I think it's very likely that Sturdivant starts the year as the starting PG.
He has more experience both in general and alongside Kelly/Coleman/Terry. He also really came on strong towards the end of last year. His last 12 games (yes a bit arbitrary I know) he averaged 12.6 points, 3 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 1.6 turnovers on 42.4/35.1/80.6 shooting in 33 mpg. Against almost all conference opponents (the one game against FIT doesn't change much if you want to go back and not include it). Those are really good numbers that I think while Abram has higher potential than Sturdivant, I would be surprised if he is better day one. Will certainly play though and I would expect a good chunk of time with both on the floor in some games.
Kelly obviously starts. I think it's also pretty guaranteed that Claude starts in some fashion at least to start the year (and very likely throughout the whole year barring injury or big surprised play).
Everything else is up in the air. The wing starter aside from Kelly is up in the air but we have plenty of good options.
The real issue for the team that I think comes down to the front court. I don't see the approach the article lists as working, for two reasons. The first is I don't think Dowuona is an ACC starter caliber player. He started 27 games as a soph for NCSU and averaged 4 and 4 in 25 min for a team that went 11-21. Last year his minutes fell to just 11 mpg when the team got significantly better. I can't see him being more than a back up player for us unless things really go wrong. The second reason is I am skeptical about having Claude playing alongside him. Offensively it doesn't make much sense as Claude is an interior scorer and so having Dowuona in just clogs things up, and from what I've seen Claude doesn't have much ability to step out and make things happen (shooting threes or driving). Defensively, putting Claude on a forward I think increases the likelihood of him picking up fouls which was somewhat of an issue with him last year anyways.
So I think, and believe most here probably agree, that Claude likely starts at the 5 with Dowuona coming off the bench in a back up role. But how do we handle the 4 spot. One way is to go closer to a traditional look with Ndongo or Gapare playing alongside him. Both have good size for the position and in theory could help with defense/rebounding using their size and length and seem to have a skillset more oriented towards play away from the basket than Claude. The problem is Ndongo is a true freshman and not the one and done variety. It's possible he adjusts well and contribute significantly right away. But it might also take him a year to adjust and he's not really ready to start until later. And Gapare was just not good last year for Umass. Between how much he needed to improve, and the step up in competition, I don't think we can expect much of him this year. Good potential to build on down the road though.
The other option, which I think has more traction here, is the idea of going small. The problem with that route is that Claude is already giving some height at 6-8. I know we just went through this with Franklin who turned into a rebounding monster for us last year down the stretch, but even with that rebounding was a big problem for us, and that is with Franklin working out as well as could be expected (other than an adjust period). Claude may, and hopefully does, adjust as well, but there is a possibility that he doesn't (think of Parham's change after transferring here). However even if he does work out well, we'd still be at a big disadvantage rebounding and interior defense with Coleman or Reeves. The idea is that what we lose in those areas we pick up in offense. Despite that it's probably the best bet to start the year if I had to guess, and to me if you go that route it makes more sense to go with the more efficient offensive player which would be Coleman, although I don't think that spot really go well with him. Also possible both start although I think Terry's shooting again is more valuable if that is the idea you are going for.
So I would guess a starting line up to begin the year as Sturdivant, Terry, Kelly, Coleman, and Claude with Abram and Reeves being the first off the bench on the perimeter (likely depending on who subs out and whether we need size or shooting) and Dowuona and Ndongo getting minutes off the bench in the front court. Hopefully as the year goes on Ndongo adjusts well as he could very well be that missing piece that the line up needs. That gives us a lot of experience, both in general but also playing together, with good tools off the bench for a variety of situations. Back court should be dangerous regardless and I think very likely Claude gives us a good counter balance of inside scoring to make the team dangerous. Defense and rebounding is the major concern I would have, but I don't see a real good way to address that this year unless we get a fairly big surprise player.
