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(04-13-2017 09:40 AM)The Answer UAB Wrote:  We'll have a very deep team next year.

Anyone see lavender falling down the depth chart? He wasn't very good last year, and we have norton returning plus the Juco guards coming in..

Right now, I see Smallwood getting a lot of minutes out of necessity. He's improved and gotten stronger from year one, but his lack of PT this year was very telling to his ability.

I'm afraid our hopes for some sort of post defense are pinned on a guy that isn't on the roster yet.

(04-13-2017 09:40 AM)The Answer UAB Wrote:  We'll have a very deep team next year.

Anyone see lavender falling down the depth chart? He wasn't very good last year, and we have norton returning plus the Juco guards coming in..

He wasn't a very good point guard. I could see him starting at the 2.

(04-13-2017 09:44 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  

(04-13-2017 09:40 AM)The Answer UAB Wrote:  We'll have a very deep team next year.

Anyone see lavender falling down the depth chart? He wasn't very good last year, and we have norton returning plus the Juco guards coming in..

Right now, I see Smallwood getting a lot of minutes out of necessity. He's improved and gotten stronger from year one, but his lack of PT this year was very telling to his ability.

I'm afraid our hopes for some sort of post defense are pinned on a guy that isn't on the roster yet.

Smallwood just isn't fast/strong/athletic enough to defend without fouling. Being tall is great, but you need to be tall and stout or tall and quick or you are going to have a hard time. To paraphrase the great American educator Dean Vernon Wormer: Tall slow and skinny is no way to go through life son.

(04-13-2017 09:47 AM)58-56 Wrote:  

(04-13-2017 09:40 AM)The Answer UAB Wrote:  We'll have a very deep team next year.

Anyone see lavender falling down the depth chart? He wasn't very good last year, and we have norton returning plus the Juco guards coming in..

He wasn't a very good point guard. I could see him starting at the 2.

I think he could be very productive if he concentrated on his mid-range game...

I think we'll have a 10-11 man rotation in non-conference and then probably trim to 9-10 for conference play.

I'm confident Norton, Lee, & Cokley will start and play major minutes. After that, I have many questions.

If I had to guess this early on, I'd say we go with newcomer Perry at the SG position. Think he'll replace Baxter nicely. Similar size plus he's a better 3 point shooter based on what I've seen. Guessing it will be a step down defensively but not by too much.

No idea who the 4th starter will be. I think our roster will be constructed to benefit from starting ether Lavender or J. Williams as the 3rd guard/small forward. Both are slashers and their shooting hopefully wouldn't hurt us with three legitimate 3 point shooters on the floor (Norton, Perry, & Lee).

If we wanted to go big we could start Sullivan or Gueye at the 3.

Lastly, I'm fairly confident Hurtado and Smallwood (edit: originally put Sullivan as a mistake) will be completely out of the rotation. This is assuming we don't have injuries, dismissals, etc. and we pick up another big guy.

I think Perry will be firepower of the bench - legitimate 6th man of the year candidate - probably backs up Lavender. As far as starters: Norton, Lee, Cokley, Lavender, Darling. Sullivan/Gueye backs up Lee. Williams/Hurtado backs up Darling. Bryant/Hurtado backs up Norton, depending on situation. Smallwood backs up Cokley/new Big...

(04-13-2017 10:39 AM)frenchbeef Wrote:  I think we'll have a 10-11 man rotation in non-conference and then probably trim to 9-10 for conference play.

I'm confident Norton, Lee, & Cokley will start and play major minutes. After that, I have many questions.

If I had to guess this early on, I'd say we go with newcomer Perry at the SG position. Think he'll replace Baxter nicely. Similar size plus he's a better 3 point shooter based on what I've seen. Guessing it will be a step down defensively but not by too much.

No idea who the 4th starter will be. I think our roster will be constructed to benefit from starting ether Lavender or J. Williams as the 3rd guard/small forward. Both are slashers and their shooting hopefully wouldn't hurt us with three legitimate 3 point shooters on the floor (Norton, Perry, & Lee).

If we wanted to go big we could start Sullivan or Gueye at the 3.

Lastly, I'm fairly confident Hurtado and Sullivan will be completely out of the rotation. This is assuming we don't have injuries, dismissals, etc. and we pick up another big guy.

Sullivan's "Old Man's" post game will be a great compliment to Cokley and Lee. I'm thinking he'll get 15-18 minutes a game.

(04-13-2017 09:57 AM)BlazerMatt Wrote:  

(04-13-2017 09:44 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  

(04-13-2017 09:40 AM)The Answer UAB Wrote:  We'll have a very deep team next year.

Anyone see lavender falling down the depth chart? He wasn't very good last year, and we have norton returning plus the Juco guards coming in..

Right now, I see Smallwood getting a lot of minutes out of necessity. He's improved and gotten stronger from year one, but his lack of PT this year was very telling to his ability.

I'm afraid our hopes for some sort of post defense are pinned on a guy that isn't on the roster yet.

Smallwood just isn't fast/strong/athletic enough to defend without fouling. Being tall is great, but you need to be tall and stout or tall and quick or you are going to have a hard time. To paraphrase the great American educator Dean Vernon Wormer: Tall slow and skinny is no way to go through life son.

I'm thinking you've missed what I'm saying. We have 4 bigs on the roster right now. Some predict Sullivan won't play much, if at all. Haha still disappears some games. Cokley still can't defend without fouling. Smallwood has barely seen the floor in 2 years and is slow afoot. Our post depth is an issue, and Smallwood may be the only big we have to play at some points in the upcoming season if we don't sign another big man.

(04-13-2017 10:39 AM)frenchbeef Wrote:  I think we'll have a 10-11 man rotation in non-conference and then probably trim to 9-10 for conference play.

I'm confident Norton, Lee, & Cokley will start and play major minutes. After that, I have many questions.

If I had to guess this early on, I'd say we go with newcomer Perry at the SG position. Think he'll replace Baxter nicely. Similar size plus he's a better 3 point shooter based on what I've seen. Guessing it will be a step down defensively but not by too much.

No idea who the 4th starter will be. I think our roster will be constructed to benefit from starting ether Lavender or J. Williams as the 3rd guard/small forward. Both are slashers and their shooting hopefully wouldn't hurt us with three legitimate 3 point shooters on the floor (Norton, Perry, & Lee).

If we wanted to go big we could start Sullivan or Gueye at the 3.

Lastly, I'm fairly confident Hurtado and Sullivan will be completely out of the rotation. This is assuming we don't have injuries, dismissals, etc. and we pick up another big guy.

I have a hard time seeing Sullivan out of the rotation. I actually expect some nice things from him this year after sitting out.

I think starters are:

Norton
Perry
Lavender
Lee
Cokely

Sullivan will be much improved and will be in the rotation. We will sign a big transfer and we will be deep.

(04-13-2017 11:45 AM)hooverblazer Wrote:  

(04-13-2017 10:39 AM)frenchbeef Wrote:  I think we'll have a 10-11 man rotation in non-conference and then probably trim to 9-10 for conference play.

I'm confident Norton, Lee, & Cokley will start and play major minutes. After that, I have many questions.

If I had to guess this early on, I'd say we go with newcomer Perry at the SG position. Think he'll replace Baxter nicely. Similar size plus he's a better 3 point shooter based on what I've seen. Guessing it will be a step down defensively but not by too much.

No idea who the 4th starter will be. I think our roster will be constructed to benefit from starting ether Lavender or J. Williams as the 3rd guard/small forward. Both are slashers and their shooting hopefully wouldn't hurt us with three legitimate 3 point shooters on the floor (Norton, Perry, & Lee).

If we wanted to go big we could start Sullivan or Gueye at the 3.

Lastly, I'm fairly confident Hurtado and Sullivan will be completely out of the rotation. This is assuming we don't have injuries, dismissals, etc. and we pick up another big guy.

I have a hard time seeing Sullivan out of the rotation. I actually expect some nice things from him this year after sitting out.

I think starters are:

Norton
Perry
Lavender
Lee
Cokely

Whoops. Meant to say Smallwood.

I think Sullivan has an outside chance at starting but if not will be a key contributor off the bench. Love his passing ability and keep hearing they are working on improving his 3 point shooting so he can stretch the floor.

(04-13-2017 12:26 PM)frenchbeef Wrote:  

(04-13-2017 11:45 AM)hooverblazer Wrote:  

(04-13-2017 10:39 AM)frenchbeef Wrote:  I think we'll have a 10-11 man rotation in non-conference and then probably trim to 9-10 for conference play.

I'm confident Norton, Lee, & Cokley will start and play major minutes. After that, I have many questions.

If I had to guess this early on, I'd say we go with newcomer Perry at the SG position. Think he'll replace Baxter nicely. Similar size plus he's a better 3 point shooter based on what I've seen. Guessing it will be a step down defensively but not by too much.

No idea who the 4th starter will be. I think our roster will be constructed to benefit from starting ether Lavender or J. Williams as the 3rd guard/small forward. Both are slashers and their shooting hopefully wouldn't hurt us with three legitimate 3 point shooters on the floor (Norton, Perry, & Lee).

If we wanted to go big we could start Sullivan or Gueye at the 3.

Lastly, I'm fairly confident Hurtado and Sullivan will be completely out of the rotation. This is assuming we don't have injuries, dismissals, etc. and we pick up another big guy.

I have a hard time seeing Sullivan out of the rotation. I actually expect some nice things from him this year after sitting out.

I think starters are:

Norton
Perry
Lavender
Lee
Cokely

Whoops. Meant to say Smallwood.

I think Sullivan has an outside chance at starting but if not will be a key contributor off the bench. Love his passing ability and keep hearing they are working on improving his 3 point shooting so he can stretch the floor.

That makes more sense. If Sullivan has developed a 3 point shot, it would be awesome if he could start at the 3 spot. That would give us a tall, versatile lineup but very little post depth off the bench.

I think we're all fairly confident that three starters will be Norton, Lee, and Cokley. The two guards that best complement that trio are Perry and Darling. Now, we'll have four legitimate three point threats on the floor at once, which will give Cokley plenty of room to operate around the paint. Norton and Darling aren't necessarily the best one-one-one playmakers, but they're both excellent passers who'll keep the ball moving, which is more difficult to defend anyway.

Projected Starters:
Norton
Darling
Perry
Lee
Cokley

Depth Chart:
PG: Norton, Bryant, Hurtado
G: Perry, Darling, Williams, Lavender, Hurtado
F: Lee, Cokley, Sullivan, Gueye, Hurtado
C: ???, Smallwood

We have a 6'9" Nigerian juco player visiting this weekend that could possibly sign with us next week.

(04-14-2017 08:45 AM)UABslant Wrote:  We have a 6'9" Nigerian juco player visiting this weekend that could possibly sign with us next week.

Nwankwo has 3 years to play 3. He'd be a RS Sophomore.

(04-13-2017 09:31 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  

(04-12-2017 03:02 PM)Big Dee Wrote:  

(04-12-2017 03:00 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(04-12-2017 02:58 PM)Big Dee Wrote:  

(04-12-2017 02:56 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  A 1 year grad player would be the 4th senior on the team with Sullivan having taken a RS.

Third

Yeah, Sullivan will be a Junior next year.

Seniors would be
Lee
Cokley
transfer guy

2 seniors
5 juniors
2 sophs
3 freshmen


1 available scholarship.

2 seniors
William Lee___________Forward 6-9 209
Chris Cokley__________ Forward 6-8 229

5 juniors
Lewis Sullivan_________Forward 6-7 222
Thomas Smallwood_____Forward 7-0 240
Deion Lavender________Guard 6-4 192
Nick Norton___________Guard 5-10 168
Jalen Perry____________Guard 6-3 180

2 sophs
Nate Darling__________Guard 6-4 185
Javien Williams________Guard 6-4 175
Jonathan Nwankwo__CENTER 6-9 245 (Oh Please!)

3 freshmen
Luis Hurtado__________Guard 6-5 175
Makhtar Gueye________Forward 6-9 210
Zack Bryant__________Guard 6-1 175