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Inbounds/Out of bounds - Starting lineup

Well, I can tell you that all programs have players that don't work out, so don't bother looking up the percentage. A little tough on the staff? We are loaded with three star talent and should have a tourney-quality team for the 6th straight year. Neck and neck with Villanova most years, and they get all 4 and 5 stars.

Just because we have won some memorable games vs Nova over the past 7 years doesn’t mean we are anywhere close to neck and neck.

they were fun wins.
  • Gibbs BET quarterfinals buzzer beater
  • OT at the Rock KC frosh year with Whitehead our hurt
  • Nzei senior day to punch ticket to the dance
  • Breaking the streak at Nova last year
  • And of course BET championship game.
But we are 5-13 vs Nova since the inception of the new Big East

and the overall comparison is not even close.

Villanova
  • 215-38 overall record
  • 103-23 BE record
  • 6 BE regular season titles
  • 4 BET titles
  • 2 National Championships
Seton Hall
  • 142-88 overall record
  • 66-60 BE record
  • 1 BE regular season title (tri-champs)
  • 1 BET title
  • 2nd round NCAA best performance
one could make the argument that the next best in class program has been Xavier

Xavier
  • 165-79 overall record
  • 74-52 BE record
  • 1 BE regular season title (outright)
  • Elite 8 appearance
 
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Just because we have won some memorable games vs Nova over the past 7 years doesn’t mean we are anywhere close to neck and neck.

they were fun wins.
  • Gibbs BET quarterfinals buzzer beater
  • OT at the Rock KC frosh year with Whitehead our hurt
  • Nzei senior day to punch ticket to the dance
  • Breaking the streak at Nova last year
  • And of course BET championship game.
But we are 5-13 vs Nova since the inception of the new Big East

and the overall comparison is not even close.

Villanova
  • 215-38 overall record
  • 103-23 BE record
  • 6 BE regular season titles
  • 4 BET titles
  • 2 National Championships
Seton Hall
  • 142-88 overall record
  • 66-60 BE record
  • 1 BE regular season title (tri-champs)
  • 1 BET title
  • 2nd round NCAA best performance
one could make the argument that the next best in class program has been Xavier

Xavier
  • 165-79 overall record
  • 74-52 BE record
  • 1 BE regular season title (outright)
  • Elite 8 appearance
How dare you bring all these facts to back up your argument? 😉

two points

1) this is a thread about your projected starting lineup. What is it?
2) I think we have faired the best head to head against Nova in the new big East compared to any team. Even in our loses to them, many were super close and could have gone either way. I agree Xavier has been the 2nd best overall in new big east by stats, but the team that was by far the best (Nova) was and is most scared to play the Hall and I don’t think it’s close.
 
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Inbounds, with a major caveat.. If that even makes sense.

Cale at the 2G - He really is going to need to put the ball on the floor and create his own shot. We haven't seen that at all in his time here so far. If he cannot do that he needs to slide to the 3 off the bench
 
How dare you bring all these facts to back up your argument? 😉

two points

1) this is a thread about your projected starting lineup. What is it?
2) I think we have faired the best head to head against Nova in the new big East compared to any team. Even in our loses to them, many were super close and could have gone either way. I agree Xavier has been the 2nd best overall in new big east by stats, but the team that was by far the best (Nova) was and is most scared to play the Hall and I don’t think it’s close.

I think we are right there with being Nova’s toughest in-conference test over the past 5 years. If that’s the point folks want to make, I agree and that Willard has done it with on balance lesser ranked kids than Nova is a feather in his cap.

Beyond that, let’s be real. Nova isn’t scared to play us. They aren’t scared to play anyone. We aren’t in there league generally and that’s OK because not many are year-in, year-out. And Nova’s won multiple titles during that 5-year span whereas we’ve won a single NCAA tourney game. If the situations were reversed and Nova fans were making the same comparison we would s$$$ on them lol.
 
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lots to unpack. at first i thought there would be more discussion against cale. he has regressed every year, gone radio silent for long stretches, and is safe to say he cant dribble. i love the kids personality and optimism but we are analyzing here. hes in grave danger of being passed.

the reason why i think the above is inbounds is because aiken is likely the best ballhandler/offemsive PG weve had in a few years. we might not be as reliant on cale to create his own shot. in addition, if aiken is super ball dominant how does that fit with molson? can molson hit a 3?

from what i cam guage molson is the better player. can drive and hit mid range, create his own shot and finish at the rim with conact. seems to be in on defense too.

if molson and aiken dont clog each other than i predict them to be the best back court. and if we play our best players he will get the start over cale. you simply cannot have a kid go invisible for games on end.

is mamu a good option at the 5? his shot was ON by the end of last year. i wanted him taking every shot including the last. came back from injury a different player. he was ball handling and putting up 3s... can we really have him at the 5? could we not switch samuel at that point?

as for Ro, he had absurd development. buuuut ... i think we are overooking the fact he was 25 yrs old. thats insane. its like he had an extra 4 years on everyone else.

ikes development seems to be all on ike. dont expect too much.
 
lots to unpack. at first i thought there would be more discussion against cale. he has regressed every year, gone radio silent for long stretches, and is safe to say he cant dribble. i love the kids personality and optimism but we are analyzing here. hes in grave danger of being passed.

the reason why i think the above is inbounds is because aiken is likely the best ballhandler/offemsive PG weve had in a few years. we might not be as reliant on cale to create his own shot. in addition, if aiken is super ball dominant how does that fit with molson? can molson hit a 3?

from what i cam guage molson is the better player. can drive and hit mid range, create his own shot and finish at the rim with conact. seems to be in on defense too.

if molson and aiken dont clog each other than i predict them to be the best back court. and if we play our best players he will get the start over cale. you simply cannot have a kid go invisible for games on end.

is mamu a good option at the 5? his shot was ON by the end of last year. i wanted him taking every shot including the last. came back from injury a different player. he was ball handling and putting up 3s... can we really have him at the 5? could we not switch samuel at that point?

as for Ro, he had absurd development. buuuut ... i think we are overooking the fact he was 25 yrs old. thats insane. its like he had an extra 4 years on everyone else.

ikes development seems to be all on ike. dont expect too much.


Cale played sparingly as a frosh, broke out as a soph and regressed last year. Putting him at the 2 is probably a bad idea considering he's never played the 2 at this level. Ever.
 
Kevin Willard can go many ways with his starting lineup and may very well change it to match up with the opponent.

That said, this 5 man group will begin most games health permitting.


C Mamu
PF Samuel
SF Rhoden
2G Cale
PG Aiken


Inbounds or out of bounds
In Bounds - That's my starting 5 until others prove they are worthy.
 
Actually I think KW's a mix when it comes to this stuff and difficult to read in the preseason. I find it easier to tell where he's at during the season because sometimes the frustration (or optimism) is so obvious. There have been a number of occasions where he or the staff were implying or leaking things about particular players that in retrospect where way, way overly positive.
 
I've always figured the starting five would be Aiken, Molson, Obiagu, Sandro and either Cale or Rhoden.

If the news about Ngandu being unable to play is true, I could actually see us going smaller by taking Obiagu out and starting both Cale and Rhoden with Sandro in the middle. Given that we're painfully thin up front, this would, I think, better allow Willard to stretch out the minutes between Obiagu, Sandro and Samuel across the four and five spots.

As an aside, Cale is listed as a guard on the roster but he's a guard in name only IMO. He's a guard in the sense that we have three guards on the floor with him out there but he's never really in a guard role.
 
I’ve always thought Sandro will start at the 5. I know some were concerned with that because of potential foul trouble issues or wear and tear. But Rhoden needs to start, and so I figured you’d either have Cale/Molson or Cale/Samuel as the other two with Aiken. Don’t see any scenario in which Cale as a senior doesn’t start, at least not for the beginning part of the season.
 
I’ve always thought Sandro will start at the 5. I know some were concerned with that because of potential foul trouble issues or wear and tear. But Rhoden needs to start, and so I figured you’d either have Cale/Molson or Cale/Samuel as the other two with Aiken. Don’t see any scenario in which Cale as a senior doesn’t start, at least not for the beginning part of the season.
Cale’s ball-handling challenges at the 2 can be minimized because Aiken can get it across on his own and all of that starting five can pass and put the ball on the floor (which will help if a team presses as well).

When Ike comes in and Aiken sits, you’re going to need two of the three - Shavar, Long and Molson out there.
 
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