Mid-Portal Look at Roster

[SeanElAmin]

Yeah the dude is all star pro in second best league in the world

Yup, but it ain't illegal. Adapt or die.

 

[Bigbrad1029]

I have a feeling that absent injury, foul trouble, off nights, there won't be much of a rotation.

Demery (30), (TBD or County) (10), (County or Ball) (spot) - Depending on the transfer, County can earn the backup spot.
Ball (30), Mullins (10), County (spot) - If Ball is pulling spot PG duty, County can steal a few more minutes as SG
Mullins (20), Landrew (15)/, Khamenia (5) - I'm forcing Landrew in this spot, Khamenia and Ross are likely to play 25 each
Ross (20)/Khamenia (20) - I don't see anyone else getting minutes here. Defense and rebounding will determine the split.
HInes (25), TBD (15) - This is the biggest hole, we need another stud here, whether an in-kind partner or a change of pace.

There are a lot of bodies in the Guard/Wing spot. I don't see any of the newcomers dislodging Demery, Ball, or Mullins. Each will play 25-30 minutes a game. I expect a Reed like awakening for Ball next season if he's in full health. Hurley is going to have to find a way to get him the ball more. We are going to need his dribble midrange game. I'm expecting his 3pt shooting to return to form. There is a huge logjam at the 3 spot, especially if you expect Mullins to play a bigger role now that he is no longer the 4th/5th option on offense.

It will be interesting how Hurley uses Ross and Khamenia. Ross was huge late in the season, his shots were falling and he was AJ Jackson like on the defensive end. Unless Khamenia is an instant star, I expect Hurley to start Ross, even if the minutes are split.

County is not going to see much time unless he shows up and plays lights out. Same for Landrew, but he may see time as SF depending how often Ross and Khamenia are on the floor together. If Ross plays 25-30 at PF, that means Khamenia is playing 10-15 at the SF, which leaves next to nothing after he and Mullins.

Your underestimating Landrew impact IMO, he is a Dude, and very physical tough player that is a3 level scorer who can push people around under the boards, perfect 3 when you have a smaller 4 like Khamenia

 

[jibsey]

We need amid portal evaluation of our team’s rebounding and defense. Where do we stand currently and what do we need?

 

[UConnRock]

Your underestimating Landrew impact IMO, he is a Dude, and very physical tough player that is a3 level scorer who can push people around under the boards, perfect 3 when you have a smaller 4 like Khamenia

That is the current problem. If Landrew is the perfect 3, that makes Mullins the primary 2 and leaves Ball with a very difficult decision. Landrew and Ross splitting time at the 3 is very appealing, but I don't think a similar scenario is happening at the 2.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

That is the current problem. If Landrew is the perfect 3, that makes Mullins the primary 2 and leaves Ball with a very difficult decision. Landrew and Ross splitting time at the 3 is very appealing, but I don't think a similar scenario is happening at the 2.

In Hurley's offense Landrew is closer to being a four than a three. Also, more often than not there is little difference between a three and a two in his offense.

 

[ctchamps]

And how many of them could or were used when Silas had to hubble on half a leg or Reed needed a breather? The point is that unless you are happy with second places and maybe you are (argument of how many schools would trade places with us is not what got Hurley where this program is), you will not attract serviceable subs when key players are hurt if you do not give them minutes/experiences beyond exhibition games. What I stated is that the last bench player on Illinois bench played in 9 games and averaged 3.5 minutes. Can you provide stats for Jacob Ross or Elezaj or Paunovic? Those players and their agents talk, read and check statistics. While you may not need those guys or depend on them, they can be serviceable if incorporated early enough. In Danny we trust but it does not make it easy to recruit SERVICEABLE pieces 10-15 and if you have some injuries (as we had) and foul trouble games (as we had), you will limit your chances. And while you can and will win games, you are not going to beat Duke’s of this world with a miracle shot with 3rd of the second left.

Some things worth consideration are state of player/ team development and game situation through the course of the season. This season there were very few games where our players 1-9 played well. In many games the outcome was not determined until the game was over. In the 23 season and especially the 24 season the players and rotations came together quicker and those teams had significant leads that allowed Hurley to put in end of the bench players in the last 3 to 4 minutes.

The concern that you make about end of bench recruitment can be explained as circumstance as opposed to a coaches philosophy. Incoming end of bench recruits and their agents should understand that their roles are not guaranteed and situational depending on the factors I’m pointing out. If they insist on guaranteed minutes I doubt any coach would take them.

 

[SubbaBub]

Your underestimating Landrew impact IMO, he is a Dude, and very physical tough player that is a3 level scorer who can push people around under the boards, perfect 3 when you have a smaller 4 like Khamenia

Tell me who sits if everyone plays well and is healthy? Ain't Demery, Mullins and Ross is locked into 20 or so a game based on results so it's either Khamenia (who didn't come here to play 15 a game), or Ball (due to Mullins sliding over) who isn't staying if he's penciled in for less than 25 minutes a game. Maybe Landrew is the next Castle, sure fire one and done lottery pick. Chances are he isn't, so he is going to be a depth piece to start and he displaced the poorest performer by the end of the season.

The line of recent overhyped HS recruits is longer than those who delivered right away. I take any freshman contributions as a bonus.

 

[HuskyHawk]

In Hurley's offense Landrew is closer to being a four than a three. Also, more often than not there is little difference between a three and a two in his offense.

But Hurley cares more about defense than offense. Our defense has a 5 that high hedges, Hines will absolutely be doing that (and may be 10 pounds lighter by fall). In that system, the 3 and 4 cover the paint and have to shift back and forth depending on who has to get to the corner to guard a shooter. Mullins wasn't particularly good at it. Castle was. Jackson was. McNeeley was. Ross can do it. Landrew seems born to do it with his strength. Mullins had foul trouble at times because he was down in the paint. Ideally, he should not be the 3 in this system. There is little difference on offense, you are right. There's a huge difference on defense.

No matter who is out there, there's no lack of shooting or scoring ability on this team. Offense isn't a concern at all. Defense is. Rebounding is.

 

[Bigbrad1029]

That is the current problem. If Landrew is the perfect 3, that makes Mullins the primary 2 and leaves Ball with a very difficult decision. Landrew and Ross splitting time at the 3 is very appealing, but I don't think a similar scenario is happening at the 2.

💯 agree, it’s likely why we haven’t heard from Ball, it’s too bad either Ball or Mullins couldn’t learn how to spell Demary as lead guard, I believe both of them particularly Ball can penetrate the paint but not sure either can defend or pass well enough to be a lead guard for 10 minutes per game, as that would be ideal solution, so you would have 3 studs splitting 80 minutes per game….

 

[Hunt for 7]

I think that Mullins is going to play some PG next year. His father spent a good amount of time talking about Mullins ball handling in that podcast. Mullins is coming back to improve his draft stock to top 5 and a 6’6” PG who can shoot like Mullins is very valuable.

I think we never saw a healthy Mullins last year and I think he is quicker and way more athletic when 100% healthy tan he showed.

Maybe just wishful thinking because I really want to see Ball in. UConn uni next year.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

But Hurley cares more about defense than offense. Our defense has a 5 that high hedges, Hines will absolutely be doing that (and may be 10 pounds lighter by fall). In that system, the 3 and 4 cover the paint and have to shift back and forth depending on who has to get to the corner to guard a shooter. Mullins wasn't particularly good at it. Castle was. Jackson was. McNeeley was. Ross can do it. Landrew seems born to do it with his strength. Mullins had foul trouble at times because he was down in the paint. Ideally, he should not be the 3 in this system. There is little difference on offense, you are right. There's a huge difference on defense.

No matter who is out there, there's no lack of shooting or scoring ability on this team. Offense isn't a concern at all. Defense is. Rebounding is.

In the second half of the 2021-2022 season when our most used lineup had Sanogo Martin and Jackson as the front court who was the four? Ask Chief if we ran the high hedge then.

 

[CL82]

I think that Mullins is going to play some PG next year. His father spent a good amount of time talking about Mullins ball handling in that podcast

Yes, he did. I remember Mullins losing the ball a bunch of times this year. He didn't seem like he had a point guard handle to me.

 

[HuskyHawk]

In the second half of the 2021-2022 season when our most used lineup had Sanogo Martin and Jackson as the front court who was the four? Ask Chief if we ran the high hedge then.

Sure. We went 23-10 and senior Martin was a bigger/stronger player than Mullins and is more capable of handling the role both forwards have in our defense. Whaley and Sanogo both played 29 minutes, so that 4 was mostly Whaley and sometimes Polley or Akok. The 3, if that's what you meant, was Jackson or Martin with Martin the primary SG.

 

[Beowulf]

Silas
Ball
Mullins
Khamenia
Hines

Ross and Landrew wings off the bench. My guess is we bring in a PG that is somewhere between millender and Malachi (big gap, I know) that is on the older side. And then a little beef behind the 4/5 spots. Need at least two more playable big bodies, with one more passable one likely. I dont really see the Ross at the 4 stuff when the one thing he really does well is perimeter defend.

I bet 10 or 11 guys get 8+ minutes opening night if it’s one of the scrub a dubs we usually open with. We have 8 of em

 

[CL82]

Needed an updated grid for everyone.

I could actually think about adding Micah Gordon from Plainfield high school (Hines's high school). It gives us point guard depth, and allows him to learn the system. It would be extraordinarily hard for freshman to come in and back up Silas, but he might as a depth piece. I think is best offer offers are from Rutgers and Seton Hall.

 

[Ewekon]

With the amount of cash we must be dropping to bring back our guys and add Hines and hopefully NK, I don’t see how we could still be in the market for a backup PF when we still need backups at PG and C. I think it’s either Stew or Landrew.

Stewie may have to take a pay cut ... not a jab. Just math.

 

[bmayuc]

With the Portal clarifying (a bit), lets look at the potential roster... and could be a super dangerous team.

PG - Silas Demary
SG - Solo
G/F - Braylon
F - Jayden??
C - Hines

6th man - Khamenia???
Backup Big - TBD
PG2 - County
G/F - Colben Landrew
G/F - Jacob Ross

Notes: Let me know if I'm missing anyone here, but as that stands...

1. Im pretty concerned with rebounding & defending the post. We all like Hines, but he is a young guy and we'd REALLY be counting on him to be a 30 min guy and take a big step in production. Also, Solo/Braylon, Khamenia not sure there is a ton of rebounds to be found there, and if we have 3/5 of our roster below average rebounding, that will put a ton of pressure on us. In addition, the trend right now is that teams spend big $$ at oversized skill players at that 4 spot and physically dominate - see michigan, florida, zona. And as we saw, that mismatch really came back to bite us last year. I hope we have eyes on a rough/tough rebound and defense guy at that spot, at least off the bench if we need fouls/mismatch.
2. We also need a backup C
3. We are really counting on one/both of landrew/county to be able to handle/create offense as this roster has limited guys who can create on their own.

Are people seeing this shaping up the same way?

Update 4/20:

PG - Silas Demary
SG - Braylon
G/F - Jayden
F - Khamenia
C - Hines

6th man - TBD
Backup Big - TBD
G - County
G/F - Colben Landrew
G/F - Jacob Ross
REDSHIRT - Solo Ball

Notes:

1. Solo's Redshirt is Win Win Win. Clarifies our Starting Lineup, Lets Solo get healthy, Locks in a ++ SG for at least the next 2 years.
2. Need: Very concerned about how we would defend "big 4's, which is all the rage amongst top teams. Jayden and Khamenia are not big enough to match up and would force lots of double teams and rotations. Feel like we need a "big" defensive focused wing as a depth piece here. I've seen some people on this board say that Colben Landrew can do this. No. He's closer to 6'5 than 6'7, and I don't care how strong he is we just cannot give up 3-4 inches at that position.
3. Need: Backup defensive minded C.
4. With Solo Redshirting, I think we are about to find out how confident the staff is in Junior County. We've been really let down by the last couple freshmen point guards we've recruited, so I would be SHOCKED if we didn't lock down a proven veteran PG. Right now we have 1.5 people on this roster that can dribble. Right now this is a MASSIVE risk.

 

[SubbaBub]

Solo's red shirt benefits the freshmen and cleans up the rotation. There is room for a backup pass first defensive PG as the 9th spot. Obviously need another center. Without Ball we will need more consistency night in, night out from Demery and Mullins. No idea what we should expect from the unproven front court. They are all good players but none have been asked to carry a title contender. Let's face it, this last run was powered by Reed inside. Without that dynamic on both ends, we are at the mercy of making outside shots.

Demery (30) County (10)
Mullins (30) County (10)
Ross (25) Landrew (10) Mullins (5)
Khamenei (25) Landrew (15)
Hines (25) TBD (15)

 

[HuskyHawk]

My best guess given the remaining unknowns. Solo redshirting makes the pieces fit much better. Injuries can impact these significantly of course.

PG Demary (25) County (5) Portal PG (10)
SG Mullins (30) County (6) Demary (2) Ross (2)
SF Ross (20) Landrew (20)
PF Khamenia (28) Portal PF (10) Landrew (2)
C Hines (25) Portal C (15)

 

[Scrutineer]

Is this how you teach your kids to have a conversation? I thought I am talking with civilized person and not disrespectful one.

Get used to it. He's not always right, but never in doubt. I don't criticize that aspect of it, but the name calling is not acceptable.
Throughout the season he told anyone who suggested Mullins would benefit from a second year they had to be dumb to think that because there was no way he'd return.
Guess who was the first to post there was a report that Mullins was returning? Either I missed the apology or he didn't have the integrity to admit his personal attacks were wrong.

 

[Ewekon]

Stewie may have to take a pay cut ... not a jab. Just math.

In his NIL pay....