That’s interesting I never noticed that. I think Armoni woke everybody in that regard. If somebody gets hot in the tourney they may go since it’s an extremely weak draft.
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I caught the omission of Jarreau when talking about our future seniors.
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Even without Grimes and Jarreau I believe we will still be deeper at guard than we are this season.
The difference from this season is we will be coming off the bench with two freshman guards plus a transfer.
Add one or both of them back and it becomes a potentially interesting situation
So are you saying Jarreau’s 5 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 5 turnovers against UConn is what we need instead of Sasser’s measley 2 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 0 turnovers? (Above, I incorrectly gave Jarreau only 4 turnovers against UConn)
If you go back over the season, you can find games in which each of our starters have had very poor games shooting. That includes Grimes, Jarreau, Hinton, White, Sasser, and Mills. But, we are still AAC champs. There’s a reason Sasser is starting, and his defense has come a long way.
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I wasn’t saying he should have been benched. I was saying that he didn’t have a good game, which he didn’t.
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I watched the Lakers and Clippers and the physical differences between those fully developed
bodies and our eighteen and nineteen year olds is like night and day. None of our guys are ready
for that league. Forget it.
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They are no longer Freshmen. They’ve played over 30 games already!
Yes they have experienced an entire regular season but they are still seeing everything for the first time in terms of adjustments and post season.
Next year at least one of those Fab Four freshmen will be gone – Precious Achiuwa for sure – and maybe more.
Next year, our current freshmen will have a year’s experience and equally important, another year in the strength and conditioning program. Plus Hinton and Grimes will be juniors. If Grimes can take ownership and become more of an alpha dog, there’s no telling what he will do. Hinton has always been an alpha dog and will continue to be the heart and soul of this team, IMHO.
Next year we will have 3 really good recruits coming in. I don’t know if they will have a chance to start at anytime, especially early, but I expect them to contribute a lot. Powell may have the best chance for early PT because he is a big that could come in for White or let White move to Hinton’s spot. I expect Sasser, Mills, Grimes, Hinton, and White to start. I think Alley will transfer out, based on nothing but my hunch.
Maybe as important as anything else, we will have more true senior leadership with White, Gresham, and Gorham – and Jarreau, if he returns which is questionable. If Gresham doesn’t pick up his game a lot, he could lose his PT to either Gorham or freshman Powell.
I start trying to figure the PT split and it’s hard to say because we have a lot of talent coming back and coming in. What a good problem to have.
True. One also cannot underestimate going through a full offseason. So much growth and development could take place then as well.
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I think Gresham and White both start next year. Gresham plays defense and rebounds.
Also, I think Powell will play the 5.
I doubt we start the small lineup and White has yet to show he can play the 5 consistently.
Teams have more tape on Saaser and Mills and defenses are going to let them just take shots without pressure or a hand in their face. I feel like Sampson was getting the youngsters more playing time for the post season since we had a few losses anyway. At this point, we know what we have in Jarreau.
If you think Gresham, White, and Powell starts, who do you think will play the 2 guards then? I doubt very seriously that Sasser (All-Freshmen) and Hinton (2nd team All-Conference) will be taken out of it. In that case Mills (2nd team All-Conference) and Grimes would both be on the bench – I don’t see it.
Gresham averaged 15.4 minutes per game (even though he started 11 games) in which he only averaged 3.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.24 blocks. But, he may improve – let’s hope so.
Edit: Thanks to Cogarus pointing it out, I corrected my error in mixing Sasser and Mills as All-Conference and All-Freshmen.
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I agree with what you’re saying, but it was Mills that made All-Conference.
??? Are you serious? I really hope not.
Edit. Looks like you’re not slotting in Powell as your starter. If you’re not, I agree. I see White and Gresham starting. With Powell backing up Gresham. But there is no way that White, Gresham, and Powell start. That’s silly.
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You’re right, I was transposing All-Conference and All-Freshmen.
All-Conference First Team
Jarron Cumberland, Sr., G, Cincinnati
Trevon Scott, R-Sr., F, Cincinnati
Christian Vital, Sr., G, UConn
Precious Achiuwa, Fr., F, Memphis*
Martins Igbanu, Sr., F, Tulsa
All-Conference Second Team
Jayden Gardner, So., F, ECU
Nate Hinton, So., G, Houston
Caleb Mills, R-Fr., G, Houston
Quinton Rose, Sr., G, Temple
Jaime Echenique, Sr., C, Wichita State
All-Conference Third Team
James Bouknight, Fr., G, UConn
Kendric Davis, So., G, SMU
Tyson Jolly, Jr., G, SMU
Isiaha Mike, Jr., F, SMU
Brandon Rachal, Jr., G, Tulsa
All-Freshman Team
James Bouknight, G, UConn*
Caleb Mills, G, Houston*
Marcus Sasser, G, Houston
Precious Achiuwa, F, Memphis*
Lester Quinones, G, Memphis
- denotes unanimous selection
Jo, who do you see as the starting 5 and why? I can understand wanting more size.
Sasser
Grimes
Hinton
White
Gresham
Mills is first off of the bench. Mark, Powell, and Roberts will play a lot. We’ll see if Gorham grows any this offseason. If so, he should get some run next season. I don’t really see a role for Alley next season, unfortunately. And Jarreau is going pro after this season, IMO. That leaves Tyson and Shead. Personally, I would like to see Shead redshirt. Tyson can play in those games we need him to help break a zone. Other than that, I don’t see him getting many minutes. Our guards in front of him are just too good.
Sasser, Mills, Hinton, and Grimes should be playing for first and second team all conference next season. Tramon Mark will be on the all freshmen team next season.
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I honestly don’t feel confident predicting anything about the rotation next year other than that Mills, Hinton, and probably Fabian are going to play a lot.
If no one leaves other than potentially someone transferring (most likely Alley), there are just a lot more good players than there are minutes. Competition is going to be fierce. Even if Jarreau leaves that will still be the case.
And yeah, there’s close to a zero percent chance Powell, Fabian, and Gresham ever see the floor together at any point. The more likely scenario is that we see a lot more lineups with Fabian at the 5 and Nate at the 4 since we could be so loaded with guards/wings.