Starting lineup and bench order

[jibsey]

I think Springs is going to surprise people this year. Not shock, but surprise.

He has skills and showed them in limited minutes, but my question as it is every year is how does Hurley satisfy all of these players who have good skills?

 

[CZ BRAT]

I think Springs is going to surprise people this year. Not shock, but surprise.

Finally! 6-9 235 with a sweet looking shot, athletic, and can hit the boards. It took a few alums to hit their stride..year 3...i also believe he will surprise as well.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Finally! 6-9 235 with a sweet looking shot, athletic, and can hit the boards. It took a few alums to hit their stride..year 3...i also believe he will surprise as well.

As someone who has always wanted to see Springs in action, it’s just hard to find his place in the rotation still. You’d basically be calling SJ/AK a bust, or Clingan not ready year 1. His two positions have a lot of talent.

 

[CZ BRAT]

As someone who has always wanted to see Springs in action, it’s just hard to find his place in the rotation still. You’d basically be calling SJ/AK a bust, or Clingan not ready year 1. His two positions have a lot of talent.

Im still not sold on SJ...talented...just not ready. I hope to see AK get more minutes at the 3. Springs is Steady Eddy...a more athletic, sweeter stroke Whaley

 

[Huskyforlife]

Im still not sold on SJ...talented...just not ready. I hope to see AK get more minutes at the 3. Springs is Steady Eddy...a more athletic, sweeter stroke Whaley

I do expect Alex to spot minutes at the 3. I wonder about his foot speed guarding on the perimeter. Polley could survive at the 3 because his length disrupted many shooters on the catch, but even his lack of quickness hurt him at times. But I’m hoping his shooting and offensive versatility makes him hard to keep on the bench for a team with ball dominant players. I still expect most of his minutes to come in a split with SJ or Richie at the 4.

I agree that Johnson is a wild card. I tend to think Dan will lean defense when making his choices for the rotation. But would he play 2 non shooting bigs for the sake of potentially elite defense? He did with Whaley last year, but having Alex available as a spacing 4 in the event that SJ can’t shoot will make that decision difficult.

Basically my argument for SJ over Richie in the rotation would probably be, bare minimum, his defense could be elite. He has tools nobody on the team comes close to matching.

Richie needs a rock solid skill Dan can trust if he’s given an opportunity in the event SJ or Alex disappoints. Don’t think rebounding is enough for him to play over higher potential guys.

 

[CTBasketball]

Karaban will start. Stop.

 

[fatlucy]

I just can't see how anyone on this board could put Samson over Alex at this point (or vice versa). What's it based on? A hope to have a taller player? Because other than that, I don't see a reason at this point.

And yet you’ve never seen Karaban play one minute of college basketball.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

And yet you’ve never seen Karaban play one minute of college basketball.

Correct... and if you comprehended what I said I said "or vice versa" meaning none of us can put one over the other.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

This. Johnson should start and be impactful. I do think we may face some opponents where Dan changes that. He's not starting the same 5 guys every game.

I see Alleyne is a super 6th man, he can sub at several positions. Not sure Diarra plays more than Karaban, mostly because I think Jackson will be at PG some of the time when Newton goes out. Calcaterra could surprise to upside on minutes. I expect Johnson will back up Sanogo as often as Clingan does. But maybe not.

Johnson is the biggest question mark on the team . His time will be based on his ability to protect Sanogo from the double team .
The next biggest question is how he best utilizes Jackson skill set . He will. Start out as a three but can play 1-4 . Interesting player .
Newton is the PG unless he plays himself out the the picture , then it’s Diarra and Jackson .
Hawkins is a lock at the 2
Sanogo at the five
If we’re getting pressed then Hawkins may sit for another ball handler .
If someone zones you we answer with some shooters .
The bench is intriguing
I think Clingan plays more than most predict. We had some matchup problems they may be fixed by a 7-2 guy .
This lineup has a lot of answers for whatever they throw at us .

 

[jibsey]

I ask this question right about the same time every year. Has anyone had recent eyes on our practices or scrimmages particularly the new players who have never donned the blue and white to assess what their skills look like? It;s a lot of players, plus Johnson and Springs who we saw little of last year. I know that what you see may not be what happens in games but any info at this stage would be good.

 

[I Bleed Blue]

1: Newton
2: Hawkins
3: Jackson
4: Johnson
5: Sanogo

6: Alleyne
7: Karaban
8: Diarra

9: Calcaterra
10: Clingan
11: Springs

Top 8 should all see solid run as part of the core rotation. 9-11 should each get spot minutes here and there depending on matchups and foul trouble. I think Calcaterra will get the most minutes out of the final group for his 3pt shooting.

 

[Son of Robert]

I think it's very possible that Joey Calcaterra is a much more complete ball player than this board may be giving him credit for. On Youtube I watched some of a game vs UCLA where he scored 18, 3 assists, 1 bd, and had the ball in his hands a lot. 3's with a very quick release, under pressure, lots of ball handling near top of the key, penetrations, passing, transition, the list goes on. He'll get minutes.

I encourage folks to take a look. He's a player.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I think it's very possible that Joey Calcaterra is a much more complete ball player than this board may be giving him credit for. On Youtube I watched some of a game vs UCLA where he scored 18, 3 assists, 1 bd, and had the ball in his hands a lot. 3's with a very quick release, under pressure, lots of ball handling near top of the key, penetrations, passing, transition, the list goes on. He'll get minutes.

I encourage folks to take a look. He's a player.

Yes, he's a wild-card. Could easily jump into the top 8. Dan likes experienced guys. I think he'd be on the floor if we have a lead late, for decision making and foul shooting,

 

[REB1094]

I think it's very possible that Joey Calcaterra is a much more complete ball player than this board may be giving him credit for. On Youtube I watched some of a game vs UCLA where he scored 18, 3 assists, 1 bd, and had the ball in his hands a lot. 3's with a very quick release, under pressure, lots of ball handling near top of the key, penetrations, passing, transition, the list goes on. He'll get minutes.

I encourage folks to take a look. He's a player.

He is better than we give him credit for, but I think the only path to meaningful minutes is to take most of Diarra’s time. I don’t see Diarra or Joey spending a lot of time at SG, and it’ll be hard to find real minutes for two backup PGs. And it feels like (no actual analysis here, just a gut feel) that the team was more excited for Diarra than Calcaterra.

Otherwise, a backcourt of Newton/Hawkins/Jackson/Alleyne/Diarra is going to be hard to break through. Even if some of those guys spend a lot of time at the 3.

 

[Psolo12]

I think Springs is going to surprise people this year. Not shock, but surprise.

Wonder how many years in a row this will get posted on the board. Going on year 3 of this now. Love Richie and all he does for the program, but don't know how you can say or justify the idea that he's going to a big part of our success this season.

 

[UofCT]

Karaban will start. Stop.

Based on what? His HS recruiting ranking

 

[CTBasketball]

Based on what? His HS recruiting ranking

What he’s been doing in practice.

 

[REB1094]

Wonder how many years in a row this will get posted on the board. Going on year 3 of this now. Love Richie and all he does for the program, but don't know how you can say or justify the idea that he's going to a big part of our success this season.

Springs minutes would mean Samson, Karaban, Sanogo, or Clingan not playing. Not gonna happen unless it’s a blowout or foul trouble for 2 guys at the same position. It’s impossible to not love Richie, but he’s not a Whaley type player that we should expect to break out.

His job was recruited over twice, and those two guys are here for the next 3-4 years.

Seems much more likely that he’ll continue being a strong practice piece to keep the rotation guys on their game. And there’s nothing wrong with that! Those guys are very valuable for a program even if they don’t get big minutes

 

[UofCT]

What he’s been doing in practice.

If the feeling around the program is Karaban is out-performing Johnson in practice then Karaban should 100% start. I do wonder if we have enough rebounding but I'm also not sure if Johnson is a good rebounder since we never saw him.

 

[superjohn]

Springs minutes would mean Samson, Karaban, Sanogo, or Clingan not playing. Not gonna happen unless it’s a blowout or foul trouble for 2 guys at the same position. It’s impossible to not love Richie, but he’s not a Whaley type player that we should expect to break out.

His job was recruited over twice, and those two guys are here for the next 3-4 years.

Seems much more likely that he’ll continue being a strong practice piece to keep the rotation guys on their game. And there’s nothing wrong with that! Those guys are very valuable for a program even if they don’t get big minutes

Springs has made it clear he loves being a part of the program and helping the team win through practice. There just isn't going to be minutes for him other than when the game is out of hand or there's injuries.

I love those kind of players and they are important to top programs.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Im still not sold on SJ...talented...just not ready. I hope to see AK get more minutes at the 3. Springs is Steady Eddy...a more athletic, sweeter stroke Whaley

I'm not sure at this point how you can make the determination that SJ isn't ready but AK and Springs are. We've barely seen any meaningful minutes out of the three of them combined.

 

[Psolo12]

Springs minutes would mean Samson, Karaban, Sanogo, or Clingan not playing. Not gonna happen unless it’s a blowout or foul trouble for 2 guys at the same position. It’s impossible to not love Richie, but he’s not a Whaley type player that we should expect to break out.

His job was recruited over twice, and those two guys are here for the next 3-4 years.

Seems much more likely that he’ll continue being a strong practice piece to keep the rotation guys on their game. And there’s nothing wrong with that! Those guys are very valuable for a program even if they don’t get big minutes

Agreed 100%. Was just saying every year people say he's gonna surprise us. Just don't see that being the case.

 

[Son of Robert]

Yes, he's a wild-card. Could easily jump into the top 8. Dan likes experienced guys. I think he'd be on the floor if we have a lead late, for decision making and foul shooting,

I don't know about the top 8, that's too specific for me, but if he plays mostly mistake free team ball, has some glue to his game, and is hitting his shots/scoring, he may get some decent minutes. Hurley playing 4 out could make for a deep bench.

 

[fatlucy]

If the feeling around the program is Karaban is out-performing Johnson in practice then Karaban should 100% start. I do wonder if we have enough rebounding but I'm also not sure if Johnson is a good rebounder since we never saw him.

The feeling around the program? Or the team? Do you have a connnection to the team or is it your feeling reading and posting on the BY?

 

[UofCT]

The feeling around the program? Or the team? Do you have a connnection to the team or is it your feeling reading and posting on the BY?

I said “if” and was responding to the previous poster.