2025-2026 roster

[#RollJays]

We had a zoom meeting with Blake Harper 6'6" Freshman forward from Howard. In one season he averaged 19.5 PPG, 6.2 REB, 3.4 AST on 45/40/83 shooting splits. He was named both the MEAC ROTY and POTY this season. Not sure how seriously he is interested or not, but I think he'd be the starting SF over both Fedor and Jasen personally. Here is a link to his highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBfNPNtxxno

source is that trilly donovan guy

Yeah that kid is a hooper. He’s a completely different player than Green. Not an explosive athlete but big time shooter and can really pass. Gets some tough buckets. Mac loves his left handed snipers. Not sure he’s really 6’6.

[LJay]

USC visit starting for Harper.

[LJay]

I guess I’ll put this here. Miller putting together an all CU washout team that should compete at the Valley level.

[psychojaysfan3]

I like your lineup Walt, but I have to disagree on Greer starting and being a one and done (unless he transfers). I watched a few of his games, small sample size yes but I think Green starts. This is coming from a guy who thought Larry Johnson would be a day 1 starter the past year. Certainly wouldn’t bother me if Greer ends up being that good.

Obviously you never know for certain -- but I tend to think that Green has the starting spot until somebody comes in and pushes him out of it. Mac has a track record with loyalty and trust, and Green earned that spot and held it all last year. I have a hard time imagining him losing it to anyone new coming in until that is earned. Not saying it won't or can't happen, but I'd treat it as presumptively Green's until something happens to rip it away from him.

So you would seem to have Graves / Dix / Green / McAndrew / Freeman as the most likely starters right now. Fedor and Traudt as likely first off the bench. Davis / Greer / Swartz / Dimitrijevic all competing to get on the floor (and definitely getting on the floor some, hopefully earning real competition for time, etc.).

Summer can totally change things, for sure. But that's what I'd have to think the expectation would be right at this moment?

The biggest issue I have with Green starting is that he would be starting at the 3 spot. Jasen Green is not a 3. He just isn't. He started this past season at the 3 simply because we had no one else ready to fill that role.

When you have guys like Swartz and Fedor who can naturally slide in that 3 spot, its hard to justify playing a guy out of position over those guys. I still think Green gets solid minutes next season but I would guess he splits time between the 3 and the 4 off he bench (I think Traudt is the guy who loses minutes next year unless he gets some minutes at the 5) . I bet he still ends up getting around 20 minutes a game.

In order to start him and have him play 20-25 minutes at the 3, Jasen needs to learn to put the ball on the floor and find a reasonably consistent 3 point shot. Could that happen over the summer? Sure. But hard to imagine him taking a massive step in those two areas, which are both fairly critical skill sets for modern players at the 3.

He really is a natural 4 with his skillset. But obviously McAndrew will get heavy minutes. Green is still going to play a lot simply because of his defense, work ethic, and his knack for always seeming to be in the right place at the right time.

[cujaysfan]

Jason needs to improve his shooting.

But we need to replace rebounding and toughness which he definitely provides and is something that isn't obvious with rest of roster.

[SeattleJay]

I love this conversation. There are a lot of interesting takes.

I believe psychojaysfan (great name) is essentially correct. Let’s go back to the beginning of last year. Mac was willing to start Ashworth and Isaacs - two small guards with perhaps adequate defensive skills for their size (Ashworth really improved defensively during the year).

I see Mac starting Dix and Fedor at the 2 and the 3 this upcoming year. Dix is listed as an inch taller but I have only seen highlights. But both of these guys are major offensive talents. The play from last year that sticks out for me is Fedor two hand dunking on Kadary. Kadary was underrated at SJU last year and plays really solid defense.

Like “psycho”, I love Jasen Green’s game. I think he will be our 6th man, getting heavy minutes at the 3 and 4. Mac made a really big deal this year after a game where Jasen had played maybe 10 minutes the prior game and came back and played 30 minutes and was one of the stars of the game.

It’s going to be a fun year. And just maybe we will pick up another piece in the portal? It looks like we have a pretty complete squad. The only questions in my mind are the phenomenal looking freshman at backup center and is Ty ready for a bigger back up role. Can Swartz play PG?

[Bluelulu]

We had a zoom meeting with Blake Harper 6'6" Freshman forward from Howard. In one season he averaged 19.5 PPG, 6.2 REB, 3.4 AST on 45/40/83 shooting splits. He was named both the MEAC ROTY and POTY this season. Not sure how seriously he is interested or not, but I think he'd be the starting SF over both Fedor and Jasen personally. Here is a link to his highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBfNPNtxxno

source is that trilly donovan guy

Could be a real sleeper. Nice stats in the MEAC for a young guy. Joe Tipton reports he’s on campus today. 6’8” sophomore guard

[JacobPadilla]

I think it's more complex than "Jasen isn't a 3."

While Green doesn't have the ball skills you'd like to see from that spot — and that did cause problems at times — McAndrew makes up for that somewhat with his shooting ability, and Green is strong in areas where McAndrew needs to grow. While I would label Green as the 3 and McAndrew as the 4 this past season, they were fairly interchangeable. Green took the tougher matchup between the opposing 3 and 4, and when he had a smaller player defending him he took advantage by crashing the offensive glass or ducking into the post to provide offensive value.

If you take Green out and insert another guard in his place, it likely raises the offensive ceiling but also puts added defensive/rebounding responsibility on guys who may not necessarily excel in those areas. Give and take. The coaches will have to decide how they want to play and what style gives the team its best chance to accomplish its goals.

Graves and Dix likely locked in for 30-35 MPG. Freeman and McAndrew 25-30 (or more depending on what they can handle this season). Beyond that, I think the coaches have a lot of work to do sorting out the rotation.

[SeattleJay]

Rothstein has us listed as the number 23 team in the country and a lineup of Zugic, Dix, Green, McAndrew and Freeman. I assume this is a function of him trying to keep track of a lot of teams rather than some insider knowledge that Fedor is playing PG

He also lists all 4 starters other than Freeman as a G.

[SeattleJay]

The portal closed last night. Some times it takes a day or two for the process to report out. It appears that we didn’t lose anyone. It will be interesting to see if other schools had any last minute defections.