2018-2019 Rotation Discussion Thread

[Brass Cannon 24,800]

Just now, BtownBanner6 said:

If Mcroberts is starting next year then we are not as talented as I had hoped.


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Not necessarily the starting lineup isn't going to need scoring and he does everything else. Something to be said by having good players come off the bench.  Remember Jeff Foster?  The pacers could have started Artest/Harrington/O'Neal instead they had Foster start and Harrington was a spark off the bench. 

[BtownBanner6 1,298]

Not necessarily the starting lineup isn't going to need scoring and he does everything else. Something to be said by having good players come off the bench.  Remember Jeff Foster?  The pacers could have started Artest/Harrington/O'Neal instead they had Foster start and Harrington was a spark off the bench. 

Yeah I get the thought but that's why I mentioned not as talented, because my hope is that Hunter/phinisee/Al are ready to be that spark off the bench so you play your best 5


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[ap2345 7,845]

5 minutes ago, BtownBanner6 said:

Yeah I get the thought but that's why I mentioned not as talented, because my hope is that Hunter/phinisee/Al are ready to be that spark off the bench so you play your best 5


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Yeah but that's not always the best for the team to win. Sometimes you need a role player in the starting lineup to facilitate and defend. Not not mention it wouldn't surprise me if McRoberts 3 point shooting is much better by next year. 

[AkronHoosier 90]

Going position by position and trying to hit every player from the roster my first post in a long time got a little lengthy. I thought I'd celebrate ending my semester, and dive head on into my excitement about IU basketball post-romeo official decision, with a deep thought about next year and my obviously amateur analysis. 

PG it seem likely Rob or Green will start. Maybe it's nothing but I feel like Tim Langford's and RP's both lead me to think RP has a decent shot at starting, although I dont know much about his game. I am a fan of Devonte and think an off season of improvement and he can be a really food player, but I also wonder if he might excel in a combo guard spark plug of the bench with Rob as the traditional point guard feeding Juwan and Romeo. Al Durham's improvement as a shooter appears to be a big factor in the guard rotation as well. He has shown capable of handling some time at the 1, playing good D and has potential as a slasher. However, shooting was an obvious weakness last year and we appear to be getting a pretty big upgrade in that area next year. May limit AD's PT next year.

On the wing it appears obvious Romeo will dominate the minutes at either the 2-3. One question I have is, how legit were McRoberts' shooting numbers from last year in that small sample? If he can keep shoot at that even slightly less than that % from 3 next year while attempting them a much more when is he open next year than I think he would be a lock to start. He could take a lot of pressure off Romeo on defense and he looks to be a solid athletic wing with length that fits Archie well. If he cant shoot though, Jerome Hunter seems a little slept on and likely to at least be solid wing scorer off the bench. Admittedly, I don't know anything about the non-Romeo recruits outside of what I have read here. Damezi appears to be a great shooter with some length, athleticism and defensive potential.Though with our seemingly apparent depth he may be brought along slow and developed into a pretty impactful four year player. Count me in as a Justin Smith fan. I am among the believers that he is destined for a breakout season and likely to start at the 3-4 depending on if we go big or small and also depending what appears to be the theme of my post; his shooting improvement. 

At big/forward/center I think there are even more question marks/decisions to be made. With that being said I believe we are in a solid position still and should have some quality options and good depth to deal with a variety of lineups. With that being said I am a of the belief that Juwan is very likely back and will, like Romeo on the wing, dominate the time at either the 4 or the 5 depending on the game. I dont know much about Fitzner but he looks like a very good stretch 4/5 to get minutes off the bench. Clifton Moore is a huge question mark with good upside but I thing he may be a bench contributor this year who breaks out in an expanded role when he hits his junior year. Race Thompson, I also don't know much about his game, but he was a top 100 recruit with a redshirt year of experience I feel like he may be capable of a nice role off of the bench and maybe even starting against bigger teams if he can hold his own on the low post and De'Ron doesn't fully recover. Getting to De'Ron, the idea of a redshirt to get fully healthy and get his body back to where it was last year and further improve on his body/conditioning/athleticism even more intrigues me, but I dont know how likely that is. Even if he is healthy by the beginning of the year I expect him to be brought along slowly. Hopefully he is ready by conference season at least as anoption as a big body to throw down lown as a rim protector against some of the bigger teams. Forrester I see in the same boat as Damezi being brought along slowly and devoloping into a very good 4-year defensive big man.

I guess my best guess at a lineup right now would be, 

1. Rob 2. Romeo 3. McRoberts 4. Smith 5. Juwan with Race or De'Ron in for Zach or Justin to match size. Devonte as the first bench guard getting time at the 1 and 2. Jerome as an athletic scorer of the bench on the wing. Fitzner having a clear role as the bench shooter spacing the floor in lineups with Juwan and Romeo, and some combination of Race and De'Ron with rest of the minutes at the 4 and 5.

[IUfan_Charlie 3,867]

Depth chart: I think we'll see a somewhat small frontcourt. 

Green/Phinisee

Romeo/Durham

McRoberts/Hunter 

Smith/Race

Morgan/Fitzner

Other guys get spot minutes. I'm not sure Davis will factor into our plans much this year. 

[Bailey7878 2,506]

Depth chart: I think we'll see a somewhat small frontcourt. 
Green/Phinisee
Romeo/Durham
McRoberts/Hunter 
Smith/Race
Morgan/Fitzner
Other guys get spot minutes. I'm not sure Davis will factor into our plans much this year. 

Exactly the lineup I expect to see. I don't see us starting fitzner or race. Davis may not be ready so this is the best luneup.

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[BtownBanner6 1,298]

Yeah but that's not always the best for the team to win. Sometimes you need a role player in the starting lineup to facilitate and defend. Not not mention it wouldn't surprise me if McRoberts 3 point shooting is much better by next year. 

It's fine to have talented role players. I have nothing against Mcroberts he was what we needed last year but I hope someone can do that Defend role while not being an absolute liability on offense


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[Brass Cannon 24,800]

2 minutes ago, BtownBanner6 said:

It's fine to have talented role players. I have nothing against Mcroberts he was what we needed last year but I hope someone can do that Defend role while not being an absolute liability on offense


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We wont need 5 guys to score on the court at once. Sometimea better to leave people who can score on the bench. 

[BGleas 7,903]

19 minutes ago, BtownBanner6 said:

It's fine to have talented role players. I have nothing against Mcroberts he was what we needed last year but I hope someone can do that Defend role while not being an absolute liability on offense


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I would argue that McRoberts is more important to next years team than he was to last years team. McRoberts is a tremendous defender, so I'd be hard pressed to find someone who will fill that role to his ability. McRoberts will be great for Langford. He'll take so much defensive pressure off of Romeo. 

Offensively, I agree that he has to start taking the open shots. He can't pass on as many as he did last season. With that said, he was not an offensive liability. There is a lot of value, and there will be even more next season, to his ball movement, people movement, and ability to grab offensive rebounds and keep possessions alive with tip backs, etc. 

[ElectricBoogaloo 4,307]

I'm going to go backwards and try to think of guys who won't break into the rotation next year. Let's call it a 9 man rotation so that leaves 4 scholarship players out in the cold, plus another scholarship player since we know McRoberts will be a significant contributor. So my 5 end-of-bench guys are:

Damezi

Forrester

De'ron for health reasons

Moore

I'm struggling for the last one here... but I'll say Hunter just because he's a freshman at a position that already has some solid contributors.

[Stuhoo 80,723]

43 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I'm going to go backwards and try to think of guys who won't break into the rotation next year. Let's call it a 9 man rotation 10 man rotation so that leaves 4 scholarship players out in the cold, plus another scholarship player since we know McRoberts will be a significant contributor. So my 5 end-of-bench guys are:

Damezi

Forrester

De'ron for health reasons

Moore

I'm struggling for the last one here... but I'll say Hunter just because he's a freshman at a position that already has some solid contributors.

 

Struggle no more!

 

[ElectricBoogaloo 4,307]

Just now, Stuhoo said:

 

Struggle no more!

 

A weight has been lifted.

[JustWinWoody 3,385]

Somebody is working on some Yogi guns.

[Brass Cannon 24,800]

1 minute ago, InArchWeTrust said:

Somebody is working on some Yogi guns.

Niiiiice 

Our needs from last year

Servicable Big

Improved perimeter shooting

Point guard play

Look to have taken care of all three

[Miller'sTheMan 1,652]

Green/Langford/Hunter/Smith/Morgan

[rcbowla 7,119]

I think we're all looking at this wrong. It isn't about who starts but about who gets the most minutes. Archie's rotations and substitutions showed us this much last season. So with that said I'd say the starting 5 would likely be the 5 he can count on to set the tone defensively and to protect possessions:

Morgan
Langford
McRoberts
Smith
Green

I don't necessarily expect those guys outside of Morgan and Langford to log the most minutes every game but I do think they will set the tone and that's what you want in the first 5 minutes of each half. I believe Archie will have the flexibility and depth to be able to ride "the hot hands" throughout the rest of the 30 minutes. McRoberts is essential in coming out and demonstrating toughness, hustle and consistency each and every game so that's why I think he will start all season barring an injury.

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[Class of '66 Old Fart 84,744]

It's not so much who starts but who's on the court in the last 10 minutes of a white knuckler game.

[Certified Sunshine Pumper 9,165]

19 hours ago, BtownBanner6 said:

Yeah I get the thought but that's why I mentioned not as talented, because my hope is that Hunter/phinisee/Al are ready to be that spark off the bench so you play your best 5


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You play the right 5.. doesn't have to be the best 5. 

[Certified Sunshine Pumper 9,165]

Morgan 

Smith

McRoberts 

Romeo 

Green 

 

Or 

Morgan 

Smith 

Romeo 

Green 

RP 

 

Those are the only two starting lineups I can see for next season. 

Fitzner, Thompson, Hunter, Durham, and RP or McRoberts off the bench(whoever doesn't start). 

[ap2345 7,845]

When game number one roles around I think this is what you will see. 

1) Green 

2) Langford

3) McRoberts

4) Morgan 

5) Thompson

Bench 

1) Phinisee

2) Durham

3) Hunter 

4) Smith

5) Fitzner

I think he will start the year playing about 10 guys depending on match ups. By the time conference play roles around CAM will be playing the top 8 or 9 out of this group. I think Anderson, Moore, Davis, and Forrester could factor in at some point depending on how they play when their chance comes.