Mon Apr 18, 2022 12:46 pm
NateFunkyTown wrote:Like Chicagojay said, this all makes a lot more sense if the staff has complete confidence in Mason’s ability to be a high minutes starter next year. That may be the case, and I do think he has a chance to be a special player, it just makes me nervous since we haven’t actually seen him in game action yet.
Also, I know all of you expect Scholtzberg to make an instant impact but with Ryan/Shareef/Trey/Cristofilis/Francisco/Rati all firmly ahead of him I’m not really sure how that happens unless one of those guys transfers or he plays a lot of SF as a freshman. I’m starting to lean toward him being a redshirt now. If the staff is telling guys they can’t promise a transfer a starting job because they have that much confidence in Miller than I trust them. Otherwise, I wouldn’t feel comfortable with any of Reef/Francisco/Rati/John filling that role. Maybe in other years, but not this one. We’ve got more potential with this group than maybe any in program history we have to maximize it.
Mon Apr 18, 2022 12:52 pm
NateFunkyTown wrote:Like Chicagojay said, this all makes a lot more sense if the staff has complete confidence in Mason’s ability to be a high minutes starter next year. That may be the case, and I do think he has a chance to be a special player, it just makes me nervous since we haven’t actually seen him in game action yet.
Also, I know all of you expect Scholtzberg to make an instant impact but with Ryan/Shareef/Trey/Cristofilis/Francisco/Rati all firmly ahead of him I’m not really sure how that happens unless one of those guys transfers or he plays a lot of SF as a freshman. I’m starting to lean toward him being a redshirt now. If the staff is telling guys they can’t promise a transfer a starting job because they have that much confidence in Miller than I trust them. Otherwise, I wouldn’t feel comfortable with any of Reef/Francisco/Rati/John filling that role. Maybe in other years, but not this one. We’ve got more potential with this group than maybe any in program history we have to maximize it.
Mon Apr 18, 2022 1:00 pm
Chicagojayfan wrote:JacobPadilla wrote:Chicagojayfan wrote:
Agree. I think he looks like a really nice fit - we weren't looking for a guy who wanted to be a guaranteed starter. His usage should go up with us (we share the ball really well) and we can definitely use a solid 3 PT shooter, but to me he looks like he brings more than that as well.
I don't think this is true. If they can get a guy who's good enough to slot into the starting lineup and replace what AO gave the team, they'd absolutely take him. I think that was priority 1A to back-up center's 1B. Right now they have four guys who seem like locks to start with a hole on the wing. They have guys who could fill that spot, but you'd probably be starting either smaller or bigger than would be ideal. I think they definitely have something to sell a sharp-shooting wing with versatility.
I don't have any insight here specifically, but it seems like this could foreshadow other moves. Not sure with the current roster construction that it makes all that much sense to add another smaller combo-guard with one of your two open scholarships while saving the other for a big. Adding shooting? Sure, makes sense. Adding shooting from a 6'3" guard who has been a low-volume guy throughout his career when you already have R2 (6'), Trey (6'4"), Reef (6'), Rati (6'4"), Christofilis (6'3") and Shtolzberg (6'5")? Not as much to me.
That's going to be a tough sell for a guy who wants to start given that O'Connell typically played the 2 for us last year, and there's pretty much little to no question in my mind that Alexander's going to grab that spot and run with it. I also think we want a guy there who is more like Alexander who's, IMO, a more sure-handed distributor than AOC was last year.
We also aren't looking for Shtolzberg to redshirt either. We could be looking for a starting SF with the idea that Kaluma plays more of a stretch 4, but then we're in competition for minutes by Miller, and we can theoretically slide Alexander down and let Farabello or Shtolzberg play the 2 at that time. And Kaluma's the guy who had the best 3 PT shooting that they tracked in practice and I suspect his shooting will look much better this year... so we're running into problems for guys who want to start and to be the guy in an offense.
PG - Nembhard, Mitchell, maybe some Alexander and Rati here if needed
SG - Alexander, Farabello, Rati, Shtolzberg, JC
SF - Kaluma, (Alexander), Green, (Shtolzberg)
PF - Miller, (Kaluma), Green
C - Kalkbrenner (TBD)
To me I can see wanting another wing who's a bit more of a forward than a 2 guard, but are we going to add a guy who's a guaranteed starter there? Kaluma's not going anywhere, and theoretically someone could beat out Miller, but I see Miller getting close to the minutes that Alexander and Kaluma got last year (for reference Patton got 25 minutes a game after his RS year as well).
And we have Green who should get some minutes, and Farabello, Rati, Shtolzberg, and maybe JC who will take time at the SG/SF when we go smaller).
People may disagree on Miller's minutes, but we'll see. We played Kaluma as one of 2 bigger forwards last year, and I think we'll do the same this year for a lot of minutes.
Mon Apr 18, 2022 1:12 pm
Mon Apr 18, 2022 1:19 pm
Mon Apr 18, 2022 1:34 pm
Mon Apr 18, 2022 2:02 pm
Jaysker12 wrote:In a way, Miller, JC, and Shtolzberg are all in the same boat. All were good shooters in HS. Which of them is most likely to translate that to actual results on the court? And which of them is best suited to defending the 3? These are questions the coaches need to answer if they're considering one of them for the starting 3 spot.
I am skeptical of Miller's ability to stay in front of guards (no direct evidence, but 6'8 guys with a guard's lateral quickness are rare), and equally skeptical of Ben's and JC's ability to match the physicality of bigger 3's (solely because of their size and lack of experience). Our defense won us a lot of games, and I see all three of these guys as huge defensive downgrades from AO.
Mon Apr 18, 2022 2:02 pm
Mon Apr 18, 2022 2:36 pm
Jet915 wrote:I disagree. We have 4 starters on this team and we have an open slot at wing. Miller/Shtolzberg "might" be able to fill that role but they are both freshmen. We are losing alot of scoring and 3% shooting in AO and Hawkins. We don't have a go to scorer on this team. We hope Art/Ryan/Trey grow into that role next year but it's not guaranteed. I definitely think we can attract a wing who can score/shoot and play 20-30 mpg. We are that one big time transfer away from being a legit Final 4 contender. I would be disappointed if it's just Farabello and a center (King).
Mon Apr 18, 2022 2:40 pm
NateFunkyTown wrote:I’ll trust you guys on Ben as I’ve got no inside info whatsoever.