's spelled.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Here's my blowing air out of some orifice guess at who's starting:

PG - Gillon
SG - Battle
SF - White
PF - Roberson
C - Coleman

I think Lydon, Howard, and Chukwu come off the bench. Thompson and Moyer will play limited minutes.

Our best 5 will likely be:

PG - Gillon
SG - Battle
SF - White
PF - Lydon
C - Chukwu

4 shooters + shot-blocker. Best all-around balance for scoring and defense. If you swap Roberson with Lydon, you lose optimal floor spacing on offense. If you swap DC2 for Chukwu, we see a drop-off in rim protection that is so critical for the zone and the press.

 

[Doc5120]

Here's my blowing air out of some orifice guess at who's starting:

PG - Gillon
SG - Battle
SF - White
PF - Roberson
C - Coleman

I think Lydon, Howard, and Chukwu come off the bench. Thompson and Moyer will play limited minutes.

If Tyler Lydon is coming off the bench, I'll be absolutely shocked. He's our best player. A top 15-20 player nationally. He's starting and logging heavy minutes. He's basically the only guy I'm sure will start. My best guess:

PG: Howard
SG: Battle
SF: White
PF: Lydon
C: Coleman

 

[CusefanATL]

Deepest team through 9 or 10 players -- yes.

Best top 5 players (the ones who will play in tight games)? I might go with 2010 or 2012.

But who was our go-to player in 2012?

 

[omniorange]

Look for Gillon or Lydon to "take one for the team" and come off the bench. They'll both be in when it matters, though.

I am actually thinking it might be Gillon. Unless the practices show otherwise, I think TB is given the keys to the car early on to see how he does.

Battle
White
Lydon
Roberson
Coleman

with Gillon, Chukwu, Thompson, and Howard the key reserves.

Cheers,
Neil

 

[RF2044]

I am actually thinking it might be Gillon. Unless the practices show otherwise, I think TB is given the keys to the car early on to see how he does.

Battle
White
Lydon
Roberson
Coleman

with Gillon, Chukwu, Thompson, and Howard the key reserves.

Cheers,
Neil

I don't know--that lineup makes me cringe from a ball handling / passing perspective. Especially with White / Lydon not being natural ball handlers in the open floor, against pressure, or in terms of setting up teammates.

Battle is such a transcendent scorer that I have difficulty envisioning him being pigeon holed as the lead guard [his nickname is "Kid Mamba"--not "Kid Magic," after all]. Plus, he'd be the third best lead guard on the roster beyond Howard / Gillon. He's versatile, and can handle / pass, but I'm not sure that having a frosh combo run the team would be helped by having two other guys manning the wing positions who can't aren't comfortable ball handlers. :noidea: Might be different if he had someone like G [for example] playing alongside him to alleviate some of the pressure and co-facilitate.

There is no doubt in my mind that we'll see that lineup at times intermittently this season. But effective lineups are about having the components have the right complimentary skill sets, and I don't see that one as being optimized in that regard.

 

[omniorange]

I don't know--that lineup makes me cringe from a ball handling / passing perspective. Especially with White / Lydon not being natural ball handlers in the open floor, against pressure, or in terms of setting up teammates.

Battle is such a transcendent scorer that I have difficulty envisioning him being pigeon holed as the lead guard [his nickname is "Kid Mamba"--not "Kid Magic," after all]. Plus, he'd be the third best lead guard on the roster beyond Howard / Gillon. He's versatile, and can handle / pass, but I'm not sure that having a frosh combo run the team would be helped by having two other guys manning the wing positions who can't aren't comfortable ball handlers. :noidea: Might be different if he had someone like G [for example] playing alongside him to alleviate some of the pressure and co-facilitate.

There is no doubt in my mind that we'll see that lineup at times intermittently this season. But effective lineups are about having the components have the right complimentary skill sets, and I don't see that one as being optimized in that regard.

Understand your viewpoint and it makes sense and you are probably right. But I think, in general, posters tend to get way too caught up in the traditional notions of starters/reserves and also in terms of traditional roles of PG/SG/SF/PF in threads dealing with starting line-ups. We just went to the FF last year with a guard combination that was hardly stellar in terms of traditional ball-handling duties and a traditional stretch-4 playing the majority of his minutes at center.

I actually think Battle comes in with better ball-handling and distribution PG skills than G had when we turned the keys over to him. And G basically got the gig due to KJ being a complete bust despite being considered a Top 10-15 PG in his recruiting class. It's White that makes my thoughts dubious, moreso than Battle, imho.

I like Gillon, but he appears to need the ball in his hands a lot. And I seem to recall a thread where Colorado State fans said that Gillon was much better coming off the bench and changing the pace of the game, which is where I see him helping SU as well. He's awfully small to be playing the top of the zone when Coleman is at center. My thinking, flawed as it might be, is that he would be more effective coming off the bench with Chukwu.

Cheers,
Neil

 

[RF2044]

Understand your viewpoint and it makes sense and you are probably right. But I think, in general, posters tend to get way too caught up in the traditional notions of starters/reserves and also in terms of traditional roles of PG/SG/SF/PF in threads dealing with starting line-ups. We just went to the FF last year with a guard combination that was hardly stellar in terms of traditional ball-handling duties and a traditional stretch-4 playing the majority of his minutes at center.

I actually think Battle comes in with better ball-handling and distribution PG skills than G had when we turned the keys over to him. And G basically got the gig due to KJ being a complete bust despite being considered a Top 10-15 PG in his recruiting class. It's White that makes my thoughts dubious, moreso than Battle, imho.

I like Gillon, but he appears to need the ball in his hands a lot. And I seem to recall a thread where Colorado State fans said that Gillon was much better coming off the bench and changing the pace of the game, which is where I see him helping SU as well. He's awfully small to be playing the top of the zone when Coleman is at center. My thinking, flawed as it might be, is that he would be more effective coming off the bench with Chukwu.

Cheers,
Neil

I don't disagree about people getting too hung up on positions / traditional roles, which isn't as important in the modern game [also because we typically have players who have multi position versatility].

For me, this comes down to what different teams need. Some teams have lots of versatile components who can handle / pass / create, and those teams aren't as reliant upon having a traditional point guard running the offense. So having a floor general isn't as important to that type of squad.

A team with non-ball handlers like White / Lydon would have a greater need to have a lead guard to orchestrate offensive sets, handle pressure, get the ball to players where they can do something with the ball, etc.

So, no doubt--we're going to see all kinds of lineups and lots of different combinations, some of which will be based upon matchups and who happens to be playing better any given night. But the proposed lineup with a Battle / White backcourt gives me pause. It feels like people are trying too hard to shoehorn Lydon into the SF slot, which results in having three players potentially out of their "best" positions.

In any event, can't wait until practices start. That's where PT is going to be earned.