Looking Towards 2007-2008

[CWSKeith]

I need to get my mind off of the awful performance tonight.  Gotta think about something else.

So -- assuming DJ stays -- what's the team looking like next year, starters and bench?  I'm mainly interested in seeing some thoughts on the bench -- we seem like we're going to be pretty deep next year.  I also understand that a lot of this is 'projecting' on our parts, as guys can really improve their individual game during the summer.

I would assume this will be the starting five:

James
McNeal
Matthews
Hayward
Barro

I'd almost like it if Fitzgerald or Burke or Mbakwe stepped up enough to take that five spot away from Oose, but then you're going with a very small starting lineup.  Unless Burke improves mightily over the summer, I'd guess that it's Barro's spot.

The bench is what excites me.  We should be pretty deep -- Cubillan and Fitz should be great as the first two off the bench.  Burke (or Barro) should be a decent #5 off the bench.  Then there will be two new guard additions in Acker and Christopherson.  I can't see either of them getting a lot of minutes, but they should be able to take (about) seven minutes per game.  Another three point threat is always welcome, and Christopherson seems to be that.

I'm interested in what you guys think about the big men freshmen -- Mbakwe and Saunders, is it?  I think I'm missing one...?  How much do you think these guys will contibute?  Mbakwe seems to be the more 'hyped' player, and he isn't close to the same type of player Hayward is, will he be able to contribute as much as Lazar did this year?

Any thoughts would be appreciated...

[chapman]

I would assume your starting five is right.  I think Hayward would be much better as a swing player at the 3, but I doubt we'll replace him as a starter, especially if he improves.  Even though Barro got into foul trouble 4 out of the last 5 games and showed no ability to compete against Big East quality big men I don't see Crean benching a senior with his experience for a freshman regardless of how talented Mbakwe turns out to be and I don't see Dwight Burke doing anything to take a starting spot.  I wouldn't give him minutes until he learns to shoot better than 8 for 30 free throws...I'm pretty sure he's been to the line once in almost all of the past 7 or 8 games and made a single free throw total. 

The extra shooting is going to help.  Acker can shoot, if he can get open since he's not tall.  Christopherson looks like a shooter, but we also have to account for the difference between playing D3 high school ball and D1 NCAA and hope he can make a transition.

I hope between Mbakwe, Saunders, and Hazel we can get some serious contributions.  It seems like these are better players, or at least more athletic, than the bigs we had this year.  Hopefully they can do more inside so we aren't getting dominated inside all the time.  We can also hope they have good court presence, both defensively (not allowing constant back-door slams) and offensively. We need the inside players to have an offensive dimension, and the offense to allow them to handle the ball inside.  That will allow defenses to consider them, and also sets up guards on the perimeter and for driving inside.

I think having senior leaders in Fitzgerald and Barro is at least better than Kinsella and Lott.  The inside game and the shooting can only improve. 

The depth chart should look something like this...I've repeated names based on about how much time I'd expect the players to play in that position...of course it's relative and I'm sure you could switch around many of the names the farther down you go....still, we will have a ton of depth; the talent is the debatable thing.

1:
James
Acker
Cubillan
Matthews
McNeal

2:
McNeal
Cubillan
Matthews
James

3:
Matthews
McNeal
Fitzgerald
Hayward

4:
Hayward
Fitzgerald
Mbakwe
Saunders
Hazel

5:
Barro
Mbakwe
Burke
Saunders
Hazel

[Thomas' Danish Delight]

A lot of people are excited about our roster next year...now if only Mbakwe were half a foot taller.
And that other 6'7" kid you're thinking about is Hazel.  I don't know, it seems like Mbakwe is the only quality semi-big we're getting.  A lot of the good bigs out there are favoring other schools.  It's too bad they don't realize that, as McIlvaine noted, a great buncha guards is only beneficial to a good big. 

I am really hoping that at 5'8"...my height...that Acker is a complete stud.  Sure, he was the MVP of him and McNeal's HIGH SCHOOL team, but how will that translate into college play?  This is not the Little East.

I've watched vids of Hot Shot Christoph, and I'm excited to have 'em.  I'm just curious to what our rotation will be.  I don't see much of a change in our starting 5, but who will be our 6th man?  Fitz?  Cube?  Mbakwe? 

I see it being

DJ-Cube then Acker, unless Acker is just insane
McNeal - Christopherson
Matthews - Fitz
Hayward - Fitz, Mbakwe, Burke
Ous - Fitz, Mbakwe, Burke, Hazel/Saunders....I hope these two aren't like Burke or Blackledge.

If for 2008-2009, ALL THREE of the Big Three stay, plus Nick Williams and MAYBE HOPEFULLY PRAYFULLY we get a quality 4 or 5 guy, I see a National Title Run.  That'd be a pretty sweet year for me to graduate.

[only a warrior]

Assuming DJ stays?  Where is he going the way he has played the 2nd half of the year?  The praise he earned was for work done early in the year.  He needs to come back and show the the NBA scouts he can be the whole package for an entire season.

[chapman]

Completely forgot about Christopherson on the depth chart...I'd say he gets some minutes next year but won't be a first option off the bench.  I also wouldn't doubt him or Hazel getting a redshirt...I am concerned about his transition from division 3 high school competition, though he's been competing in summer leagues and camps with D1 competition.  I think Acker will get some significant minutes as backup point with Cubillan being the first option off the bench as the 2.  Acker's numbers as a freshman (9.2 points, 4.6 assists and 2.4 rebounds in 31.7 minutes) are solid even if he was in the MAC, plus he has more talent around him, including high-school teammate McNeal.  He's added some muscle, and apparently put on a 3-point shooting display to the students the morning of the Wisconsin game.  I think he'll be a factor.

[CWSKeith]

I am really hoping that at 5'8"...my height...that Acker is a complete stud.  Sure, he was the MVP of him and McNeal's HIGH SCHOOL team, but how will that translate into college play?  This is not the Little East.

I saw Acker play several times at Hillcrest (the high school he and Jerel went to), so I think I can make a fair assessment on him.

I think he can be a pretty good bench contributer.  He's very good with the ball -- good dribbler, good passer.  He can 'command' the offense.  I'll be interested to see how he handles playing man-to-man.  Hillcrest always ran a half-court trapping 1-3-1 zone, and he was in the middle part of it.  They tried to 'hide' him a bit.  He's quick, that's for sure, but he's going to be going against guys that have a good couple of inches on him.

Overall -- for next season, I'd say he can be a slightly worse version of what Cubillan was for Marquette this year.  Since Marquette will be so deep in guards next year, I don't think he'll see nearly as much time as Cubillan saw this year, but I think he'll fit perfectly into that role of getting five-ten minutes per night.  

I might be selling him short (no pun intended) -- he did win the MAC Freshman of the Year, afterall -- but I don't think he'll ever be good enough to start.  There's nothing wrong with that -- it's always nice to have confidence in your backup PG.

[muwarrior87]

with the depth at the guard positions, it wouldn't surprise me if Christopherson got redshirted, especially if he's as good as ppl are saying. i really dont know if we need him next year because Acker's shot has gotten a lot better and he's almost a mix between Cube and James, not quite as explosive as James but a good shooter and great distributer of the ball.

[Thomas' Danish Delight]

with the depth at the guard positions, it wouldn't surprise me if Christopherson got redshirted, especially if he's as good as ppl are saying. i really dont know if we need him next year because Acker's shot has gotten a lot better and he's almost a mix between Cube and James, not quite as explosive as James but a good shooter and great distributer of the ball.

I think it'd probably better to redshirt him, especially since he's coming from a DIII high school.  It'd be good for him to learn and absorb.  Plus, like you said, we have depth at the 1-3, we're losing a couple big guys, so if anyone were to be redshirted, it would probably be Christopherson.

[Eye]

While Aquinas plays in D3 in the postseason, to say they've played a D3 schedule this year is borderline assisine and for sure big-time overexaggerated. Aquinas' conference is 4 D1 schools and 2 D2 schools. Their non-conference schedule included D1 schools Neenah at the Al, at D1 DeForest, and D2 Prairie du Chien in the second game of their Christmas tournament. They played ONE (1) D3 school all year in the regular season, Lancaster in the first game of the Christmas tournament. Their non-conference schedule also included four Minnesota teams, Woodbury, who at the time was ranked 3rd in the state's largest division, Rockford in a game in St. Paul, and two slightly larger area schools. So a better summation of their schedule this year would be to call it somewhere between a D1 and D2 schedule, with a slight lean to more of a D1 schedule.

http://www.gomvc.org/ABoys%20BB%202006-07.xls

[Thomas' Danish Delight]

While Aquinas plays in D3 in the postseason, to say they've played a D3 schedule this year is borderline assisine and for sure big-time overexaggerated. Aquinas' conference is 4 D1 schools and 2 D2 schools. Their non-conference schedule included D1 schools Neenah at the Al, at D1 DeForest, and D2 Prairie du Chien in the second game of their Christmas tournament. They played ONE (1) D3 school all year in the regular season, Lancaster in the first game of the Christmas tournament. Their non-conference schedule also included four Minnesota teams, Woodbury, who at the time was ranked 3rd in the state's largest division, Rockford in a game in St. Paul, and two slightly larger area schools. So a better summation of their schedule this year would be to call it somewhere between a D1 and D2 schedule, with a slight lean to more of a D1 schedule.

http://www.gomvc.org/ABoys%20BB%202006-07.xls

Didn't know that.  Thanks for the info.  I mean, the guy looks like a definite baller, no doubt.  But still, D1 high school is no Big East.

[WashDCWarrior]

Help me out, in Wisconsin HS sports, which schools are larger, DI or DIII?

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Help me out, in Wisconsin HS sports, which schools are larger, DI or DIII?

D1 biggest
D4 smallest

[MUfan2]

A few of you are talking about redshirting...

How many players has Crean redshirted? 

You should have your answer right there.  No way is he redshirting anyone next year.

[NYWarrior]

A few of you are talking about redshirting...

How many players has Crean redshirted? 

You should have your answer right there.  No way is he redshirting anyone next year.

If James comes back, look at the MU backcourt:

James
Matthews
McNeal
Cubillan
(essentially that's 100% of the minutes played this year -- all back for another season)

Add:
Acker
Christopherson

throw in Fitz and Lazar as 3s who will play a perimeter game..........and redshirting Christopherson must be a possibility unless he shoots like Novak.

[Big Papi]

A few of you are talking about redshirting...

How many players has Crean redshirted? 

You should have your answer right there.  No way is he redshirting anyone next year.

Christopherson has come out and stated he does not want to redshirt next year.  For whatever thats worth.

[mu_hilltopper]

A few of you are talking about redshirting...

How many players has Crean redshirted? 

You should have your answer right there.  No way is he redshirting anyone next year.

Are you forgetting Mortensen, last year?

.. Not that I think Xopherson will redshirt.  We need shooters.