GW Hoops / Forecasting The Rotation

**Posted by Gwmayhem** 10/31/2024 11:05 am

CC has said in the past that he would like to play a lot of players (presumably as part of a regular rotation) but that the guys have to earn those minutes. In Year 1 at GW, CC occasionally played 8 guys but relied primarily on 7 players most of the time. (Plus, there would be games where he'd essentially play 6 with maybe a Qwanzi Samuels a handful of minutes as a 7th.). That decision was reached out of necessity once players like Joe B and Brayon departed and not adequately replaced (injuries did not help as well). Last season, CC played what amounted to an 8 man rotation. More than 8 averaged in double figure minutes (a fair barometer to help determine who is and is not part of the rotation) but this was the result of Garrett, Benny, Antoine and Jun all missing time last year due to injuries.

With what looks like additional depth, even despite Garrett's season-ending injury, do you think CC expands to a 9 or even 10 man rotation or do you think it stays at 8 (hard to envision it reverting to 7)? Injuries will inevitably play a role in answering this, but if we can assume reasonably good health for the season, here is what I think we're looking at:

30+ minutes per game guys: Jun, Jacoi, Gerald
20+ minutes per game guys: Trey A., Trey M., Sean, Rafael
10+ minutes per game candidates: Christian, Dayan, Zam, Ty

Hard to imagine Keegan, Laziz, Mohamed or Amir receiving meaningful minutes, though Keegan certainly could on occasion.

That's an 11 man rotation if it holds which it most assuredly will not. Any changes on what you would make to this projection? Thoughts on who the odd man or odd men out might be?

**Posted by GWRising** 10/31/2024 11:25 am

Expect a longer bench early and eventually settling to an 8-9 man rotation based on performance during the OOC schedule. I don't expect that we will see any 34+ minute guys this year. I would expect our top guys to play max 30 if healthy and we develop a true 8-9 man rotation. Can't really disagree with what you laid out except maybe Christian Jones gets a few more minutes. If the past is any indication, Keegan has no rotation role. I expect one of the other 10 minute guys to possibly crack the regular rotation - possibly Dayan. None of the walk-ons will be anything other than 30/30/30 guys ... 30 seconds left, 30 points down or 30 points up. That's just the life of a walk-on especially when you have 12 scholarship players.

**Posted by jf** 10/31/2024 2:04 pm

12? We have an extra scholarship? (know limits will later change).
If so, maybe we can pick up a great midseason transfer,though that market has diminished.

**Posted by PKGW** 10/31/2024 7:06 pm

The 11 mentioned plus Garrett makes 12.

With potential foul trouble with the 2 bigs, does Zam get a few more minutes. Know he struggled on D as a freshman but he brings a lot of quickness.

**Posted by AT Hiker** 10/31/2024 9:21 pm

i agree with GW Rising that Christian will get more minutes; maybe a lot more minutes. They are very high on him.

**Posted by Long Suffering Fan** 11/03/2024 7:34 am

I will be curious to see how the offense/defense combo of Castro and Hansen will work out in turns of minutes. FYI...first Coaches Show was aired on Saturday on Monumental Sports. Still Patsos lobbing softball questions at CC, but a fun watch. Among other topics, coach pointed out the physical development of Christian Jones, who went from 175 pounds last season to 195 pounds. Apparently Christian had his doubts about sitting last season for developmental reasons but has come around and is seeing the benefits.