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Projected Starting Lineup


Gxtrex

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6 hours ago, DooleyBull06 said:

I say this is accurate. Our upside potential is very high. Top 4 in the MAC would be great and in line with where I think we currently are. And where I expect us to finish. But the upside is there.

They have not listed the two remaining MAC teams that they have rated higher yet, but would guess other two are not that much higher.  Which means they agree that Buffalo has a decent shot at MAC championship.

Interestingly they keep an archive of their previews.  Here are last few years for fun.  Shows how difficult it is to make projections.

https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/16536

https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/14970

https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/13503

Edited by DocCas86
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A few thoughts on some of the above recent comments:

I don't see Mballa being granted his waiver.  If he does, we are one of the favorites in the MAC.  MBalla playing this season would be huge plus for us.  The only hole in this roster at this point is depth in the paint position, Mballa would fill that without a doubt.  Mballa playing this year would lead to a grad transfer from Brock after the season I would guess.

There is a lot of discussion on a 3 guard lineup.  I find it hard to imagine a situation where coach plays Jordan, Graves and Johnson at the same time.  This lineup is just too small.  Coach Whitesell has a different philosophy than coach Oats.  I think Whitesell is a believer in length, especially on the wings and athleticism in the post.  His recruiting style and the prospects he targets has made that pretty evident, his emphasis is on length and athleticism.  I think you will see a lot of lineups with WIlliams and Hardnett on the floor with Nickelberry.  That's some impressive length and athleticism.  The key to this style working is that all players need to rebound.  Graves is a strong rebounder from the guard position.  From what I hear Johnson is also a strong rebounder from the guard position.  Jordan and Segu will focus on getting back to prevent a break while the others rebound. 

I am not holding my breathe that Jordan can learn to shoot free throws.  I find it unlikely that at this late point in his career he will figure it out.  I think at the end of close games we will be substituting him out for Segu.  I expect big things from Segu this year.  He is going to be strong and is one of the future players on this team. 

As I said above, if Mballa plays we are one of the favorites to win MAC.  If he does not, then we should be one of the top 4 teams. I suspect this team will get better as the season goes along and by seasons end we will be playing our best basketball.  There are a lot of new faces on this team and it will take sometime to learn how to play together and for coach to get the best out of these players. 

Last year was a fun season, and many of us UB fans are expecting a big drop off in both the results and the excitement surrounding the team.  I do not think a large drop off in excitement will occur for this team.  This roster is full of potential and this season will provide a fun brand of basketball that we will all enjoy watching.  We have not had bigs that can run the floor like these guys can (Hardnett and Mballa).  I suspect there will be many less three pointers shot this season and way more fast break opportunities in the full court and screen and rolls for a flush in the half court set.  Defensively this team will be stronger than it was last year, as our length and athleticism will allow us to switch and match up with the opponents much better than we could last year.  Perkins and a guard was a mismatch.  Hardnett or Mballa in that role is something I personally cannot wait to watch.  I love the way this coaching staff is building this roster and I cannot wait to get this season underway. 

You heard it hear first, this team will result in a more exciting brand of basketball than last seasons team.  Go Bulls!  

 

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2 hours ago, MaineBull said:

Perkins and a guard was a mismatch.

Agree with everything you said except this. Often times a guard would get the ball with Perkins guarding him after a switch and he would underestimate Perkins quickness by thinking he could blow past him, which often wasn’t the case.

Regardless though there’s a lot to be excited about 

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Yeah I disagree with Maine on the starting line-up. Jordan, Graves and Johnson will be starting because they are the 3 best players on the team. Period. No brainer. Whitesell preached at his introduction press conference that we would play the same up tempo style that Oats had. So why would we all of a sudden go 3 forwards and only 2 guards? Johnson is taking Massinburgs spot and should be good for at least 12pts per game. Just watch. He can ball. 

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36 minutes ago, MKBullsfan said:

Yeah I disagree with Maine on the starting line-up. Jordan, Graves and Johnson will be starting because they are the 3 best players on the team. Period. No brainer. Whitesell preached at his introduction press conference that we would play the same up tempo style that Oats had. So why would we all of a sudden go 3 forwards and only 2 guards? Johnson is taking Massinburgs spot and should be good for at least 12pts per game. Just watch. He can ball. 

Maybe all this back and forth shows the versatility of this team and difficulties opponent will have matching up with us.

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1 hour ago, MKBullsfan said:

Yeah I disagree with Maine on the starting line-up. Jordan, Graves and Johnson will be starting because they are the 3 best players on the team. Period. No brainer. Whitesell preached at his introduction press conference that we would play the same up tempo style that Oats had. So why would we all of a sudden go 3 forwards and only 2 guards? Johnson is taking Massinburgs spot and should be good for at least 12pts per game. Just watch. He can ball. 

Couldn’t agree more with you, it’s a no brainer in my eyes too as they are the 3 best players. We play in the Mac, Graves will likely guard the 3 position and he’s 6’3” and more than enough athletic and strong to hold his own. People making it like he’s gonna be guarding 6’8 guys. At best he’ll be guarding guys that are 2 or 3 inches taller and I think that won’t be an issue at all. We’ve always played this way also this whole stretch of winning so don’t see why we all of a sudden change it.

Gonna we weird watching this team without massinburg and perk, and dontay caruthers coming off the bench was such a luxury, dude was a beast.

Edited by Ubbulls84
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The high-end talent may not be what it was the last few years, but we should definitely have more overall depth and versatility with this group (even without Mballa). Excited to see what the coaching staff can mold this into. True dominant bigs may give us trouble but there aren't many (if any) of those in MAC and I like our chances to get it done again come March.

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9 hours ago, MKBullsfan said:

Yeah I disagree with Maine on the starting line-up. Jordan, Graves and Johnson will be starting because they are the 3 best players on the team. Period. No brainer. Whitesell preached at his introduction press conference that we would play the same up tempo style that Oats had. So why would we all of a sudden go 3 forwards and only 2 guards? Johnson is taking Massinburgs spot and should be good for at least 12pts per game. Just watch. He can ball.

I do not dispute that Graves, Jordan and Johnson may be our best three players.  I don't think this coaching staff will play that group together on a regular basis without a true center on the floor to rebound.  As I said above I think this group starts the following 3 guard and 2 forwards (I consider Nickleberry a guard):

1. Jordan

2. Graves

3. Nickleberry

4. Williams (Mballa if he is granted waiver)

5. Hardnett

I agree that it appears Johnson can play.  As we saw over the last 4 years with Perkins, our best players do not always start.  It is about putting the best lineup on the floor not the best players.  This coaching staff appears to favor length and athleticism.  I see Johnson as first player off the bench and providing instant offense. 

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6 minutes ago, MaineBull said:

I do not dispute that Graves, Jordan and Johnson may be our best three players.  I don't think this coaching staff will play that group together on a regular basis without a true center on the floor to rebound.  As I said above I think this group starts the following 3 guard and 2 forwards (I consider Nickleberry a guard):

1. Jordan

2. Graves

3. Nickleberry

4. Williams (Mballa if he is granted waiver)

5. Hardnett

I agree that it appears Johnson can play.  As we saw over the last 4 years with Perkins, our best players do not always start.  It is about putting the best lineup on the floor not the best players.  This coaching staff appears to favor length and athleticism.  I see Johnson as first player off the bench and providing instant offense. 

Why do you think Williams only starts if mballa can't play? 

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11 minutes ago, MaineBull said:

I do not dispute that Graves, Jordan and Johnson may be our best three players.  I don't think this coaching staff will play that group together on a regular basis without a true center on the floor to rebound.  As I said above I think this group starts the following 3 guard and 2 forwards (I consider Nickleberry a guard):

1. Jordan

2. Graves

3. Nickleberry

4. Williams (Mballa if he is granted waiver)

5. Hardnett

I agree that it appears Johnson can play.  As we saw over the last 4 years with Perkins, our best players do not always start.  It is about putting the best lineup on the floor not the best players.  This coaching staff appears to favor length and athleticism.  I see Johnson as first player off the bench and providing instant offense. 

You’re jumping to conclusions at this point. We gotta go with what we know. Antwain Johnson is probably going to be one of our best guards. As I’ve said, we would run 3 guards in the starting lineup BECAUSE they’re expected to provide rebounding numbers and because they play great defense. As I’ve said, guards today are expected to do more than just shoot and pass. Expect all 3 guards to be out there on the start, followed by David Nickelberry and potentially Brock Bertram, considering @961819 has been speaking highly of him. Then we have Williams, Segu, Hardnett, and potentially Mballa, and Skogman coming off the bench.

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16 minutes ago, Gxtrex said:

Why do you think Williams only starts if mballa can't play? 

If Mballa is granted his waiver I think he will start as he provides some things in the lineup that Willams does not.  He is an interior presence that can protect the rim and can rebound the basketball.  Williams is more of a wing player.  I see big things from Williams this season and in the future.  Really hoping he makes that second year jump. 

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11 hours ago, Ubbulls84 said:

Couldn’t agree more with you, it’s a no brainer in my eyes too as they are the 3 best players. We play in the Mac, Graves will likely guard the 3 position and he’s 6’3” and more than enough athletic and strong to hold his own. People making it like he’s gonna be guarding 6’8 guys. At best he’ll be guarding guys that are 2 or 3 inches taller and I think that won’t be an issue at all. We’ve always played this way also this whole stretch of winning so don’t see why we all of a sudden change it.

Gonna we weird watching this team without massinburg and perk, and dontay caruthers coming off the bench was such a luxury, dude was a beast.

Honestly I am fine with three guards starting but I don't like the reasoning being that it is because they are our 3 best players. Was it a no brainer to start Perkins because he was one of our 2 best players?

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On 7/19/2019 at 10:15 AM, Ubbulls84 said:

40% is a pretty good amount in my opinion. We’ve always played a 3 guard lineup traditionally going back to when we first won with Bearden, Evans and Skeete. Not only does it allow you to have 3 ballhandlers on the court, but  it helps you push the pace like we want to. Jeenathan still has to prove himself and I’m sure he’ll get plenty of minutes off the bench to do that. When we are playing a big team where the size is a factor I can see us tweaking starting lineup to matchup better, but in most cases this won’t happen.

40% is a good amount, but the poster that I quoted said that nearly every team starts 3 guards. Which is just not true.

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4 hours ago, mikescherrer8 said:

You’re jumping to conclusions at this point. We gotta go with what we know. Antwain Johnson is probably going to be one of our best guards. As I’ve said, we would run 3 guards in the starting lineup BECAUSE they’re expected to provide rebounding numbers and because they play great defense. As I’ve said, guards today are expected to do more than just shoot and pass. Expect all 3 guards to be out there on the start, followed by David Nickelberry and potentially Brock Bertram, considering @961819 has been speaking highly of him. Then we have Williams, Segu, Hardnett, and potentially Mballa, and Skogman coming off the bench.

Completely agree. As far as Brock goes, I could see him being an 15-20 minutes per game, 8.5ppg, 5rpg type of guy this season. He’s not going to carry games the way Perk could, but he has definitely improved greatly and it would’ve been unfair of me to not give him credit for it.

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3 hours ago, SGBull said:

Honestly I am fine with three guards starting but I don't like the reasoning being that it is because they are our 3 best players. Was it a no brainer to start Perkins because he was one of our 2 best players?

Perkins situation was unique. The reason he didnt start was because he was prone to get in foul trouble early. If he wasn’t known to get into foul trouble, he would have started because he was one of our 3 best players. 

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On 7/24/2019 at 1:36 PM, MKBullsfan said:

Perkins situation was unique. The reason he didnt start was because he was prone to get in foul trouble early. If he wasn’t known to get into foul trouble, he would have started because he was one of our 3 best players. 

We couldn’t just let him foul someone in the locker room?

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I hope 961819 is right about Bertram but I do not see it happening.  I don't think he is ever going to fit into the style of basketball this team plays.  He does not have the foot speed or the athleticism to contribute to this style of play.  There are too many superior athletes on this team at the 4 and 5 positions that will take his minutes.  The only role I see for Bertram this year is when we face a team with a legit center and we need him defensively as a big body inside.  Other than that, I don't see Bertram on the floor much this season.  I hope he can prove me wrong non the less.  I cannot wait to get this season started, GO Bulls!

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1 hour ago, MaineBull said:

I hope 961819 is right about Bertram but I do not see it happening.  I don't think he is ever going to fit into the style of basketball this team plays.  He does not have the foot speed or the athleticism to contribute to this style of play.  There are too many superior athletes on this team at the 4 and 5 positions that will take his minutes.  The only role I see for Bertram this year is when we face a team with a legit center and we need him defensively as a big body inside.  Other than that, I don't see Bertram on the floor much this season.  I hope he can prove me wrong non the less.  I cannot wait to get this season started, GO Bulls!

Agree with the Brock part. He may not be able to run and gun, but his game is all back to the basket and physical post defense. He’ll be nice to have for any team with a decent big 

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5 hours ago, 961819 said:

Agree with the Brock part. He may not be able to run and gun, but his game is all back to the basket and physical post defense. He’ll be nice to have for any team with a decent big 

Completely agree he just doesn’t have the foot speed to keep up at this level. You can get stronger and even improve your skill set, but can’t create that. Hes just too slow and you even saw that when he played in past getting beat to the bucket on defense. He’ll get PT but don’t see him playing a big part either. 

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5 hours ago, MaineBull said:

At this point we are waiting on the MBalla waiver.  If granted I think he plays significant minutes and makes us the favorite to win the MAC again this year.  If not, I think our rotation of players stays at 9.

Any word on the Mballa waiver?

Is there a deadline we would hear by on Mballa?  Would be nice to hear either way.

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