JNJ, Bishop, Battle, Jack, Paar

I had the same thought process. My one quibble with Rothstein's prediction was that Paar was not included in the starting lineup. I think he'll start over Moyer. I know he's a grad transfer from the SEC, but he wasn't a starter there and really didn't get a lot of minutes. That being said, I bet Moyer will average over 20 minutes a game. I also agree Sloan will get a ton of minutes off the bench.

Bishop, Jack, Battle, Seymour, Paar

JNJ, Moyer and Dean off the bench first.

Two things worth noting about Moyer.  First, he has a ton of natural talent that for the most part has not materialized throughout his college career.  Maybe injuries brought him down, maybe the level of competition had much to do with this.  The fact that he has had some strong games against top programs is encouraging.  In this sense, I am reminded of Tyler Cavanaugh's career at Wake Forest  which while also inconsistent (though a bit more consistent than Matthew), also produced a few big-time performances.  This year, Moyer is presumably healthy and playing for a mid-major program.  His play has the potential of being a very pleasant surprise.  Second, I think that JC is really counting on his leadership skills.  That's never easy for any player during the first year of having joined an established program but in this sense, it's an advantage that this team has had as much turnover as it has.  Both Zeke and Tyler transferred into teams that needed leadership and both seamlessly filled this role.  Matthew is a 4th year player who will be playing his fourth head coach.  He has seen a lot and has much to offer by way of leadership.  I suspect that this intangible, along with his potential, results in his being in the starting lineup.

Last edited by Gwmayhem (10/01/2020 9:37 am)

We need some height on this team, so you have to include Parr, I don't think Moyer or Bishop transferred here to sit on the bench, so they start.  

Bishop. Battle, Jack, Moyer, Parr

JNJ comes off the bench as your 6th man who can light it up, like Mo Rice back in the day.  

Would again love to see Maceo be the guy off of the bench.  His game is well suited for this.  Plus, it would send out a great message to his teammates, embracing this role rather than sulking over it.

The fact of the matter is that this team's talent level has been elevated since the end of last season.  Paar, Battle, JNJ, Bishop and Moyer should be the starting lineup.  Maceo and Sloan coming in at the same time could give defenses lots of problems.

I guess it is possible that the starting lineup, crunch time lineup, and lineup that plays the majority of the minutes could all be different.

The thing with Moyer is he is a career 21% three point shooter and this was taking 4-5 threes a game while at Vanderbilt. It's probably fair to assume that last year's decline offensively had more to do with injuries because he's been decent otherwise on that end (inside the paint) and a respectable defender. I just feel if we have him and Chase out there together no one will respect Matthew's shot from distance, and pack the paint making it harder on JNJ/Bishop to find room in the lane to penetrate and kick it out to the snipers we have.

We also need some firepower/scoring coming off the bench, which is where Maceo or Sloan would play the perfect role. I think we could even get away with playing Sloan more if we played more than 1% of our defensive possessions in zone (which I am hopeful that we will - it will also be helpful for Moyer who has experience using his length in the zone at Syracuse). I know Sloan played on a young and not very talented Siena team, but per sports-reference he gave up 114.7 points per 100 possessions, which is worse than really anyone we've had on scholarship in the past 10 years, and that includes Maceo's freshman year.

If JNJ is coming off the bench either early in the season or by the end of the season it would tell me that he didn't meet expectations coming into the year which would sound a lot like Terry's sophomore campaign.

I 100% understand the desire to play big and think that's a good idea, which seems to align with JC wanting to play Battle even at the 2, but I don't know how realistic it is from a defensive standpoint. JNJ was one of our better defenders, and although Bishop wasn't great at LSU, it's hard to assess his play when it was mostly in garbage time so you have to give him the chance to potentially fortify our shell along the perimeter. Amir getting hurt is really crushing because he gives us so much on that end.

This is more of a lineup discussion rather than a defensive one, but I think rim protection might be an issue again this season. We will be better than last year, and there is a good chance that experience will improve things the following year, but one of the bigger problems with our running guys off the three point line was enabling the opposition to get into the paint, where we didn't really have anyone who could stop them from converting near the rim. Chase was a pretty good defender, but doesn't have the height to be a true rim protector. The hope is either Noel or Hunter emerge here, but the relative inexperience would make this a challenge for the upcoming season. I am less concerned offensively, but we will need to keep scoring if our defense holds us back, and given our 'live by the three, die by the three' approach, we will have cold shooting nights where we will need our defense to keep us in the game. Defense has to be considered with the lineups, but maybe JC doesn't feel that way.