You Be The Coach: 2010-2011 Line-up

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SycamoreStateofMind

SycamoreStateofMind

The Odum Level
Supporter
This is always fun - what do you guys think. Give us a quick breakdown of who you are going to start and why and then give us your bench in the order of which you think they will come into the game and who you think they will come in for.

Look you are the coach, no such thing as a wrong answer because you can do anything you want to do. Just like any coach, that doesn't mean you want be judged on your decision making. So select carefully! Enjoy...

I will even break the ice and go first - feel free to judge me all you want! lol

PG: Odum - If you are going to give him the keys to the car you might as well give it to him with experience behind him. Playing with the likes of Kelly and Lathan will take a ton of pressure of the RedShirt Freshman. If Colt Ryan at UE can play at the level he did as a true Freshman in the MVC their is no doubt in my mind that Odum can hold his own. With a transition year under his belt, I fully expect this freshman to play more like a seasoned Sophomore.

SG: Kelly - So much for all that redshirt talk, with that behind us we can look forward to this coming season, one we all hope will be the Iowa version of Jake Kelly. Question marks about his health and leadership are present - however this will be his show now and that should serve him well moving forward. The Sycamores need him to produce, if anyone guy can determine our success or failures this season I'd say Jake Kelly would be that guy. As he goes, we will go...

SF: Lathan - Fully expect him to have a big JR year - yes the human highlight machine is just a JR. Hopefully this offseason he was able to do a little work on his ball handling skills and I think he should be fine. With that being said, the kid has to find a way to stay on the floor. He can get to the dish better than anyone on the team including Kelly - he knows how to get to the FT line on a consistent basis. If we are in the midst of a scoring drought late in the second half of a ball game, this is the guy I want to have the ball in his hands.

PF: Richard - Had a breakout year last year and he's still just a JR. Really worked on his strength with the ball in the off season and really looked more comfortable on the floor. I really like the idea of having a PF in Richard who can actually step out and shoot the 3 ball better than your PG - thats not a total knock on Odum (who was not a great shooter in high school) however more of a testament to the type of shooter that Richard could become. He has the ability to hit some big shots for us this year, but more importantly we need him to continue to rebound the rock! That's what he does best.

C: Walker - Just going based on what I have seen from the current Sycamores at this position and what I have heard about Walker. He has the size and the body for it - the only question is how his game will transition to this level. It's not like he is fresh out of high school, he's transferring from the JC level and I think he will be fine. All I am looking for is a threat in the low post and I think Walker gives us that. He does NOT need to be a big time scorer for us to win basketball games - but he does need to be an option!

Bench:
Printy
Koang
Carter
Martin
RJ
Logan
Lucas

The last 5 on the list are very interchangeable in my mind. I suspect all will play - would be really surprised if McWorther didn't redshirt this coming season. Not really sure what to expect with Kitchell. If they want to have the Jake, Jake and Jake show then they won't redshirt him, because this will be the only year that we have the opportunity to make that attempt at Marketing euphoria!

Have at it!
 

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You're 5 are ok at this point. Redshirting Kitchell and McWhorter makes sense UNLESS they are ready for prime time. But I doubt that they are if our depth is as good as it looks. Printy, Carter, Doluony, and Martin are key players. If Martin hasn't improved much, I see RJ helping.
One negative is that 2-3 of our best outside shooters are on the bench. But if everyone plays, that's ok.
I want more mid-range and inside scoring. Hoping KD and CR and some bigs can do that.
 
Dgreenwell3 said:
1. Odum
2. Printy
3. Lathan
4. Carl Richard
5. ?????isnt that everyones conclusion for this position????
Click to expand...

The post will be an interesting starting position to watch...though Isiah comes in as the only 5 w/ Div I experience, they're all going to be learning a new offense. That may give Walker an edge in "catching up" w/ Isiah on the learning curve. I wouldn't count Kitchell out either...I've heard talk that he may be able to contribute this year as well.
 
If McWhorter redshirts and Kelly isn't playing PG, we have no depth behind Odum. If we're going to run more of a fastbreak style offense, as Lansing mentioned in his Q&A, won't we need talented PGs to do the job? Just a thought.
 

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In changing philosophies, I don't see how you continue to play Richard at the 4. If rebounding is paramount as Lansing stressed, you've got to get height into the lineup. I'd like to see the lineup below tried to see if it could pay some dividends.

PG: Kelly
SG: Lathun
SF: Richard
PF: Martin
C: Walker
 
Jason Svoboda said:
In changing philosophies, I don't see how you continue to play Richard at the 4. If rebounding is paramount as Lansing stressed, you've got to get height into the lineup. I'd like to see the lineup below tried to see if it could pay some dividends.

PG: Kelly
SG: Lathun
SF: Richard
PF: Martin
C: Walker
Click to expand...

I like your thought here but does Kitchell spell Walker then? Or maybe RJ comes in and Isiah goes to post? Just trying to figure out how you can make this happen...you need guys to be able to come in as subs for each and you'd run into trouble w/ the 4/5 positions w/ this lineup I think.
 
Jason Svoboda said:
In changing philosophies, I don't see how you continue to play Richard at the 4. If rebounding is paramount as Lansing stressed, you've got to get height into the lineup. I'd like to see the lineup below tried to see if it could pay some dividends.

PG: Kelly
SG: Lathun
SF: Richard
PF: Martin
C: Walker
Click to expand...

I think we have too much talent and experience on the perimeter to play 2 bigs much.
 
Little Eddie said:
I like your thought here but does Kitchell spell Walker then? Or maybe RJ comes in and Isiah goes to post? Just trying to figure out how you can make this happen...you need guys to be able to come in as subs for each and you'd run into trouble w/ the 4/5 positions w/ this lineup I think.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, if Martin and Walker are both good enough to start, then we don't need Kitchell unless he is better than RJ. That's the coach's decision.
 

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sycamorebacker said:
I think we have too much talent and experience on the perimeter to play 2 bigs much.
Click to expand...
Sorry, you don't sacrifice your interior defense and rebounding by playing people out of position. I feel we did that with Carl, and that was totally unfair to him. He's best suited for the small forward spot. Additionally, if we have that much talent on the perimeter, find a way to split up those 120 minutes and let them fight for them.

Saint Louis and the matchups against the upper tier team in the Valley proved this.
 
Little Eddie said:
I like your thought here but does Kitchell spell Walker then? Or maybe RJ comes in and Isiah goes to post? Just trying to figure out how you can make this happen...you need guys to be able to come in as subs for each and you'd run into trouble w/ the 4/5 positions w/ this lineup I think.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that was my thinking. You've got Walker, Martin, RJ, Koang and Kitchell at the 4-5 spots. If Kitchell can contribute as a freshman, then that's five guys and Carl could play there in a pinch or if you move to a "small ball" lineup.
 
Jason Svoboda said:
Sorry, you don't sacrifice your interior defense and rebounding by playing people out of position. I feel we did that with Carl, and that was totally unfair to him. He's best suited for the small forward spot. Additionally, if we have that much talent on the perimeter, find a way to split up those 120 minutes and let them fight for them.

Saint Louis and the matchups against the upper tier team in the Valley proved this.
Click to expand...

I disagree. You may not be able to play the best 5, but you try to get as close as you can to it. If someone plays out of position, that's ok. That's done by 100's of teams every year.
If you're two best players are "natural" 2G's, and your SF is a better PF than any other PF you have, you swing one 2G to SF and swing the SF to PF.

Of course, interior D is part of the equation, especially if you have 2 bigs that are outstanding defensive players or rebounders. The last time I checked, we didn't have that.
 
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Jason Svoboda said:
Yeah, that was my thinking. You've got Walker, Martin, RJ, Koang and Kitchell at the 4-5 spots. If Kitchell can contribute as a freshman, then that's five guys and Carl could play there in a pinch or if you move to a "small ball" lineup.
Click to expand...

Five is a little optimistic. Inside play might be the weakness of this team just like last year. Right now we do not have ONE big that has proven he can play D1 ball.
 

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Jason Svoboda said:
Yeah, that was my thinking. You've got Walker, Martin, RJ, Koang and Kitchell at the 4-5 spots. If Kitchell can contribute as a freshman, then that's five guys and Carl could play there in a pinch or if you move to a "small ball" lineup.
Click to expand...

PF isn't the best position for Koang either though.
 
depth of the bench

With the thought that the coach will push the ball more than last year, I would look to see a number of combinations on the floor. If it is a starting line up that we are looking at, I think that depends on the team we are facing. DL and JK will obviously get a large chunk of minutes. To see the rest of the team spliting up the rest of the minutes wouldn't surprise me at all. I am very curious to see the development of last years redshirts(RJ,JO,LE and LE). Walker, Kitchell and McWhorter are question marks for me as I have no way of telling how they will match up both in team chemisty and how well they pick up coach lansings system. Sure looks bright though.

If the guards can get a feel for the team and they begin to play as a unit, it will be a very fun season. Looking forward to it. Interesting subject...lets see how it all plays out.
 
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