Some pre-scrimmage info:
Notes: N'dir and Toney nursing mild injuries, Toney a concussion and N'dir a sore wrist that he injured in practice. Doesn't sound like either will suit up today, but also sounds likely that both will be practicing next week.
Bottom of the roster: The three walk-ons, Samson, and ... Shamiel. Stevenson has been getting his reps in practice on scout team and remains pretty far down the depth chart.
The bigs: For now at least, this group should be thought of as three guys--Brown, Ilegomah, and Chukwuka. The sense is that Peace is *rapidly* improving and *may* be on verge of moving ahead of Terrell, but Brown is still a more polished offensive player with a bigger arsenal around the basket than either Kene or Peace. However, Brown remains a defensive liability, and apparently Ilegomah is getting much better on that end of the floor. Kene and Peace are also both better rebounders. Kene consistently plays hard, does a lot of the little things well on both O and D and continues to shoot it well (in practice, at least). Brown struggles to defend on the PnR, and the "motor" problem remains. Two of these three will likely be on the floor together at times this year as a 4-5 combo and depending on what the opponents' lineup dictates.
The "guards": Basically everyone else. X, McGowens, Ellison, JWF, and Davis (in no particular order). There's a lot of versatility here. N'dir will be #6 here once healthy. I won't rehash here what's been speculated about this preseason. Bullet points: They'll play fast and transition. They'll press. They *should* defend better than last year. There will be some likely small-ball lineups. This group, in particular, has a lot of interchangeable parts offensively and defensively. PT for this group will be about creating and exploiting favorable matchups. All 6 are good players, have moments that they shine, and should contribute this season. Clearly, some guys (e.g., Ellison and JWF) are closer to the top of the 6 and others closer to the bottom, but some of that separation won't be realized until the games actually start and things start to shake out beyond the practice court.
In short, not a ton has changed in the pecking order since the end of summer workouts. My takeaway was that what we hear after the scrimmage today and see in the first few games will probably provide more insight into where things are than this synopsis (how do the freshmen do under the lights, does Kene get over the yips and produce in games the way he does in practice, how does the big-man battle play out?).
The headlines for me were Peace's improvement (and I was told that all of the bigs are getting better, but there's also a little bit of Denny Green reality here, "They are who we thought they were") and the sense that things are still fluid (the bottom of the depth chart is pretty clear, and the top is too, but spots 4 to 10 are all in play).
I think today's game and the first several non-con contests will continue to shape the lineup, various lineup combos, matchups, etc. This isn't like some teams, a la Duke, where you know in July who your starting 5 is going to be. I'd be surprised if the lineup fluidity doesn't remain, perhaps throughout the season or at least the non-con schedule. We'll probably see this develop in real-time. Was specifically told that today's starting lineup should be taken with a grain of salt and should *not* be assumed to be the long-term lineup or even the lineup vs. YSU.
Notes: N'dir and Toney nursing mild injuries, Toney a concussion and N'dir a sore wrist that he injured in practice. Doesn't sound like either will suit up today, but also sounds likely that both will be practicing next week.
Bottom of the roster: The three walk-ons, Samson, and ... Shamiel. Stevenson has been getting his reps in practice on scout team and remains pretty far down the depth chart.
The bigs: For now at least, this group should be thought of as three guys--Brown, Ilegomah, and Chukwuka. The sense is that Peace is *rapidly* improving and *may* be on verge of moving ahead of Terrell, but Brown is still a more polished offensive player with a bigger arsenal around the basket than either Kene or Peace. However, Brown remains a defensive liability, and apparently Ilegomah is getting much better on that end of the floor. Kene and Peace are also both better rebounders. Kene consistently plays hard, does a lot of the little things well on both O and D and continues to shoot it well (in practice, at least). Brown struggles to defend on the PnR, and the "motor" problem remains. Two of these three will likely be on the floor together at times this year as a 4-5 combo and depending on what the opponents' lineup dictates.
The "guards": Basically everyone else. X, McGowens, Ellison, JWF, and Davis (in no particular order). There's a lot of versatility here. N'dir will be #6 here once healthy. I won't rehash here what's been speculated about this preseason. Bullet points: They'll play fast and transition. They'll press. They *should* defend better than last year. There will be some likely small-ball lineups. This group, in particular, has a lot of interchangeable parts offensively and defensively. PT for this group will be about creating and exploiting favorable matchups. All 6 are good players, have moments that they shine, and should contribute this season. Clearly, some guys (e.g., Ellison and JWF) are closer to the top of the 6 and others closer to the bottom, but some of that separation won't be realized until the games actually start and things start to shake out beyond the practice court.
In short, not a ton has changed in the pecking order since the end of summer workouts. My takeaway was that what we hear after the scrimmage today and see in the first few games will probably provide more insight into where things are than this synopsis (how do the freshmen do under the lights, does Kene get over the yips and produce in games the way he does in practice, how does the big-man battle play out?).
The headlines for me were Peace's improvement (and I was told that all of the bigs are getting better, but there's also a little bit of Denny Green reality here, "They are who we thought they were") and the sense that things are still fluid (the bottom of the depth chart is pretty clear, and the top is too, but spots 4 to 10 are all in play).
I think today's game and the first several non-con contests will continue to shape the lineup, various lineup combos, matchups, etc. This isn't like some teams, a la Duke, where you know in July who your starting 5 is going to be. I'd be surprised if the lineup fluidity doesn't remain, perhaps throughout the season or at least the non-con schedule. We'll probably see this develop in real-time. Was specifically told that today's starting lineup should be taken with a grain of salt and should *not* be assumed to be the long-term lineup or even the lineup vs. YSU.
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