Here's an article from 12/22 that I hadn't seen posted on the board.

Donte Ingram's speedy recovery paid immediate dividends during Loyola's final week of preparation for the Missouri Valley Conference schedule.

The 6-foot-6 junior's length and versatility have helped the surprising Ramblers mask their lack of size, but his ahead-of-schedule return from a sprained MCL did not address their biggest problem.

Of the 151 points Loyola put up in an 81-75 overtime victory over UIC on Saturday and a 74-70 loss at Toledo on Tuesday, Ingram and fellow starters Milton Doyle, Clayton Cluster, Aundre Jackson and Ben Richardson scored 139 of them.

More here.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

So does anyone see any solutions to the 'depth of bench' issue?. How and who will minutes play out in the Valley games? I am a little concerned that we will wear our selves out if minutes stay the same into the Valley schedule.

The way I look at it, Bruno is the only guy on the bench who is of the same caliber as the starters. Vlatko is useful but is still learning defense. Haven't seen enough of Tyson to know how reliable he will be. Cam is still learning on both ends and seems to be regressing a bit as the competition picks up. That's the best we can do to create a 9-man rotation. But since the dropoff is so great, the top 6 will log a lot of minutes in conference. And the biggest problem could be a tired team playing consecutive days at March madness. Somebody needs to step up.

Kirby can eat up a few minutes but is always a liability too, and they seem to have lost just about all confidence in him. Igor will not be able to help at all this year. The only long shot to join the rotation that I see is Byron Burt, the walk on from Mather. I thought he showed some poise and talent in the limited minutes he had in early games against very overmatched opponents. But I think he would have had more minutes if the coaches saw anything at all there.

All of a sudden we have no depth ?? If true what with our smallness, we are dead meat !! Actually I do not believe it !! We win 10 out of thirteen and we do not have enough players ??? With the exception of Kirby who apparently has flopped. we are just fine.
O still say we are a third or 4th place team !!!

Brot...I believe you will pull the Rambler wagon across the finish line...

Hard to argue with the above, since Igor is probably back in Montenegro after leaving the team weeks ago.

The most obvious answer for depth is Tyson Smith, who averaged 17 minutes per game last year, but has only played 5.4 minutes per game since he came back from his summer injury. Skokna and Satterwhite are both true freshmen, averaging 18.2 and 15.5 mpg, but both shooting less than 40% from the field. They're both shooting good from two, the problem is they're taking a few too many shots from three that aren't going. That's most likely going to improve. I'm good with their minutes, and they seem to be thriving and learning at the playing level they're at right now.

The real issue of depth is in the front court. When we had Chastain available, Donte could be replaced without losing much in the way of rebounding or scoring. Granic has impressed me a few times, and I think his minutes could be pushed out to 14-16 mpg. Granic is actually second on the team in two-point field goal percentage. I know he gives up some ability on defense-- especially against quicker and more athletic teams-- but I don't feel uneasy when he's on the court.

And then there's Kirby. How do you get a guy with a great basketball body and adequate tools to contribute more? Sometimes when you watch him, you wonder if he lacks the passion for the game that other players have. Maybe the fact that his body is so perfect for playing basketball means he's never had to work extremely hard or master the mental discipline to maximize his physical abilities. Last year, he shot 43.8% on two-pointers, which is not good for a 6'9", 240-pound guy with a great wingspan who was signed to an ACC team out of high school and played a year at a JC. This year, he's only 5 for 15 on two-pointers, and many of those shots are taken from 3 to 6 feet out. He's got to get more motivation somehow, and figure out how to sink those little 5-foot shots and tips from 3 feet out.

Yeah, Kirby has been a real disappointment. I have seen him play several times and his footwork seems very slow and tentative.
He needs more minutes to get better but I don't seen those coming. I see his main contribution is being able to clog the middle and intimidate guards who want to drive the lane like UIC did. Most importantly he needs some success to give him a mental boost. He really looks depressed when he returns to the bench.