2025-26 Billikens Starting Five & Bench Rotation

[BillikenRubs]

Curious to hear thoughts on who will get most run, projected starting five and bench minutes. 

Seems to me, best starting 5 is:

Robbie Avila (6-10), Ishan Sharma (6-5), Brady Dunlap (6-7), Paul Otieno (6-8), Trey Green (5-10),

and off bench:

Kalu Anya (6-8), Amari McCottry (6-6), Dylan Warlick(6-5), Quentin Jones (6-5), Dion Brown (6-3), Kellen Thames (6-6)

Mop-Up/Redshirt Candidates:

Luke Laczkowski, Jax Kerr, Cam Hutson, Walk-On

Potential issues: Feels like we are too small to compete with power 5 schools, yet again. We know Robbie isn't the answer on defense to average guys in SEC - and Anya/Otieno aren't imposing by any stretch. Will this team buy in? A deeper rotation could improve defensive intensity - but will Schertz actually utilize the depth? Can they come together as a unit? A lot of new faces with new roles - how long will it take for them to build trust/find common purpose? What will this team's identity be outside of Robbie? Lack of ball-handling guards a problem? New-age game suggests no - but SLU has had quality PG play for a while now.. 

Potential wins: Deep roster with talent across the board. If Robbie can take next step, and everyone gets on same page early, seems like a decently athletic team sans Robbie & Warlick. A-10 should be better this season as teams figure out how to use transfer portal and 'GM's like Woj and Steph start working magic. 

[cgeldmacher]

I cannot disagree with anything you listed.  However, I really hope that the playing time next season is based upon merit and not other factors.  If one of the freshmen is worthy of time, he should get it.  If one of the guys we thought would be a starter isn't cutting it, I hope he sees more of the bench.

[willie]

I would be surprised if Amari is not in the starting 5 

[SLUMedBilliken15]

I agree with Willie that McCottry will likely be a starter

Quentin Jones definitely has a chance to play himself into a starting role.

If Thames miraculously gets healthy he'll definitely start.

We know Anya may not be the top option  but he started last year and knows the system, so there is definitely a chance he may start at the beginning of the year if it takes Otieno a bit to learn the system.

It appears we have plenty of options. (Caveat: I always seem to feel this way during the preseason... and I seem to always be proven wrong.)

 

[billikenfan05]

8 minutes ago, SLUMedBilliken15 said:

I agree with Willie that McCottry will likely be a starter

Quentin Jones definitely has a chance to play himself into a starting role.

If Thames miraculously gets healthy he'll definitely start.

We know Anya may not be the top option  but he started last year and knows the system, so there is definitely a chance he may start at the beginning of the year if it takes Otieno a bit to learn the system.

It appears we have plenty of options. (Caveat: I always seem to feel this way during the preseason... and I seem to always be proven wrong.)

 

I fully expect Otieno to be the top option over Anya. If he is not, we'll be bad again. 

49 minutes ago, BillikenRubs said:

Curious to hear thoughts on who will get most run, projected starting five and bench minutes. 

Seems to me, best starting 5 is:

Robbie Avila (6-10), Ishan Sharma (6-5), Brady Dunlap (6-7), Paul Otieno (6-8), Trey Green (5-10),

and off bench:

Kalu Anya (6-8), Amari McCottry (6-6), Dylan Warlick(6-5), Quentin Jones (6-5), Dion Brown (6-3), Kellen Thames (6-6)

Mop-Up/Redshirt Candidates:

Luke Laczkowski, Jax Kerr, Cam Hutson, Walk-On

Potential issues: Feels like we are too small to compete with power 5 schools, yet again. We know Robbie isn't the answer on defense to average guys in SEC - and Anya/Otieno aren't imposing by any stretch. Will this team buy in? A deeper rotation could improve defensive intensity - but will Schertz actually utilize the depth? Can they come together as a unit? A lot of new faces with new roles - how long will it take for them to build trust/find common purpose? What will this team's identity be outside of Robbie? Lack of ball-handling guards a problem? New-age game suggests no - but SLU has had quality PG play for a while now.. 

Potential wins: Deep roster with talent across the board. If Robbie can take next step, and everyone gets on same page early, seems like a decently athletic team sans Robbie & Warlick. A-10 should be better this season as teams figure out how to use transfer portal and 'GM's like Woj and Steph start working magic. 

Kellen Thames right now is more of a graduate manager role than a player role, let alone bench depth. Things could change, but that's what the staff is expecting.

Kerr has been billed as a Robbie understudy since he signed. If he's not getting at least 5 minutes a game to spell Robbie, I'll be very very surprised.

Who's to say Woj and Steph will be good at being GMs. What is Steph's actual role? He's still in the middle of an NBA career with no inkling that he will retire. It's fairly clear he's there to remind people that the best shooter of all time played at Davidson and kick in some money.
 

The rest are just questions about whether we'll be good this year. And the answer to that is, probably better than last year.

[ACE]

I expect Jones to start. I would put Warlick in the mop up minutes category, unless there are a bunch of injuries again. Agreed that frontcourt size could be an issue. I was hoping for one more big. I hope we take care of the ball better and aren't so sloppy this season. And a question I raised, I'll be interested in figuring out who will be our best defenders.

[MusicCityBilliken]

43 minutes ago, willie said:

I would be surprised if Amari is not in the starting 5 

By Thanksgiving, Amari will be starting if he not already starting.

Also, I am skeptical about Otieno, Kalu maybe starting over him. A10 stats are more significant than MAAC stats.

[slu72]

Amari starts. Over who…no idea. Is Kellen’s health still unresolved? That seems strange given today’s medical science where there are few mysteries. But if it’s chronic and can’t be cured entirely that’s heartbreaking. He was showing some signs of stardom last season. Here’s hoping he’s well enough or can be treated to contribute off the bench. 

[HoosierPal]

Here is a different spin....minutes played per game last season by the 11 upperclassmen.  The returning players total 235 minutes for a 200 minute game.  And there are no minutes in that total for freshmen.  Yes, there are some inaccuracies in simply adding up mpg, such as games played, injuries, etc.  But, there will be some unhappy bench warmers next season.  The first absolute is that a healthy Avila will play 30+ minutes per game.  It is common knowledge (for most posters) that Schertz likes a tight rotation.  He settled in at 7 last season, once all the issues came through.  Look back at his history over the past 8 seasons and you will see that an 8 man rotation his the norm.  "Oh but this will be the deepest team he ever had!"  Will it be?     

	mpg
Anya	27.9
Avila	33.9
Brown	25.8
Dunlap	16.5
Green	10.8
Jones	35.4
McCottry	14.5
Otieno	31.0
Sharma	12.8
Thames	16.3
Warlick	10.1
Total Min.	235.0

[WVBilliken]

5 hours ago, BillikenRubs said:

Curious to hear thoughts on who will get most run, projected starting five and bench minutes. 

Seems to me, best starting 5 is:

Robbie Avila (6-10), Ishan Sharma (6-5), Brady Dunlap (6-7), Paul Otieno (6-8), Trey Green (5-10),

and off bench:

Kalu Anya (6-8), Amari McCottry (6-6), Dylan Warlick(6-5), Quentin Jones (6-5), Dion Brown (6-3), Kellen Thames (6-6)

Mop-Up/Redshirt Candidates:

Luke Laczkowski, Jax Kerr, Cam Hutson, Walk-On

Potential issues: Feels like we are too small to compete with power 5 schools, yet again. We know Robbie isn't the answer on defense to average guys in SEC - and Anya/Otieno aren't imposing by any stretch. Will this team buy in? A deeper rotation could improve defensive intensity - but will Schertz actually utilize the depth? Can they come together as a unit? A lot of new faces with new roles - how long will it take for them to build trust/find common purpose? What will this team's identity be outside of Robbie? Lack of ball-handling guards a problem? New-age game suggests no - but SLU has had quality PG play for a while now.. 

Potential wins: Deep roster with talent across the board. If Robbie can take next step, and everyone gets on same page early, seems like a decently athletic team sans Robbie & Warlick. A-10 should be better this season as teams figure out how to use transfer portal and 'GM's like Woj and Steph start working magic. 

Way too early to even guess but given this is just wild speculation: 

Starters .... Avila, Otieno, McCottry, Dunlap, Green.

In the Rotation ..... Sharma, Thames (swap with Warlick if Thames can't play), Anya, Jones, Brown

Mop-up Crew: Warlick, Laczkowski, Kerr, Hutson

[Bills By 40]

So help me god if Otieno isn't a clear and obvious improvement from day 1 over Anya, we are screwed. 

[3star_recruit]

14 minutes ago, Bills By 40 said:

So help me god if Otieno isn't a clear and obvious improvement from day 1 over Anya, we are screwed. 

Or Anya develops a jump hook and elevates his free throw shooting to 70% over the summer.  Stranger things have happened.