This Year’s Lineup

[Stasher599]

It definitely looks like a newer site but most of the articles posted seem pretty authentic and relatively factual.

 

[Lafayette]

This deck is short another Ross for a couple min here and there.

 

[HungryHu5ky]

Reed
Mullins
Alex
Jaylin
Demary

Bench:
Solo
Reibe
Smith
Furphy
Ross
Koroma
Millender

Deep team this year. My only concern is not having another 5 but I love what we have.
Reed is gonna take a big jump this year easy double-double guy hope he can stay outta fouls trouble
Mullins has potential to avg 14ppg & if he can with good shooting % and at 6’5 he can’t possibly play defense any worse than solo so that would allow UConn to start Stew giving them a big starting line up without the loss of scoring
6’10 - 6’7 - 6’7- 6’5 - 6’5
Looks a lot similar to the championship teams
I understand Ball off the bench is gonna ruffle feathers … this is just my opinion not what I think is gonna actually happen Hurley is too loyal to do that (IE Samson over Reed)

 

[superjohn]

Reed
Mullins
Alex
Jaylin
Demary

Bench:
Solo
Reibe
Smith
Furphy
Ross
Koroma
Millender

Deep team this year. My only concern is not having another 5 but I love what we have.
Reed is gonna take a big jump this year easy double-double guy hope he can stay outta fouls trouble
Mullins has potential to avg 14ppg & if he can with good shooting % and at 6’5 he can’t possibly play defense any worse than solo so that would allow UConn to start Stew giving them a big starting line up without the loss of scoring
6’10 - 6’7 - 6’7- 6’5 - 6’5
Looks a lot similar to the championship teams
I understand Ball off the bench is gonna ruffle feathers … this is just my opinion not what I think is gonna actually happen Hurley is too loyal to do that (IE Samson over Reed)

Solo off the bench, lolz.

He's going to be our leading scorer.

 

[HooperScooper]

Y

Reed
Mullins
Alex
Jaylin
Demary

Bench:
Solo
Reibe
Smith
Furphy
Ross
Koroma
Millender

Deep team this year. My only concern is not having another 5 but I love what we have.
Reed is gonna take a big jump this year easy double-double guy hope he can stay outta fouls trouble
Mullins has potential to avg 14ppg & if he can with good shooting % and at 6’5 he can’t possibly play defense any worse than solo so that would allow UConn to start Stew giving them a big starting line up without the loss of scoring
6’10 - 6’7 - 6’7- 6’5 - 6’5
Looks a lot similar to the championship teams
I understand Ball off the bench is gonna ruffle feathers … this is just my opinion not what I think is gonna actually happen Hurley is too loyal to do that (IE Samson over Reed)

You really think Ball isn't going to start this season? I guess even mentioning that shows how deep they are at the wings.

 

[CL82]

My guess is we go 9 deep like usually. Koroma emergency 10th man at the 4/5.

This was my initial projection for minutes a while back. It will need to change based on what I saw from Furphy versus team USA...someone at the 2-4 is getting pushed. Or maybe not. I don't know... bit practice is going to be bonkers competitive on the wing.

PG: Demary (20), Smith (20)
SG: Solo (30), Demary (10)
SF: Mullins (25), Stewart (15)
PF: AK (30), Stewart (10)
C: Reed (25), Reibe (15)

I feel like this under emphasizes Damary's importance to the team. Best case scenario I think he's more like 28 minutes at the point. It may be more.

Reed and Reibe look about right but I'm not entirely convinced Reed can stay on the court for 25 minutes.

Agree that Furphy will push for playing time. He's looked impressive.

 

[GampelGladiator]

PG

25 Demary
10 Smith
5 Furphy

SG

25 Ball
10 Mullins
5 Furphy

SF

15 Mullins
10 Stewart
10 Jayden
5 Furphy

PF

25 Karaban
15 Stewart

C

25 Reed
15 Reibe

 

[Umami Zen]

Reed
Mullins
Alex
Jaylin
Demary

Bench:
Solo
Reibe
Smith
Furphy
Ross
Koroma
Millender

Deep team this year. My only concern is not having another 5 but I love what we have.
Reed is gonna take a big jump this year easy double-double guy hope he can stay outta fouls trouble
Mullins has potential to avg 14ppg & if he can with good shooting % and at 6’5 he can’t possibly play defense any worse than solo so that would allow UConn to start Stew giving them a big starting line up without the loss of scoring
6’10 - 6’7 - 6’7- 6’5 - 6’5
Looks a lot similar to the championship teams
I understand Ball off the bench is gonna ruffle feathers … this is just my opinion not what I think is gonna actually happen Hurley is too loyal to do that (IE Samson over Reed)

I don't see Hurley having a second team all BE shooting guard (one of the top 3 point shooting guards in the country) coming off the bench instead of a freshman. I do think its debatable as to who will start at SF-Mullins or Stewart. A lot of BB/practice before that decision happens. FWIW- Saw where Jaylin is now tipping the scales at about 227lbs.

Deep depth this year. Dan will have plenty of bench strength and rotational flexibility to plug and play.

 

[HungryHu5ky]

Solo off the bench, lolz.

He's going to be our leading scorer.

Highly possible … definitely you think his defense has improved ?

 

[Palatine]

Reed
Mullins
Alex
Jaylin
Demary

Bench:
Solo
Reibe
Smith
Furphy
Ross
Koroma
Millender

Deep team this year. My only concern is not having another 5 but I love what we have.
Reed is gonna take a big jump this year easy double-double guy hope he can stay outta fouls trouble
Mullins has potential to avg 14ppg & if he can with good shooting % and at 6’5 he can’t possibly play defense any worse than solo so that would allow UConn to start Stew giving them a big starting line up without the loss of scoring
6’10 - 6’7 - 6’7- 6’5 - 6’5
Looks a lot similar to the championship teams
I understand Ball off the bench is gonna ruffle feathers … this is just my opinion not what I think is gonna actually happen Hurley is too loyal to do that (IE Samson over Reed)

Leaving Solo out out the starting line up seems more like trolling than an actual guess.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

These threads are always silly but it's obvious a lot of people are sleeping on Braylon.

I don't think it is that. It is hard to envision a player that good, that ready, and that young. I think he is all those things. My point is that it is uncommon for a kid to be that good that early. It's ok to say "I need to see it" before I buy into how good he really is. And remember, taking Mullins aside, last year people were saying that Stewart was a lottery pick talent. If true, backing him up is no embarrassment.

 

[HungryHu5ky]

Leaving Solo out out the starting line up seems more like trolling than an actual guess.

I wouldn’t waste my time trolling … again I don’t think this is what will happen but I hope to see that line up of Reed/Karaban/Stew/Mullins/Sy together atp not necessarily as starters

 

[StllH8L8ner]

I don't think it is that. It is hard to envision a player that good, that ready, and that young. I think he is all those things. My point is that it is uncommon for a kid to be that good that early. It's ok to say "I need to see it" before I buy into how good he really is. And remember, taking Mullins aside, last year people were saying that Stewart was a lottery pick talent. If true, backing him up is no embarrassment.

I think Stew will start and get an opportunity to show that he made a jump simply due to loyalty to start the season, but Braylon will be breathing down his neck.

 

[superjohn]

I feel like this under emphasizes Damary's importance to the team. Best case scenario I think he's more like 28 minutes at the point. It may be more.

Reed and Reibe look about right but I'm not entirely convinced Reed can stay on the court for 25 minutes.

Agree that Furphy will push for playing time. He's looked impressive.

I think Husky429 is right on with Malachi Smith's minutes. He's the best passer on the team. We're really going to need his passing and ball handling. Malachi is too small to play shooting guard and he's going to need to play a lot of minutes.

 

[UofCT]

Reed
Solo
Alex
Jaylin
Demary

Bench:
Reibe
Smith
Mullins
Furphy
Ross
Koroma
Millender

Now the discussion. Mullins is being projected #7 in next year’s draft, though that can change, he’s a stud and would start most anywhere. Furphy shows that he’s very good. It’s quite possible that Jaylin breaks out this year no way he doesn’t start. We can argue about who starts but Hurley has loyalty to Ross for PT and Koroma and Millender have skills. This is going to be very challenging getting players the minutes they should have for development especially Furphy. Some might say he should bench it till next year but we could lose him without minutes. Reibe automatically gets his bench minutes as does Smith.
I guess defensive intensity will be what gets players on the floor this year.

Can you predict next years lineup? Hard to do without knowing who is leaving for NBA and who we are bringing in but I'll give it a shot.

Reibe
Jaylin
Mullins
Furphy
Demary Jr.

Cloer
Keita (reclass)
Mingo
Ross
Ross

 

[husky429]

I feel like this under emphasizes Damary's importance to the team. Best case scenario I think he's more like 28 minutes at the point. It may be more.

Reed and Reibe look about right but I'm not entirely convinced Reed can stay on the court for 25 minutes.

Agree that Furphy will push for playing time. He's looked impressive.

We will have multiple initiators in the offense, just like '24. He'll get 30 perimeter minutes or more, doesn't really matter what ya call it. The traditional positions I have listed here are more for defense.

 

[Lafayette]

We have 14 on our roster.

Basic splits are 30/10 but Malachi +5, and Mullins +5. Stewart/Furphy split of 15/15 is a guess allowing the 10 min to go to Mullins and Smith.

Slias - 30 / Malachi 15
AK - 30 / Koroma 10
Ball 30 / Mullins 15
Reed 30 / Reibe 10
Stewart 15 / Furphy 15

Cut line - 10 players

Diaby can play but is an extreme "break glass" player who won't see the first 38 minutes of any game.
Millender is likely a 0-10 minute guy stressing closer to 0
Either Ross is around 5 min

 

[Huskybass]

Reed
Mullins
Alex
Jaylin
Demary

Bench:
Solo
Reibe
Smith
Furphy
Ross
Koroma
Millender

Deep team this year. My only concern is not having another 5 but I love what we have.
Reed is gonna take a big jump this year easy double-double guy hope he can stay outta fouls trouble
Mullins has potential to avg 14ppg & if he can with good shooting % and at 6’5 he can’t possibly play defense any worse than solo so that would allow UConn to start Stew giving them a big starting line up without the loss of scoring
6’10 - 6’7 - 6’7- 6’5 - 6’5
Looks a lot similar to the championship teams
I understand Ball off the bench is gonna ruffle feathers … this is just my opinion not what I think is gonna actually happen Hurley is too loyal to do that (IE Samson over Reed)

Solo Ball is a starter without a doubt. I've seen some strange takes on the Boneyard, but Solo is a definite starter and one of the leading scorers.

 

[CL82]

I think Husky429 is right on with Malachi Smith's minutes. He's the best passer on the team. We're really going to need his passing and ball handling. Malachi is too small to play shooting guard and he's going to need to play a lot of minutes.

I may be discounting him too much. Call it, Aidan Mahaney syndrome. We'll see

On the other hand, to @husky429's point. We've had great success using multiple initiators. The problem with that is to have Smith on the floor somebody else has to sit down. Who is it? Mullins? Solo? Yeah, they're going need rest during the game, but we have a deep bench with guys who can all make a good case for playing time. It'll be interesting to see how Hurley in the staff sort it out. Good problem to have, I guess.

 

[husky429]

I may be discounting him too much. Call it, Aidan Mahaney syndrome. We'll see

On the other hand, to @husky429's point. We've had great success using multiple initiators. The problem with that is to have Smith on the floor somebody else has to sit down. Who is it? Mullins? Solo? Yeah, they're going need rest during the game, but we have a deep bench with guys who can all make a good case for playing time. It'll be interesting to see how Hurley in the staff sort it out. Good problem to have, I guess.

Think of it this way: Smith will be on the floor all 10 minutes that Demary is resting; we can practically guarantee that. There's half his projected minutes in the '24 Diarra role.

Solo and Mullins need their rest too... that's where Smith gets the rest of his minutes. Furphy may fill in the rest. The offense can stay the same with Smith in, but the other guards will need to play up a position on defense. The advantage of having big guards like Mullins and Demary is that they can guard 1-3. Even Solo could guard 3s in a pinch.

We actually have a pretty natural rotation of minutes that makes more sense that last off-season.

 

[thekollieman]

I think Husky429 is right on with Malachi Smith's minutes. He's the best passer on the team. We're really going to need his passing and ball handling. Malachi is too small to play shooting guard and he's going to need to play a lot of minutes.

Agreed. I think we’ll definitely see some quality time with Smith and Demary both on the floor so Demary can activate off the ball.

 

[superjohn]

Agreed. I think we’ll definitely see some quality time with Smith and Demary both on the floor so Demary can activate off the ball.

Especially against St. John's and Marquette. I'm high on Demary being similar to Newton but we must remember he had 18 combined turnovers against Marquette and St. John's last season. Solo and Braylon can fill it up but the only guys on this team with point guard skills are Demary and Malachi and Malachi is the only pure point.

 

[RuffRuff]

Always great to see the Boneyard minutes guessing game as if anyone hear has a clue. Not really even sure what the point is, to potentially be the one that can say "I told you so"?

The only question I have is why did Ross return as I see no way, unless forced, he's getting real minutes? He's got 9 better players in front of him, so unless Hurley is pushing the full court press with hockey waves, not sure how he fits in. He has to truly "add value" somehow, and 4-5 minutes/game player makes absolutely no sense to force. We are already bottlenecked at the 2/3 with a rotation consisting of 5 guys in Stew/Mullins/Furphy/Solo/Demary. Not sure where he gets minutes when 55 of those 80 are going to go to Solo/Mullins.

 

[CL82]

Not really even sure what the point is, to potentially be the one that can say "I told you so"?

Probably more that it's the off-season and news is scarce to come by and we are all trying to figure out how the pieces will fit.

 

[thekollieman]

Always great to see the Boneyard minutes guessing game as if anyone hear has a clue. Not really even sure what the point is, to potentially be the one that can say "I told you so"?

The only question I have is why did Ross return as I see no way, unless forced, he's getting real minutes? He's got 9 better players in front of him, so unless Hurley is pushing the full court press with hockey waves, not sure how he fits in. He has to truly "add value" somehow, and 4-5 minutes/game player makes absolutely no sense to force. We are already bottlenecked at the 2/3 with a rotation consisting of 5 guys in Stew/Mullins/Furphy/Solo/Demary. Not sure where he gets minutes when 55 of those 80 are going to go to Solo/Mullins.

I imagine he believes in himself enough to think it’s worth competing through his junior year, and that seems admirable enough to me. Worst case scenario, he’s mostly a non-contributor on an elite roster and he can transfer for minutes as a senior if he sees fit. Best case scenario, he cracks the rotation and carves a pathway for himself to be a true leader as a senior. As we’ve seen, nothing is guaranteed in the portal “down” to lower competition anyway. I think he made the right move coming back. He gets to play on a college bball roster with his little brother, too - that’s awesome.