I know it's early, but i'm pretty excited for the upcoming season. I'm really curious to hear how you all think the lineup/rotation's going to play out this year. Looking at the team now with a complete roster we could really be 12 (13 being Uguak redshirting) deep in terms of players who may be able contribute meaningful time. Last year our depth killed us as we weren't able to rest our starters. We had 4 players average just over or under 32mpg last year and it showed in how their legs seemed to go at the end of the season. By comparison WSU had only 4 players average OVER 20, and only two of those over 25. While I don't think we have their talent level across the roster, i think we could have something close in terms of 10 players averaging over 10 per game.

I ideally we'd hold our starters below 28 mpg, and ideally 25 or less against lesser teams that we should beat (Ingram, Custer, and Richardson should not be playing 30 against Alcorn State again this year). I feel like Porter loves the hustle Ben plays with, and the versatility of Ingram (he also called him our most versatile defender last year) so they'll probably play the most. Here's my guess though:

Starters
PG Custer- 25
G Richardson-28
G Townes-25
F Ingram-28
C Shanks-10


Bench
This season we have a bench that should be much deeper and i really have no idea. I could see Avery creeping in and competing with Townes for that 5th starting spot. Williamson I could see surprising and pushing our sophomores, or simply playing spot minutes and taking the year to develop. On the flipside i could see Satterwhite's development accelerating and cutting into starter minutes which i think would be a great thing.

Jackson-22
Krutwig-20
Avery-18
Satterwhite- about 15
Skokna-10
Negron-10
Williamson-Spot minutes

I didn't do much math so it could be way off. There's a good mix of experience and young talent on this team. Our starting line up could potentially be 5 seniors this season if Jackson takes the 4 and Ingram plays the 3 (Custer's a 4th year player, but listed as a junior). There's a deep bench of young talent that will allow for a lot of mixing and matching, and I could see some really fun lineups playing out this year.

This year we seem to be loaded with talent (especially in the 6-3 to 6-6 area).

I would suggest starting the year platooning, especially in the non-conference schedule, to prepare us for conference play. The team needs to jell & the new players need to adapt. That means using the big guys early, as the way they will learn is game time.

Gold 32’1”, 1050 lb
Shanks 7-0 245 G
Jackson 6-5 230 4
Townes 6-4 205 3-4
Richards 6-3 185 4
Custer 6-1 185 3-4

Maroon 32’5”, 1050 lb
Krutwig 6-9 270 1
Ingram 6-6 215 4
Williamson 6-5 200 1
Satterwhite 6-4 175 2 led team in steals/40; 52.3 2pt%, .733 FT%, team’s quickest player
Avery 6-5 190 3 team’s most assists/game

subs for injuries, illness, fouls, etc.
Negron 6-6 205 1 coming off an injury, needs to add muscle, great future potential
Skokna 6-4 175 2 team’s worst 2pt shooter, bad 3pt shooter, team’s lowest pt/40m, not a point guard with a/to <1.0, fewest steals/40 of LU’s guards.

I don't remember these two guys being on the roster, but, man, I love their size!

They make Krutwig and Shanks look like midgets.

That is an interesting backcourt, Fleet!
But I guess it makes sense if your frontcourt averages over 32'.

You went a little over on total minutes, but not much. My thinking is pretty similar. I do think Williamson can get minutes though. It would surprise me if Avery got 18. I'd give some of his minutes and Krutwig's to Williamson. Although Shanks might not get 10 minutes either... he could foul out in 10 minutes!

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MBB Scholarship Chart

Interesting! This is why I wanted to hear peoples thoughts. I personally could see Avery being the teams most impactful addition for this season and push to be our leading scorer. I'm basing most of this on his JUCO stats, but they are pretty absurd (24 pts, 11 rebs, 4 assists).

It would be a pleasant surprise because if he's getting 18 minutes, I'd have to think he's scoring in double figures. I'm expecting more from Townes than Avery for sure.. just based on experience. Also know the staff really likes Lucas so I expect him to get some minutes to develop, and there are only 200 minutes to go around. It is going to be hard to keep everybody happy!

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MBB Scholarship Chart

Wow !! This truly IS fun to be reading of a "problem" we now have !! Even as we all know in our NCAA Title season; we did NOT hve this thing !!

It really looks as if we are going to the next DANCE !! As each day goes by, I get more encoouraged---MOSER will do the correct thing as our coach.

HE is a motivator and now has the talent to go along with this quality.--

RAMBLERS WIN THE VALLEY and go to the DANCE !!

If Shanks gets a start I think it will be just like Maurice Kirby,,,,a chance to get the opening tip and then to the bench after a couple of minutes.......then it is just a matter of who takes Miltons spot...Avery,or Townes....the rest of the line up I think remains the same.......with Custer, Richardson, Ingram and Jackson.
Shanks will get situational defensive minutes when we need a rim protector...I think Krutwig will get easy minutes when we are not playing a tough center....I am curious to see how Cameron Satterwhite imrproves, I think he is an incredible athlete and if he an earn Coachs trust by commiting fewer mistakes I think he could be the energizer bunny.....I think Skokna spells Richardson but not much as his foot speed is a liability defensively. Lot of options to match situations this year. The only one that concerns me is defensively at guard against quick small guards.

Clay 25 Bruno 15
Ben 25 Cam 12
Marques 25 Avery 16
Donte 25 Aundre 22 Negron 10
Carson 10 Krutwig 15

I think the best part about this year is that this exercise is so difficult. I tried a couple times to fix my rotation and everytime I felt like I was leaving somebody out, which is great that it's that close. I think this year we're going to be able to go with whoever is hot that game, and also we should never really slow down throughout the course of the game as we should always have fresh legs and not a real drop off of talent with subs. I wish I could find Williamson some minutes, but I think Porter is going to be able to be a lot more situational this year depending on the other team.