My way too early, possibly problematic look at potential GT Hoops roster management

[AUFC]

Somebody tell me if I am wrong but CDS seems to really know how to make substitutions and rotate players depending on game situations, matchups, and who’s hot. I like giving him all these pieces to work with.

Caveat is how long it will take for the team to get comfortable with interchangeable lineups.

He definitely rides the hot hand (which I'm in favor of but YMMV) - see Tafara Gapare's minutes spike against Penn State or Sacko @Notre Dame. Interchangable lineups aren't a big deal - if we're scoring and they aren't scoring, something is obviously going right.

 

[orientalnc]

Here's how I would place it right now. Will leave Kelly and Ndongo out until we know one way or the other and assume the worst for now.
George (So)- 1
McCollum (Sr) -1, 2
Terry (Sr) - 2
Mustaf (Fr) - 1, 2, 3
O'Brien (Sr) - 2, 3, 4
Reeves (Sr) - 3, 4
Sutton (Fr) - 3, 4
Soure (R-Fr) - 4, 5
Kirouac (Fr) - 5
Onwuchekwa (Fr) - 5

Feel good about our perimeter corps. Talent and experience. Terry, McCollum and George all have a year of P6 experience.
O'Brien has 3 years of P6 experience and will likely be our most versatile player. If Ndongo were to leave it would not shock me if he started at the 4.
Reeves has 3 years of P6 experience.

It is obvious we need at least 1 experienced post player, possibly 2 if Ndongo does not come back.
Best case scenario for the frontcourt is likely Ndongo coming back and Jones committing.
I assume that Ndongo is here on a student visa which means he can earn no NIL money on US soil which likely limits the temptation to transfer. It is either NBA or back to GT. (He can earn money outside the US - which is why teams with players on student visa's are trying to arrange foreign trips).

I'd argue from a GT perspective that Ndongo returning is much more important than Kelly returning. It feels like GT already has a perimeter core that can absorb Kelly's loss but right now it has no ability to absorb Ndongo's loss.
On the perimeter GT loses Sturdy and possibly Kelly. It gains Terry, McCollum, Mustaf and potentially O'Brien,
In the frontcourt it loses Coleman (Who spent his time at the 3 and 4) and potentially Ndongo. It gains O'Brien (at the 3 or 4), Sutton (3, 4), Onwuchekwa and Kirouac (who may redshirt).

At PG, George and McCollum both played 30 minutes last year. I cannot see how that happens this season. Except in mop-up situations, or in brief stints, I don't know how Mustaf plays the 1 much this year. I think it will be situational for McCollum at the 2 given how many bodies we have there.

If Ndongo returns and gets 25-28 minutes at the 4/5 the crowd trying to get minutes at the 3 will be interesting.

I am also interested to see how long it takes Onwuchekwa to adjust to the college level competition. He has the bulk required, but how much of that is muscle?

 

[g0lftime]

Do they actually finish or is part of the uncheat degree program. I heard the only way not to get a degree from tudheal university is to not show up for the ceremony. Only applies to athletes of course.

That's a stretch. It's difficult to get into as a normal student. There are lots of degree programs that are not strenuous but others are world class. Not sure what Bacot majored in. They uncovered a lot of extra curricular help and "personal" services provided to the athletes during the AFAM scandal. Probably cleaned that up some. Several tutors fired. AFAM got highlighted but there was a lot of other stuff going on as well.

 

[78pike]

At PG, George and McCollum both played 30 minutes last year. I cannot see how that happens this season. Except in mop-up situations, or in brief stints, I don't know how Mustaf plays the 1 much this year. I think it will be situational for McCollum at the 2 given how many bodies we have there.

If Ndongo returns and gets 25-28 minutes at the 4/5 the crowd trying to get minutes at the 3 will be interesting.

I am also interested to see how long it takes Onwuchekwa to adjust to the college level competition. He has the bulk required, but how much of that is muscle?

I think we are getting too wrapped up in traditional thinking when we talk about who gets how many minutes at the 1 or 2, etc. With CDS 's system the pieces are interchangeable. We could see three "point guards" on the floor at one time with George, McCollum and Mustaf all playing on the perimeter. I think coach is more worried about matchups and who is hot than he is about who is playing point or the two guard. What it really boils down to is if you want to see the court you better learn to play tough defense and rebound. Do that and the shooting will take care of itself. I think he wants a very fast and athletic lineup on the floor that is going to grab a rebound and take off down the floor. I think coach would be perfectly happy seeing us taking a good shot within the first 7-10 seconds. What he doesn't want to see is us walking the ball up the floor.

 

[dtm1997]

I think we are getting too wrapped up in traditional thinking when we talk about who gets how many minutes at the 1 or 2, etc. With CDS 's system the pieces are interchangeable. We could see three "point guards" on the floor at one time with George, McCollum and Mustaf all playing on the perimeter. I think coach is more worried about matchups and who is hot than he is about who is playing point or the two guard. What it really boils down to is if you want to see the court you better learn to play tough defense and rebound. Do that and the shooting will take care of itself. I think he wants a very fast and athletic lineup on the floor that is going to grab a rebound and take off down the floor. I think coach would be perfectly happy seeing us taking a good shot within the first 7-10 seconds. What he doesn't want to see is us walking the ball up the floor.

4 PGs if Sutton is on with those 3.

 

[ESPNjacket]

I think we are getting too wrapped up in traditional thinking when we talk about who gets how many minutes at the 1 or 2, etc. With CDS 's system the pieces are interchangeable. We could see three "point guards" on the floor at one time with George, McCollum and Mustaf all playing on the perimeter. I think coach is more worried about matchups and who is hot than he is about who is playing point or the two guard. What it really boils down to is if you want to see the court you better learn to play tough defense and rebound. Do that and the shooting will take care of itself. I think he wants a very fast and athletic lineup on the floor that is going to grab a rebound and take off down the floor. I think coach would be perfectly happy seeing us taking a good shot within the first 7-10 seconds. What he doesn't want to see is us walking the ball up the floor.

Agreed. There is a lot of '80s basketball mentality on here. I frequently expect to see someone distraught about the lack of a low post defender when no one uses a low post in their offense anymore.

Brian Gregory must have been more popular than I realized.

 

[RyanS12]

Agreed. There is a lot of '80s basketball mentality on here. I frequently expect to see someone distraught about the lack of a low post defender when no one uses a low post in their offense anymore.

Brian Gregory must have been more popular than I realized.

The 80’s mentality probably is because we haven’t been consistently good since the era of a true low post center and they’re fans from the Cremins days. Lol.
It’s been a rough couple decades for the program, which makes it harder to attract a younger new basketball era fanbase.

 

[ESPNjacket]

The 80’s mentality probably is because we haven’t been consistently good since the era of a true low post center and they’re fans from the Cremins days. Lol.
It’s been a rough couple decades for the program, which makes it harder to attract a younger new basketball era fanbase.

True. I think that is about to change. I like what I see so far.

 

[lv20gt]

It's not an 80s mindset to consider traditional positions. It's a matter of convivence where the format has built in expectations of things often undervalued or outright ignored when fans try to take a "positionless" view of evaluating a roster such as defense and rebounding. It's easier to start with assigning players to traditional positions and then adjusting for their skillsets to allow for non traditional line ups than starting from an idea of positionless and just vague guesses at minutes that often ignore the dynamics of how the line up would actually play out.

For example, it's unlikely George and McCollum will be combining for 61 minutes. Both of them are weak rebounders (George was dead last for us in rebounding rate, and McCollum was second to last for OU last year), both were on the low end defensively compared to the rest of the team (going by DRTG). George was last for us and McCollum was second to last for OU. It should be noted that in general OU was a much better defensive team and so McCollum's rating wasn't bad but was also probably helped a bit in general by the team defense being better. In any case both of them also likely aren't nearly as effective without the ball in their hands. Both are good enough scorers to be threats, but not really good enough to warrant being an off ball target with the aforementioned limitations. That is especially true when you also factor in we will likely often want to get away with having Ndongo at the 5 with someone like Reeves/Sutton/Obrien at the 4. Sutton is an unknown but neither Reeves nor Obrien are particularly strong rebounders either. So if you are both planning on going two pg and going smaller in the front court, you're just begging teams to exploit you on the glass and down low.

And that isn't to say either George or McCollum are bad. Both are good guards, but they don't seem to have much synergy in skillset outside of situations where you really just want to prioritize ball handling over everything else especially given the other options we seem to have in the back court. Now maybe we have something like Kelly goes pro, Terry adjust horribly to the what Stoudamire wants, and Mustaf isn't ready to contribute right away and we go to it out of necessity, but playing half the game with both of those on the floor seems very unlikely no matter how you view things. It'

 

[gte447f]

Agreed. There is a lot of '80s basketball mentality on here. I frequently expect to see someone distraught about the lack of a low post defender when no one uses a low post in their offense anymore.

Brian Gregory must have been more popular than I realized.

I hear you in general, but 3 out 4 ncaa final four teams this year had dominant big men playing the center position. The final game had 7’-1” matched up against 7’-4”.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I hear you in general, but 3 out 4 ncaa final four teams this year had dominant big men playing the center position. The final game had 7’-1” matched up against 7’-4”.

Thank you. I said after the game that the final four demonstrated how important having a good big man is.

 

[Root4GT]

I hear you in general, but 3 out 4 ncaa final four teams this year had dominant big men playing the center position. The final game had 7’-1” matched up against 7’-4”.

That often isn’t the case. The 2023 final four had one guy taller that 6’9” that got significant minutes.

It varies year to year. Now every year there are several guards who can shoot, drive, finish at the rim and pass.

This year was very high on transfers on all four teams. That may or may not be the norm going forward same as having a 7’ guy at center.

 

[YlJacket]

For what it’s worth I doubt CDS would have recruited Edy if he could have. I don’t think he wants to run a back to the basket offense and he wants to be a lot faster as a team than Edy would allow him to be. Just my opinion watching him

 

[forensicbuzz]

That often isn’t the case. The 2023 final four had one guy taller that 6’9” that got significant minutes.

It varies year to year. Now every year there are several guards who can shoot, drive, finish at the rim and pass.

This year was very high on transfers on all four teams. That may or may not be the norm going forward same as having a 7’ guy at center.

In 1990 LSU has O'Neal (7'1"), Roberts (7'0"), Geert Hammink (7'0"), Chris Jackson, and Mo Williamson and we still beat them in the 2nd round of the NCAAT with a 6'10" freshman Malcolm Mackey and 6'11" James Munlin.

(jk)

 

[TechPhi97]

The 80’s mentality probably is because we haven’t been consistently good since the era of a true low post center and they’re fans from the Cremins days. Lol.
It’s been a rough couple decades for the program, which makes it harder to attract a younger new basketball era fanbase.

Ironically, the last time we were good was when Schensher was here. And Perdue was pretty darn good with an 80’s lineup.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Weird to me that this is a discussion about style of play in different decades.

I thought basketball was about athletic ability. That being the case, give me a Kareem Abdul Jabbar any day. We might not win a championship, depending on the quality of other players, but we are instantly better than 90% of other teams.

Do you have to have a quality big man to win? No. Does having a quality big man guarantee a championship? No. But it elevates your chances of winning to another level.

One quality athlete in that position is, in my opinion, more of a game changer than a quality player at any other position.

 

[Root4GT]

Weird to me that this is a discussion about style of play in different decades.

I thought basketball was about athletic ability. That being the case, give me a Kareem Abdul Jabbar any day. We might not win a championship, depending on the quality of other players, but we are instantly better than 90% of other teams.

Do you have to have a quality big man to win? No. Does having a quality big man guarantee a championship? No. But it elevates your chances of winning to another level.

One quality athlete in that position is, in my opinion, more of a game changer than a quality player at any other position.

The issue is there are very few “Game Changing” Big Ben in college basketball. There are not enough for most NBA teams to have one. There are ample Big Men that are just guys and that is where this discussion centers.

Is just a guy Big Man more valuable than really good smaller players.

 

[ESPNjacket]

I wonder if some of you have watched an actual basketball game in the last 10 years.

 

[William S. Baker]

Is just a guy Big Man more valuable than really good smaller players.

Post up two 7’ and better who are 5 * and give me a spectacular point who can shoot with two lights out shooting guards and we go for the National Championship. It seems simple and appears exactly where we are going.

 

[Root4GT]

Post up two 7’ and better who are 5 * and give me a spectacular point who can shoot with two lights out shooting guards and we go for the National Championship. It seems simple and appears exactly where we are going.

There are a total of 3 five star centers in the class of 2024 and you want two of them at GT. You will have better luck with Powerball