17-18 Starting 5

what do people think the rotation will look like now that it's confirmed there is no brown?  It would be nice to bring in a grad transfer big, but I'll assume we're not adding anyone and will play somewhat small.  I expect the rotation will include lovett, ponds, ellison, simon, ahmed, yakwe, clark, owens, williams.  clark and simon unknowns, but they have decent pedigree, so I'm assuming they get minutes.  presumably mussini gets a few minutes if we badly need a three.  Freud needs time to develop, and it doesn't look like he'll be ready by next year.  alibegovich is a senior, so maybe he progresses and can give a few fouls as needed.

guard: obviously lovett and ponds will be getting major minutes.  it would appear that we'll be running a lot of three guard sets with lovett, ponds, simon, and ellison all in line for heavy minutes. simon and ellison both have good size so should be able to guard wings.  I could also see four guard sets with all of these guys playing together given the size of the wings. 

3/4: ahmed should continue to get minutes, and he appears to be more in control as of late.  clark is a question mark, but maybe he can help on the boards

center: hopefully only one of yakwe, owens, and williams on the court at any given time.  It would be nice to see one of those guys separate himself from the pack.  williams is the most advanced offensively, but this team badly needs defense and rebounding down low.  I would hope yakwe can focus on boxing out, moving his feet on defense, and accepting passes on offense and become the guy.  owens is the only true center and has a decent midrange game, but we really need him to pull down boards.  right now we give up too much having two of these guys on the court together.  all seem like really good kids though so hope they can improve.

Next year starting 5

Yawke Ahmed Simon Ponds Lovett

Owens Williams Freud Ellison Clark off bench

Amar and Mussini gone I believe

3 ships to give 

Next year starting 5

Yawke Ahmed Simon Ponds Lovett

Owens Williams Freud Ellison Clark off bench

Amar and Mussini gone I believe

3 ships to give 

If Yakwe is a starter then the NIT is our ceiling

If I told you last year at this time that Yawke would be starting as a junior you'd be pretty happy.  Kid looks lost, I agree, but I'm not writing him off.

Next year starting 5

Yawke Ahmed Simon Ponds Lovett

Owens Williams Freud Ellison Clark off bench

Amar and Mussini gone I believe

3 ships to give 

If Ahmed is starting over Clark, that is terrible news

Lovett Ponds Simon Clark Owens

Quote from: sju89tr on January 31, 2017, 05:14:00 PM

Next year starting 5

Yawke Ahmed Simon Ponds Lovett

Owens Williams Freud Ellison Clark off bench

Amar and Mussini gone I believe

3 ships to give 

If Yakwe is a starter then the NIT is our ceiling

+1

Quote from: sju89tr on January 31, 2017, 05:14:00 PM

Next year starting 5

Yawke Ahmed Simon Ponds Lovett

Owens Williams Freud Ellison Clark off bench

Amar and Mussini gone I believe

3 ships to give 

If Ahmed is starting over Clark, that is terrible news

Lovett Ponds Simon Clark Owens

What happened? You loved Ahmed? As a senior he could put some things together. We still haven't seen Marvin Clark play. Who knows what he'll do? Clark wasn't exactly a world beater at MSU.

Next year starting 5

Yawke Ahmed Simon Ponds Lovett

Owens Williams Freud Ellison Clark off bench

Amar and Mussini gone I believe

3 ships to give 

Yakwe needs to figure it out before he's pencilled in as a starter. He only starts because we can't get Owens into foul trouble early. Yakwe doesn't do anything better than Yakwe. If Williams returns, and he can continue to get stronger and more comfortable playing, I think he plays over Yakwe. What a difference a year makes.

Starters I'd guess, and I really mean guess, LoVett, Ponds, Simon, Ahmed and a grad transfer rebounding machine. 6th man is Owens for the bigs, and the first guard in is Ellison. Then we'll see what we have w Clark, Freudenberg, Williams and hopefully a big strong rebounding freshman big with some Ty Grant or Charles Minlend in him. It seems that as it stands now, Williams has done the most at the high major level. Maybe he puts together a strong senior season. I think a big key to breaking out in 17-18 is senior leadership from Williams and Ahmed.

It doesn't matter who starts. We will have plenty of depth.

Starters:
Lovett
Ponds
Ellison
Ahmed
Clark
First off bench:
Simon
Owens
Williams

Think Yakwe and AA are gone.

Lovett Ponds Ellison Simon Clark

Assuming we get Walker, I would  RS freud if he were willing. Think staff always wants a kid sitting out via transfer or other means and rf would be a player who could gain a lot by it.

It doesn't matter who starts. We will have plenty of depth.

Agreed, want to see Ponds and Lovett get 30+, spread the rest around based on performance and matchups.

Quote from: Marillac on January 31, 2017, 06:51:05 PM

Quote from: sju89tr on January 31, 2017, 05:14:00 PM

Next year starting 5

Yawke Ahmed Simon Ponds Lovett

Owens Williams Freud Ellison Clark off bench

Amar and Mussini gone I believe

3 ships to give 

If Ahmed is starting over Clark, that is terrible news

Lovett Ponds Simon Clark Owens

What happened? You loved Ahmed? As a senior he could put some things together. We still haven't seen Marvin Clark play. Who knows what he'll do? Clark wasn't exactly a world beater at MSU.

Clark averaged double-digit minutes for a top ten Izzo team as a frosh and soph.  He's got 20 lbs on Ahmed, which will be big playing the four. He also has two years of D-1 experience that Ahmed doesn't. It's more about Clark than Ahmed not being good.

Quote from: Poison on January 31, 2017, 07:15:58 PM

Quote from: Marillac on January 31, 2017, 06:51:05 PM

Quote from: sju89tr on January 31, 2017, 05:14:00 PM

Next year starting 5

Yawke Ahmed Simon Ponds Lovett

Owens Williams Freud Ellison Clark off bench

Amar and Mussini gone I believe

3 ships to give 

If Ahmed is starting over Clark, that is terrible news

Lovett Ponds Simon Clark Owens

What happened? You loved Ahmed? As a senior he could put some things together. We still haven't seen Marvin Clark play. Who knows what he'll do? Clark wasn't exactly a world beater at MSU.

Clark averaged double-digit minutes for a top ten Izzo team as a frosh and soph.  He's got 20 lbs on Ahmed, which will be big playing the four. He also has two years of D-1 experience that Ahmed doesn't. It's more about Clark than Ahmed not being good.

Clark could turn out to be great. We'll see what kind of player he is now. He left before his junior year. MSU isn't a world beater this year. Have to wonder what made him leave?

Ahmed could improve. James Scott, Justin Brownlee and even Dwight Hardy needed time to get used to the high major D1 game. Hardy, actually, I take that back, he just needed Norm Roberts to no longer be the coach.

Assuming we get Walker, I would  RS freud if he were willing. Think staff always wants a kid sitting out via transfer or other means and rf would be a player who could gain a lot by it.

Agreed. RF needs to red shirt or transfer in my opinion . Don't think he will play at all next year. He has plenty of work to play at this level. As for amar, if decision is up to him. Where is he going ? Who will want him ? He will be a senior, what school will give him a scholarship for 2 years only to play 1? We should have let him leave last year.

It doesn't matter who starts. We will have plenty of depth.

We said that in October. We had our deepest team in ages. We have maybe 5 guys who belong in this conference now.

Quote from: Amaseinyourface2 on January 31, 2017, 08:57:33 PM

Assuming we get Walker, I would  RS freud if he were willing. Think staff always wants a kid sitting out via transfer or other means and rf would be a player who could gain a lot by it.

Agreed. RF needs to red shirt or transfer in my opinion . Don't think he will play at all next year. He has plenty of work to play at this level. As for amar, if decision is up to him. Where is he going ? Who will want him ? He will be a senior, what school will give him a scholarship for 2 years only to play 1? We should have let him leave last year.

If RF transfers it's a horrible reflection on the staff. Also, their record is a horrible reflection, but Freudenberg needs at least a summer to grow up. If he returns to Germany and spends his time playing with the same garbage he did last summer, he will probably be wasting time. Let's see how serious he is, and how aware he is of what he needs to do. He's European so we have to consider that this is unlikely.

Quote from: TONYD3 on February 01, 2017, 06:07:56 AM

Quote from: Amaseinyourface2 on January 31, 2017, 08:57:33 PM

Assuming we get Walker, I would  RS freud if he were willing. Think staff always wants a kid sitting out via transfer or other means and rf would be a player who could gain a lot by it.

Agreed. RF needs to red shirt or transfer in my opinion . Don't think he will play at all next year. He has plenty of work to play at this level. As for amar, if decision is up to him. Where is he going ? Who will want him ? He will be a senior, what school will give him a scholarship for 2 years only to play 1? We should have let him leave last year.

If RF transfers it's a horrible reflection on the staff. Also, their record is a horrible reflection, but Freudenberg needs at least a summer to grow up. If he returns to Germany and spends his time playing with the same garbage he did last summer, he will probably be wasting time. Let's see how serious he is, and how aware he is of what he needs to do. He's European so we have to consider that this is unlikely.

So now we want RF to transfer. Kid is a freshman who barely played this year. He was one of the top European recruits last year and I don't think we should be even close to giving up on him. His first year in a new country and playing a new style of basketball. He never found his game this year but giving up on kids after one year and having them leave is no how you build a team. Also you are not going to have 13 superstars if RF ends up just being a deep bench guy which I don't think anyone can say he would be just yet that's not the worst thing in the world.