[Team makeup]

rich my first thought when i read "flyers" was east st louis flyers as in anthony mitchell and tommie liddell. not dayton.

Exactly I forgot AM is having surgery also on his knee

[Team makeup]

Messege boards being what they are, I'll say welcome to Billikens.com. We always love new posters. Ever since I pissed off Monroe Douglass's wife by not believing it was really her on this board, I'm a bit more cautious............

However please understand that with a "flyers" handle and posting what is likely crap right out of the gate with your first post, most of us will not pay you much attention till you can prove your worth....

Good evening!

ok BillikenRich, I understand what your saying. TL is having surgery on March 31st at 6am on his other ankle. Have you heard that yet

[Team makeup]

If all the recruits qualify, and assuming there are a couple of departures next year, this is what we'll have:

Bigs-Conklin, Thompson, Eberhardt, Knollmeyer, Reed 5

Wings-TL, Femi, Cassity, MR 4

Guards-KL, PE, KM, RC 4

That's 13 on scholies. The above seems like a pretty good spread to my way of thinking. No doubt young, but if this is indeed how it shakes itself out, we'll not necessarily be required to toss the kiddie corps right into the fray, but instead work them into the rigors of D1 ball gradually.

For example, PE or KL could man the point with RC and KM as backups. By the way is RC a true PG or a two? Also, do both KM and RC like to take it inside, and please let them be better shooters than DP. KL provides a solid 3 threat and hopefully PE's 3 shot improves over the summer.

Same with wings: TL and MR are back which will not put pressure on KC or FJ to produce right away. Would like to see at least one of these guys be a consistent 3 pt threat, but don't see it right now. Unless TL captures that lightning in the bottle he had his soph year during that one stretch where every 3 he tossed up seemed to go in. I don't know about KC and FJ 3 point ability, but it doesn't seemed to have been advertised much.

Inside game: This is the spot where we may need immediate production from a rookie. BE can't play the 5 nor can AK. Is BT a true banger and post player? Most of what I've read seems to indicate he's the type of big that can handle the ball and prefers to play more of an outside game. That may not be a bad thing, if he can play interior D and rebound. But this is where we need a "true big". Some guy who provides us a scoring threat down low to draw defenders away from the perimiter game. I have no clue as to whether WR is ready to assume a starting role right from day one. But based on information here, it sounds like he's gonna' be a project. Conklin seems to be the closest thing we have to a banger out of this group. Fair assessment? But is he likely to be a Kevin Love or Tyler Hansboro from day one? Given the above shortcomings, it would not surprise me to see the staff still bring in a true JUCO PF this spring. I don't think their work is done at that position.

The above squad does seem to reflect RM's style of play. A big front court, ie Conklin, Thompson, and Reed with a couple of the bigs having the ability to step outside ala Van Horn. Also a couple of big guards/wings for the future in FJ and KC. And if everyone develops as hoped, this is the type of well rounded squad that will produce the success we are all thirsting for and expect from the RM hire. Just read the SI article on the dance, and all coaches seem to agree "size matters" at the top level. Granted some teams that are dancing have been successful w/o a dominant big or two, but their chances diminish as they advance and start running into the big front line defenses and offenses. FL didn't win back to backs relying on 3 pt shooting, although they had a good one. Georgetown and Ct proved bigs alone can't do it. You still need good guard play and a 3 shooter to keep defenses honest. (As an aside, I thought CT looked like the worst coached team in the dance in their first round loss. They looked totally disjointed in the half court. )

Obviously a lot of positives have to happen with the above group, ie acceptance of RM's discipline and volatility, academic success, etc but if they stay together, stay passionate, and develop we could be on to something special. The holes have been filled. It's the most complete well rounded squad we've had since 2000.

A lot of the players we have now will not be there next year, I cant give away my source but they were told yesterday