I agree that Ross is more likely to contribute as a freshman. His skillset is immediately translatable--defense and 3s. He's a low-usage guy with the two most important skills to stay on the floor. I could see him being a 10-15mpg player right behind Andre at the 3 starting day 1.
Stewart is great and I do love his game. Ultimately a much more versatile player... probably has a higher ceiling. Ross is never going to develop the deep arsenal of moves off the dribble to get to the rim or shoot the 3 that Stewart has. But Stewart is going to need to play very differently than in high school, and that could be a big adjustment that gets in the way of early PT. Going from #1 alpha taking any shot you want regardless of difficulty is great for developing skills, but different than his role at UConn will be. We're going to need higher percentage shots and lower TOs from him to earn PT.
Like you said... skillsets. I think Ross's skillset is more in-demand on this team right now. We have plenty of weapons. Need efficiency and shooting.
Scrambled Stewart thoughts:
1) He's going to benefit a lot if Jackson leaves. If Jackson and Newton come back and we add another guard, he's fighting with Ross and Johnson just to crack the rotation.
2) I expect him to play a somewhat similar role to Marquette's David Joplin if he does come off the bench. Less than 50% of the minutes, but getting them shots up at a high clip (>25% of team shots when he's in the game). His ball handllng and shotmaking skill levels at his size and age are very high. He could add the scoring punch we had from Joey/Nahiem off the bench, but in a different way.
3) I have to imagine guys going to school cross country are more of a transfer risk than others. There's just always that threat of going home. Guys from local AAU whispering. Hurley going to have to balance giving him the role he deserves and the role he needs.
