Starting line-up against Georgetown?

[denverMU]

Glad to see Buzz is willing to tinker with the starting line-up. I would love to see him make the following change for Gtown.  PG-JR.C vs J.Clark 6-1 vs 6-2.  SG-DJO vs M.Starks 6-2 vs 6-0.  SF- J.Wilson vs H.Thompson 6-7 vs 6-7.  PF- J.Crowder vs N.Lubick 6-6 vs 6-9.               C- D.Gardner vs H.Sims 6-8 vs 6-11.  Bring in Vander, Wilson, Mayo, and Juan.  Much better starting match-ups and better for rebounding/scoring.  Thoughts?

[Slim]

I don't see it. My guess is we will not see DG, JWil, and Crowder on the court at the same time all season - unless there 3 guards have fouled out of the game

[bilsu]

2 of 3 fouled out last game, so they will not play at same time.

[MUMac]

2 of 3 fouled out last game, so they will not play at same time.

Correct.  Without Otule, there is not enough depth in the front court to play all 3 together.

[denverMU]

I see your point, but 2 things, 1. if we can get Jae to stop getting stupid fouls 90 feet from our basket it might work. 2. If we start Vander, he then must guard H.Thompson 6-7, not ideal.

[MUBurrow]

I see your point, but 2 things, 1. if we can get Jae to stop getting stupid fouls 90 feet from our basket it might work.

Hi. Erik Williams. Nice to meet you.

[Slim]

I see your point as well, but it is a luxury we simply don't have. I wish we did. You saw how exhausted DG was yesterday and he only played 23 minutes. And until Jae shows a little more maturity to stop reaching, stops trying to block shots by knocking them to the next county instead of just blocking them, and maintains his cool and doesn't pick up frustration fouls this won't happen. Buzz knows all three of these guys need plenty of rest every game. Even if Otule comes back (which I hope but am not counting on) I still don't see buzz using a line up like that for more than possibly 2 minutes per game.

[brewcity77]

Blue will continue to start. If he's replaced in the starting lineup, it won't be Jamil, it will be Mayo. The only place I see Jamil starting right now is at the 5...though I'd rather him than DG simply because it gives us better odds of winning the first possession.

[denverMU]

You guys are probably correct, I do see Devante and JWilson earning more and more playing time though, so we may see that line-up at some point.

[Jay Bee]

BIG SHEESH!

[CWHoyas]

Just FYI, Starks is our point and Jason is the SG. Also, you'll probably see Hollis slide down to the 2 at some point with Otto Porter at the 3.

[denverMU]

Just FYI, Starks is our point and Jason is the SG. Also, you'll probably see Hollis slide down to the 2 at some point with Otto Porter at the 3.

That will be an interesting line-up, 6-2, 6-7, 6-8, 6-9, 6-11.

[Slim]

Hey CW, could you give a brief synopsis of your team - strengths and weaknesses? How do you see this game playing out? Please try to be somewhat objective. I'm not trying to start an argument.

[nyg]

Just FYI, Starks is our point and Jason is the SG. Also, you'll probably see Hollis slide down to the 2 at some point with Otto Porter at the 3.

Maybe a good lineup until Porter enters the game.  He is 6 ft 8 and has gone for 13 rebounds against Providence and 14 against Louisville in last two games.  He will see more time than Lubick and will be a handful for MU. 

CWHOYA is right. 

[CWHoyas]

Sure... As I'm sure you've heard, our team wasn't expected to do that well this year because we graduated 60% of our scoring from last year with Chris Wright, Austin Freeman and Julian Vaughn. However, our seniors Jason Clark and Henry Sims have really stepped it up, and we have gotten better than expected production from our incoming freshman class (5 strong - 4 play - 1 is basically a starter). This means none of our players average more than 28 mins a game.

The key thing about this year's team is that they play defense. That's partly due to a *much* bigger emphasis on it this year as opposed to last, and significantly because of length. As you probably noticed when comparing matchups, our team is huge this year. We start 6-0, 6-1, 6-7, 6-9, 6-11, and our bench (in order of play) goes 6-8, 6-5, 6-7, 6-9, 6-6. We have the ability to put a lineup entirely 6-5 and taller on the floor when we need a defensive stop, and you should expect to see four players 6-7 and above semi-regularly.

We're also good offensively thanks to a crafty driving/shooting game from Jason Clark, excellent 3pt % from Thompson (48%), and Henry Sims renaissance as a center. Sims has been averaging ~11 points a game, and leads the team in blocks and assists (he's ranked nationally in both, with the honor of being the only center in the assists rankings). You can expect our offense to run through Sims on nearly every possession if he's on the floor, and he'll either go to the basket (he's quick for a big man), or pass out of the post for cutters or 3pt shots.

We round out the starters with Markel Starks at the point and Nate Lubick at PF. Market is a little foul prone but averaging nearly 15 pts a game over the last three thanks to some new found confidence. He's not much of distributor because Sims takes that role. Lubick is a white collar banger who grabs *alot* of rebounds but is struggling a little on offense. He'll go out at the 16 minute mark to get our star freshman into the game.

Our freshman were ranked 13th in the country collectively, and are living up to their name. Otto Porter is a 6-9 SF who leads the team in rebounds, has a dirty midrange shot, and hustles everywhere. I'm starting to believe he teleports because he's always in the right place. He grabbed 15 rebounds in our awful Providence game. Next off the bench is Jabril Trawick (6'5"), who will spell one of the guards, and provides a defensive intensity that's infectious. He takes getting beat personally, and has been known to block layups even after getting beat off the dribble. He's also perfectly happy to take a 3, or take it inside (and he's a wide body who can finish while getting knocked around). Greg Whittington (6'7") and Mikael Hopkins (6'9") are probably the last two you'll see, playing SG/SF and PF/C respectively. Our offense might struggle with them out there, but our defense won't. Also, if we need to shut down DJO at the end of the game, expect to see Whittington on him. Together the freshman are very good. We played 4 of them with Markel Starks for 4.5 minutes during our Louisville game, and that worked fine.

I expect that we'll frustrate you with our length in this game, so you'll have to work for your shots. That being said, you historically have been very good at getting open, so we'll see. We defend the fast break very well this year, so don't expect to get lots of points by playing fast. On offense, I'm hoping we'll break out of the offensive slump we had for Providence - we play the Princeton offense so we'll pass a lot out of the high post looking for easy layups and open 3s. If Hollis Thompson is on, he's unstoppable, so just hope that he isn't. Having watched you guys this year, I am (unsurprisingly) most worried about Crowder and DJO. Crowder has the type of energy game that means he'll grab rebounds against us despite the length deficit and DJO is just a damn good player. All in all, it will probably be a close game, but I hope our length will frustrate you enough for the win.

[UticaBusBarn]

Thank you "CWHoyas" for a rather well done summary. See you Wednesday ...