Now that the roster for next year is much clearer than it was 3 weeks ago, figured I’d start a thread specifically about next year’s lineups/rotations. That topic tends to get mixed in quite a bit with recruiting/transfer threads.
At this point it would appear there are only 2 outstanding roster questions.
Does Reece come back?
Do we add Robinson? Even if we do, doubt he figures in to next year’s plans much, if at all.
I’m going to be optimistic that Reece will return. If so that gives us a likely starting 5 of Reece, McKneely, Rohde, Dunn & Minor. Would be interesting to see how deep the bench will go…would assume Harris & Groves are locks to play quite a bit. Buchanan probably plays some out of necessity. Would all 3 of Bond, Gertrude & Murray play? We’ve never gone 11 deep, but Bond & Gertrude have elite athleticism and defensive upside…Murray has experience and wasn’t a liability when he started getting PT late in the season.
Basically a core 7 man rotation of Harris, McKneely, Rohde, Murray, Dunn, Bond, Minor. Then supplemental minutes from the two first years. Could see minutes within that fluctuate (e.g., fewer for big dudes and Bond/Murray to play more at the 4).
Yeah, I could see us playing the 10 if Reece doesn’t come back.
If he does (and I hope he does) that’s probably 32-35 less minutes to spread around. Makes lineup management a little trickier. Especially if we want to avoid too much of 2 ball handlers who are average 3 point shooters, on the floor together.
Most of this feels really solid. The big question marks revolve around Gertrude, Bond, and Murray:
May see a two-man race for final rotation spot between Bond and Murray - they both could play 3 or small ball 4. Who wins? Probably a slight nod to Taine with experience, but he’s still struggled on D late last year. If Bond has fewer mistakes on defensive end (or can cover them up with athleticism), he may displace Murray.
How ready is Gertrude coming off injury? The answer could influence question 1 above as well.
There’s a world in which only one of Gertrude, Bond, and Murray gets 10+ minutes per game. Will be interesting to see each guys readiness.
That’s the balancing act. We need Gertrude & Bond to both play enough next year that they see a clear path to more PT in 2024-25. Their ceiling is WAY higher than Murray, despite him having them on experience.
As others have mentioned, whether or not Reece returns, it looks like Gertrude, Murray, and Bond will all be using the summer and fall practice camps to try and differentiate themselves, competing for bigger roles off the bench. Pretty easy to make assumptions that McKneely, Rohde, and Dunn, based upon their quality performances as 1st years, project to become the core 2/3/4 for the Hoos. But who distinguishes themselves enough to earn that “First off the bench” guard/wing? Probably won’t know that until the winter, as that competition could play out through the non-conference slate.
I really hope that Dunn, Bond, and Gertrude pop on offense and that Elijah is healthy and regains his explosiveness
I hope that Rohde shoots better than he did overall last year and/or shows his dynamic play making while also jumping up several levels of competition
If (enough of) that stuff happens, then the other stuff will fall into place. If (enough of) that stuff doesn’t happen, the other stuff falling into place won’t matter that much.
(I’m roughly taking iMac for granted, I guess)
if that stuff happens,and Reece comes back, that’s a super fun team. If that stuff happens and Reece doesn’t come back, it’s probably still a super fun team but probably a little bit frustrating (and Reece coming back will probably help that other stuff happen)
This, plus Dunn’s second year jump. Ty and Kyle went from year 1 contributors to all-ACC in year 2. Not setting this as a baseline expectation, but think it’s a possible best case scenario.
I really like the pieces we have next year, I think they fit really well together and better into what we want to do as a team, moreso than any team since the national championship. We have a lot of talent, but it is inexperienced and unproven, so the development of guys is the key factor to our success next year. I really like this team’s upside, especially over the course of a couple seasons if we can keep the core together.
y’all are too short gertrude’s minutes at 3. assuming his knee is healed and he gets minutes, I would slot them at 3 and move any imac minutes at 3 back to 2.
For me it’s not just about minutes - it’s about fitting the right parts together in the right rotations … not everyone should be playing together.
Without Reece:
Dante,
McKneely,
Rohde,
Dunn,
Minor
to start.
First subs out are Harris and Minor. Rohde goes to PG.
This is why I’m excited about getting Rohde, bringing in a shooter that can slot into the 1-3 gives us tons of lineup flexibility.
Harris, McKneely, Rohde should work really well together. You have your quick slasher flanked by two guys who can stretch the floor(as well as create some on their own).
Then you slide Rohde to the 1, paired with McKneely and Bond, and now you have a bigger lineup, while still having multiple shooters in the backcourt.
Whereas, a lineup of Harris, McKneely, Bond, feels a bit like what we’ve had these last few years, with a lack of perimeter shooting. With Rohde on board, I doubt we see this lineup that often.
Throw Gertrude in the mix, and that’s 5 guys that make up a really talented backcourt with lots of combinations that should work well together.
I find myself largely agreeing with your 2 scenarios StLou. My only real quibble is that I think someone (probably, but not definitely, Taine) will only get spot minutes and those regular minutes will go to 1 of the other guys already in the rotation.
Agree @Hoosnick, someone inevitably will emerge from the Gertrude/Taine/Bond backup wing battle as the go-to 6th man in the backcourt, and end up with more minutes than the other two. I’m just not ready to guess which, so I kept them all about equal for now.