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slu72

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Based on the reports from Billiken Madness I'm assuming we're going with a starting lineup as follows:

MM

JJ/AM

DE

RL

GG

Pretty much the same as last year minus KM.

With DE being more an inside SF vs a perimeter player and assuming he'll get 30-35 mpg, I expect we'll see JB off the bench playing like a hybrid 2/3 with DE moving to the 4.

It sounds like JM's ready to get more minutes subbing for RL and GG.

Big question is what will GG's role be this year. Like last year when he played about 12- 15 mpg providing a spark of energy to start the halves and then disappear, or will his minutes increase to the 20-25 mpg level? I'd guess this would depend on how quickly RA and TL get acclimated.

So our inside will be DE and RL getting the bulk of the minutes, and seeing combinations of RL/JB/JM/GG until one or more of the Frosh prove they're D1 capable. An 8 man rotation that also is going to rely on JM and GG having improved over the summer.

This leads me to believe JB will be seeing a significant increase in his minutes this year at the 3. Which I think we'll be a plus if he's truly relocated his 3 pt shot. Also, an opportunity for either TL or MC to compete for JB's minutes if his 3 shot doesn't pan out.

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Agree with all this 72. The difference in us being a good team and a great team relies on the effectiveness of AM. If MM or JJ is forced to play 35-39 minutes simiar to the beginning of last season, then we are going to lay an egg or 2 along the way.

Here we are again though with a good problem of not enough minutes to go around. I am curious if Crews is suggesting a redshirt for any of our Freshman. Crawford seems a likely candidate given we will have 4 guards ahead of him.

I want RA to find his way in the starting line up by conference play....I am not quite sure if that is pipe dream or not.

-Nick

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Last year, I was focused on who replaces Conklin in the interior. I think that was eventually answered with Mr. Evans. This year's questions appears to be who replaces the outside shooting provided by Ellis and the establishment of the rotation. That's not too big a list which is what I think you get with returning so many upperclassmen. But it is one more question than I had last year.

For what Remekun gave us last year, I see an easy replacement with Manning and maybe Agbeko. It's not really too tall an order.

Ellis, who Athlon's said shot only 25% from three down the stretch, always gave you that "uh-oh, cover him" push when he was on the floor. This went hand-in-glove with Evans' ability to operate down low. Coupled with Loe's outside shot, it made defenses stay honest on those two on the perimeter while Evans had one-on-one free roam in the paint. If covered by a smaller man (Fordham), he dominated. If covered by a bigger man (New Mexico State), he outquicked them. For the same results this year, we need the same chess game playing our way. Think about it this way --- if we have Glaze, Manning and Evans all on the court at the same time, we will have six big bodies parked in the lane, not two. Space available? I think not. Even if Loe is the non-traditional big (and we all know he is) Glaze being in there still adds another defender into the lane mix. And if you play Barnett or Crawford as a small three, defensively we might suffer on the other end. TBD.

That's my first question. My second is rotation. We ran four pretty good guards through rotation all year. In that scenario, Barnett might have been the weakest link. But JB did well in his role. Now, does McBroom replace Mitchell and the three others are back? if so, we'll be fine. And we had a nice front court rotation that ALLOWED us to start Glaze for his energy. All because the A10 Sixth Man of the Year was on our bench. We don't have that now, we have no front court replacements at all just yet. Thery are all unknowns. Could it be Lancona? Agbeko? Sure. Again, this assumes Manning takes at least the Remekun spot of minutes with similar production results. Remekun gave us 18.1mpg/4.5ppg/2.9rpg. Manning gave us 5.7/1.7/0.6. I guess the question is are the differences of 12.4/2.8/2.3 out of reach in terms of expectations for a third-year player in the program? And can Glaze add to his 12.0/3.1/2.6 numbers? I think expectations for such are not unreasonable. There's the mesuring stick for grading these guys come next April.

And the issue otherwise in rotation is what the sub does. Did Ellis' entry onto the court make us better? Replacing Glaze? I think so. But who does that role fall to this year? Did inserting Jett add or subtract from our floor team if Mitchell or McCall came out? No way. But what does McBroom add this year if he is that replacement?

That's what I'll be looking for come the OOC season. Oh yeah ---- plus Jett's inability to shoot the mid-range jumper. How could I forget that????? (Sarcasm for you Sheldon Coopers out there).

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I think as far as AB replacing mcbroom I am most worried that he is not athletic enough to make up for his lack of size driving in the lane

okay remind me who is AB or is that a typo for JB?

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Based on the reports from Billiken Madness I'm assuming we're going with a starting lineup as follows:

MM

JJ/AM

DE

RL

GG

Pretty much the same as last year minus KM.

With DE being more an inside SF vs a perimeter player and assuming he'll get 30-35 mpg, I expect we'll see JB off the bench playing like a hybrid 2/3 with DE moving to the 4.

It sounds like JM's ready to get more minutes subbing for RL and GG.

Big question is what will GG's role be this year. Like last year when he played about 12- 15 mpg providing a spark of energy to start the halves and then disappear, or will his minutes increase to the 20-25 mpg level? I'd guess this would depend on how quickly RA and TL get acclimated.

So our inside will be DE and RL getting the bulk of the minutes, and seeing combinations of RL/JB/JM/GG until one or more of the Frosh prove they're D1 capable. An 8 man rotation that also is going to rely on JM and GG having improved over the summer.

This leads me to believe JB will be seeing a significant increase in his minutes this year at the 3. Which I think we'll be a plus if he's truly relocated his 3 pt shot. Also, an opportunity for either TL or MC to compete for JB's minutes if his 3 shot doesn't pan out.

I assume JJ and MM will be starters and Mc Broom will get the role that KM had last year due to early injury-being the third guard and adding firepower as he had a reputation at Central Michigan for putting it up from any angle-no problems with conscience like KC in the past

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From what I hear, Lancona will see the most minutes out of the freshmen

10 minutes is not a good sample but RA looked like the Remeuken replacement with better hands, feet, body, and basketball IQ and no one will ever ask why we did not redshirt this kid coming in from Prep school.

TL looked like a mature Sloan with more weight; but in shape? Many freshmen have no idea the stamina it takes to keep up in D1 ball and this kid will find the few moves he had to the basket are going to get stuffed. I hope the kid is great but I think AM (transfer) and RA will get more minutes and TL is third from the little we saw. I appreciate the walk ons. However if this is all we are going to see before the first game it cluttered the floor with kids at a different level.

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10 minutes is not a good sample but RA looked like the Remeuken replacement with better hands, feet, body, and basketball IQ and no one will ever ask why we did not redshirt this kid coming in from Prep school.

TL looked like a mature Sloan with more weight; but in shape? Many freshmen have no idea the stamina it takes to keep up in D1 ball and this kid will find the few moves he had to the basket are going to get stuffed. I hope the kid is great but I think AM (transfer) and RA will get more minutes and TL is third from the little we saw. I appreciate the walk ons. However if this is all we are going to see before the first game it cluttered the floor with kids at a different level.

You could be right. I wasn't able to make it to the open practice, but I've heard a couple things in the offseason:

- Grandy was told that he can't just be the energy guy anymore and he put in major work in the offseason.

- Lancona is a Cody-like player and is being personally mentored by CE while he is still here. Don't expect him to see Cody-type minutes or even play at that level but he should fill part of that role as a stretch 4.

- Barnett is much improved. I think he'll see pretty good minutes this season.

- Manning is looking good but he looked good last preseason too. He's playing with more confidence now though and he is being counted on to contribute.

- Haven't heard much about Agbeko. Supposedly they really like what he can do both handling the ball, rebounding, and scoring, but he might not be up to speed with the college game for a while.

- Evans, McCall, and Jett all improved all-around. McCall is taking better control of the offense.

- The coaching staff loves what Crawford brings to the table but I'm not sure where the minutes are this season. I think he's going to be a really good player down the line.

- I think Yacoubou is going to be a really good player next year, but I never know what to expect when a guy has to sit out a year.

- McBroom is the fastest guy on the team and he's very aggressive shooting the ball. But I've heard that his defense is well behind what was expected of him.

I wouldn't read this and expect it all to be completely accurate. It's just what I've heard through a couple of decent sources.

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Good analysis 72...Our guard rotation is pretty much set (Jett, McC, McB, and Barnett), it just depends on the order. I'm assuming Jett and McCall will get 30+ minutes per game...and I really hope McBroom's defense is better than we've been hearing.

As for our front court, Evans is a lock at 30+ minutes per game. Loe should get 25+ minutes per too...

That leaves: Glaze, Agbeko, Lancona, and Manning fighting for 2 spots in the rotation. Out of these 4, Lancona is the only one who can hit the 3. Maybe that's relevant, maybe it isn't. Each team takes on its own identity, and maybe, given our personnel, this team will be different than last year's. Perhaps we won't even need somebody to 'take over' Cody's spot as a stretch 4...

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-I really like this thread

-@Taj, I agree rotation will be important as last year we had a senior(CE) and junior (JJ) filling the first spot front- and backcourt if not from game 1 then not too far into the season, I would not be surprised if those spots are a bit more in flux throughout the season and I REALLY HOPE JM can give us what CR did last season or more but it seems a big part of his game is playing with confidence and it can be shaken, and perhaps stirred

-@13, what does GG bring? will he be able to hit the open 6 or 8 foot shot? make ft's? be in position on defense? rebound? if he does those things he will eat minutes

-I said this in an earlier thread, but AM better be playing defense

-I think we are taking the leap that MM plays like the MM not influenced by the presence of KM, we've seen he can do it, we need to see it all season, prepared to take my hits here but I believe he can be our best and most valuable player

-if CE can teach Lancona to be a better shooting him we would have a super nice player (remember too how much CE helped break pressure)

-speaking of super nice, if what 68 saw is approaching this level we should be ok....

1253-MBBBB030511019.jpg

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-I really like this thread

-@Taj, I agree rotation will be important as last year we had a senior(CE) and junior (JJ) filling the first spot front- and backcourt if not from game 1 then not too far into the season, I would not be surprised if those spots are a bit more in flux throughout the season and I REALLY HOPE JM can give us what CR did last season or more but it seems a big part of his game is playing with confidence and it can be shaken, and perhaps stirred

-@13, what does GG bring? will he be able to hit the open 6 or 8 foot shot? make ft's? be in position on defense? rebound? if he does those things he will eat minutes

-I said this in an earlier thread, but AM better be playing defense

-I think we are taking the leap that MM plays like the MM not influenced by the presence of KM, we've seen he can do it, we need to see it all season, prepared to take my hits here but I believe he can be our best and most valuable player

-if CE can teach Lancona to be a better shooting him we would have a super nice player (remember too how much CE helped break pressure)

-speaking of super nice, if what 68 saw is approaching this level we should be ok....

1253-MBBBB030511019.jpg

This is Oregon quality.

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-I think we are taking the leap that MM plays like the MM not influenced by the presence of KM, we've seen he can do it, we need to see it all season, prepared to take my hits here but I believe he can be our best and most valuable player

I'm with you on this...the focus this off-season has primarily been on Evans and Jett (and why wouldn't it be; they're both beasts) but watch out for McCall...I wouldn't be surprised if he averaged 14-15 points per to go with 4-5 assists...

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MM was a beast prior to KM's return. Then he deferred to KM, rightly so, and he became a little timid on O. W/ no one to defer to this year he should be fine. I think a lot of us forget how quick he is going to the hoop, which he did in OOC play last year.

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You could be right. I wasn't able to make it to the open practice, but I've heard a couple things in the offseason:

- Grandy was told that he can't just be the energy guy anymore and he put in major work in the offseason.

- Lancona is a Cody-like player and is being personally mentored by CE while he is still here. Don't expect him to see Cody-type minutes or even play at that level but he should fill part of that role as a stretch 4.

- Barnett is much improved. I think he'll see pretty good minutes this season.

- Manning is looking good but he looked good last preseason too. He's playing with more confidence now though and he is being counted on to contribute.

- Haven't heard much about Agbeko. Supposedly they really like what he can do both handling the ball, rebounding, and scoring, but he might not be up to speed with the college game for a while.

- Evans, McCall, and Jett all improved all-around. McCall is taking better control of the offense.

- The coaching staff loves what Crawford brings to the table but I'm not sure where the minutes are this season. I think he's going to be a really good player down the line.

- I think Yacoubou is going to be a really good player next year, but I never know what to expect when a guy has to sit out a year.

- McBroom is the fastest guy on the team and he's very aggressive shooting the ball. But I've heard that his defense is well behind what was expected of him.

I wouldn't read this and expect it all to be completely accurate. It's just what I've heard through a couple of decent sources.

Appreciate the input. Comments to your comments. Agbeko taking awhile to get used to the speed of the college game would be normal for incoming freshmen (especially non-American players) but contrary to the expectations set by others on this Board. Unfortunately, maybe a dose of realism is more accurate but I hope not.

Yacoubou has already played high level college ball so sitting out a year, working on this game and practicing against the first string shouldn't really hurt him.

McBroom either will be good at defense or not but, IMO, this shouldn't be a issue. Aside from being too small, too weak or too slow (shouldn't be problems for him), defense is really about technique, hustle and desire. And because McBroom already played a year of college ball, had all last year to mature, lift weights and practice against our first string (KM, MM, JJ, etc.), his defense should be ready to go. The coaches and players watched him play all last year so I wonder who has unrealistic "expectations"?

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Ellis, who Athlon's said shot only 25% from three down the stretch, always gave you that "uh-oh, cover him" push when he was on the floor. This went hand-in-glove with Evans' ability to operate down low. Coupled with Loe's outside shot, it made defenses stay honest on those two on the perimeter while Evans had one-on-one free roam in the paint. If covered by a smaller man (Fordham), he dominated. If covered by a bigger man (New Mexico State), he outquicked them. For the same results this year, we need the same chess game playing our way. Think about it this way --- if we have Glaze, Manning and Evans all on the court at the same time, we will have six big bodies parked in the lane, not two. Space available? I think not. Even if Loe is the non-traditional big (and we all know he is) Glaze being in there still adds another defender into the lane mix. And if you play Barnett or Crawford as a small three, defensively we might suffer on the other end. TBD.

If Evans, Manning, and Glaze are in together, Evans will probably move to the perimeter on both sides of the ball, so there won't likely be six players in the lane. Besides, most opposing teams won't have a big small forward, anyway.

That leaves: Glaze, Agbeko, Lancona, and Manning fighting for 2 spots in the rotation. Out of these 4, Lancona is the only one who can hit the 3. Maybe that's relevant, maybe it isn't. Each team takes on its own identity, and maybe, given our personnel, this team will be different than last year's. Perhaps we won't even need somebody to 'take over' Cody's spot as a stretch 4...

That's what I've been saying for a while: SLU doesn't necessarily need to style-for-style replacement for Cody Ellis this year. This year's team will have a somewhat different personality from last year's team.

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Does anyone think Crawford or Agbeko will redshirt? We're already looking at up to 6 freshmen in 2014-2015; I've never been a fan of having over 5 scholarship players in one class.

If we see marginal improvement from all returning players, we're going to be a seriously dangerous team this season.

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If McBroom is quicker than McCall, that would be very impressive, because I didn't see many guards quicker than MM last year. I hope MM improves at finishing his drives. He could get to the lane with his quickness, but couldn't convert nearly as well as KM. last year That is one thing that KM was tremendous at. While not as quick as MM, he just had a knack for getting to the rim and scoring in traffic. Hopefully AM can bring some of that in addition to a better 3-point shot than KM.

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Does anyone think Crawford or Agbeko will redshirt? We're already looking at up to 6 freshmen in 2014-2015; I've never been a fan of having over 5 scholarship players in one class.

If we see marginal improvement from all returning players, we're going to be a seriously dangerous team this season.

I wouldn't be surprised if Crawford redshirts, but you raise a good point.. if none redshirt, it may not be a bad thing considering how many freshman are likely coming in for 2014-15. But I don't expect all of our remaing scholarship for 2014-15 to go to freshman. I would expect a juco and maybe a transfer to be mixed in.

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If McBroom is quicker than McCall, that would be very impressive, because I didn't see many guards quicker than MM last year. I hope MM improves at finishing his drives. He could get to the lane with his quickness, but couldn't convert nearly as well as KM. last year That is one thing that KM was tremendous at. While not as quick as MM, he just had a knack for getting to the rim and scoring in traffic. Hopefully AM can bring some of that in addition to a better 3-point shot than KM.

Is McBroom quicker than McCall? I've been seeing how McBroom is the fastest player on the team, but "fastest" doesn't always mean "quickest."

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Is McBroom quicker than McCall? I've been seeing how McBroom is the fastest player on the team, but "fastest" doesn't always mean "quickest."

I've heard him described both ways. I get the distinction. For excample. KM said last year that GG was the fastest player on the team.

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