Lineup you would like to see next season

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Eye of the Gopher

Eye of the Gopher

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Dre Hollins - New Big Man On Campus, perfect leader for our team, confidence has to be sky high
Austin Hollins - Hopefully makes significant strides with his outside shooting this offseason, poised for a big year
Joe Coleman - Physical, can hopefully improve his outside and mid range game and be effective posting SF down low
Rodney Williams - I expect a monster year, he has a lot to prove going into next season and he knows it
Trevor Mbakwe - Straight Beast

Julian Welch - Seasoned veteran guard to lead the second unit
Wally Ellenson - Hopefully shoots 10,000 3's this offseason, we all know he can drive to the hoop
Oto Osenieks - Poised for a big year, hopefully improves his outside shooting making him a legit threat from outside
Mo Walker - If he can come back 100% and stay healthy, he could hugely effective for us, and I expect him to be
Elliot Elliason - Needs to improve his footwork and lateral quickness, and develop an offensive game inside 8 feet. He and Mo would makeup one hell of a front court off the bench

I know there are a lot of what ifs here besides being written through maroon and gold colored glasses, but if we can keep injuries to a minimum, there is no reason we shouldn't finish top 5 in the Big Ten next season, if not legitimately contend for a Big Ten Title.
 

Gopher lineup I want to see next year?

Zahui Freshman
Kellogg Junior
Hirt Freshman
Banham Soph
Mullaney Freshman
 

Gopher lineups

Men's

SF - Joe Coleman
PF - Rodney Williams
C - Trevor Mbakwe
SG - Austin Hollins
PG - Dre Hollins

Women's

SF - Kayla Hirt
PF - Katie Loberg
C - Amanda Zahui
SG - Shayne Mullaney
PG - Rachel Banham
 

Lineup I would like to see:

Kevin McHale
Randy Breuer
Mychal Thompson
Trent Tucker
Flip Saunders
 

The problem is that I think Trevor will be most productive at the PF spot rather than center. I would love to see Trevor at PF and for Rodney to play as well at SF as he did after moving over to the PF slot after Trevor went down last year.
 


Bobby Jackson
Ray Williams
Willie Burton
Quincy Lewis
John Thomas

This fall
Mibwake
R Williams
Welch
A Hollins
D Hollins
 

PG Dre Hollins
SG Austin Hollins
SF Rodney
PF Mbakwe
C Eliason
Off the Bench
PG Welch
SG Ellenson
SF Coleman
PF Oto
C Big MO

I think by the b1g season Walker could overtake Eliason for the starting spot, in the second unit you could flip flop coleman and Ellenson as I think they're the same player. I get why people want Mbakwe at the 5 and Rodney at the 4, but I feel Williams will get eaten alive in the post and Mbakwe is better suited for the 4 than the 5. The good news is we have the personal when healthy to go either big or small. Hopfully Dre Hollins doesn't have a sophmore slump. As for Buggs and Mav, they can get minutes against cupcake teams, but by conference play they should be joining the walkons at the end of the bench. And based on the end of the year, I feel Ingram's earned the right to compete with Oto for a spot on the second unit.
 

Doubt there will be a second unit I expect all the starters except Joe/Mo/Elliot to get at least 25-30 minutes a game.
 

In the interest of putting the best players on the floor, I'd do a 3 guard lineup of Hollins, Hollins, Welch, Williams, and Mbakwe. If Joe Coleman's outside shooting improves in the same way Austin Hollins' did from his freshman to sophomore year, I might put him over Welch, however, I'm not sure he will improve as much as Austin Hollins did. From what I remember, Austin was recruited as a shooter, and maybe lost confidence in his shot in his freshman year, and got it back this year, and Coleman was not recruited as a shooter. Also, for the increasing amount of flack Welch gets, he was one of the best 3-point shooters in the Big Ten last year at around 43%, and I don't think or expect that Joe will be shooting that well from 3 next season.

I expect the starting lineup to be:

C Eliason (maybe Walker?)
PF Mbakwe
SF Williams
SG Austin
PG Dre

Then Welch, Joe, Oto, and potentially Ingram, if he keeps improving, can provide solid play from the bench. Also, can anyone say if Walker is more of a 4 or a 5? I've kind of thought of him as a five, but he seems to have shooting range that isn't typical of centers (not that that's a bad thing), and he's shorter than the guys we've had the past few years. With Colt, Ralph, and Elliot playing center the past few years, I've just gotten used to our centers always being 6'10" or taller, but is having a 6'8" or 6'9" center like Mo out of the ordinary for high major basketball programs?
 



I'm hopeful that this is the year that we see a shortened bench and more defined roles. Would love to see Both Hollins' , Rodney and Trevor see 30+ minutes a game. Start EE, Trevor, Rodney, Austin and Andre. Mav plays only when necessary (5 min. or so). Mo, Welch and Coleman and maybe Buggs fill in. Red-shirt Ellenson and Buggs if possible/agreed upon, etc.

I really hope Tubby lets Andre run. He can handle 35+ a game (see Washington game when he got better late in the game and into OT).

I will be utterly disgusted if Andre is seeing 25 minutes a game next year.
 

Historically...

C Mychal Thompson from the modern era, but you could also make a case for George Tuck or Jim McIntyre
PF Kevin McHale over Jim Brewer
SF Lou Hudson
PG Marty Rolek over Bobby Jackson
SG Lots of good possibilities but Archie Clark and Whitey Skoog stand out
 

I really think Rodney is a better college basketball player at the four. It would be nice to have a bigger more physical three to pair him with and be interchangeable on the defense end depending on matchups. Buggs is a question mark for me. We sure could use a quick forward with some bounce. who can make a jumpshot. We have at least three guys on the team who are basically limited to the paint. It would be good to have a bigger player who can knock down 15 footers. It seems like having a four or five who can make a few outside shots is the way the game is played today. Coleman has got to improve his shooting or with this group he just can't get a lot of minutes.
 

I think most agree Dre, Austin, Trevor and Rodney are locks.

It's the fifth starter that becomes the question.
Joe or Elliot give us the choice of going small or big.
Welch may be the better player, but I think Tubby likes him to come off the bench as the back-up pg.

My sleeper pick for major minutes; Oto.

ALL TIME
Thompson
McHale
Hudson
B Jackson
Flip

OFF THE BENCH
A Clark
W Burton

OFF THE HANDS
Bob Martin:)
 



All time off the bench - Hosea Crittenden. PLAY HOSEA....PLAY HOSEA!
 

Flip over Archie Clark or Ray Williams (not to even mention Marty Rolek)? Flip would be the first one to say, Get serious.
 

sunnyday2 said:
Flip over Archie Clark or Ray Williams (not to even mention Marty Rolek)? Flip would be the first one to say, Get serious.
Click to expand...

Flip over Clark was only a recent switch. I figure a team with that much talent could use a true pg.

Rolek? I don't remember him. I must be a young guy.:)
 




Dre and Austin at the guard positions.

Trevor and Rodney at the forward positions.

I like Mo at the center position over Elliot right now. That could change of course since I haven't seen Mo play in a long time.

Joe should not start imo.
 

The best potential lineup to me is clearly

Dre
Austin
Williams
Mbakwe
Walker

Those are your 5 most talented players and Walker has the jumper and passing skills to complement Mbakwe while EE is a banger off the bench. Williams at the 3 gives us a wing that can rebound and also defend down low but also give us some size against bigger perimeter scorers. A lot of versatility there and if he continues to expand his offensive game we now have 2 perimeter guys that can get to the rim. If Williams can't continue his improvement and play the 3 then you keep him at the 4 and are again undersized with a 6'8" Mbakwe and the slim Williams down low. You're very athletic but small. With Williams at the 3 you're still pretty athletic but now size wise you can match up with literally anyone in the country 1-5.
 

With Mo's outside ability, could we see an significant increase in ball screen options run with mo and rodney both having inside/outside threats?

Have EE and Mbakwe play the 5 and be up pace running style with TMB and Rodney, and high lo with EE and Mo?
 

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