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Taking a stab at our starting 5

Griz til I die

Well-known member
DONOR
Hasn't been a lot of discussion on this board lately so I thought I'd get the ball rolling a little by projecting our starting 5:

1. Brandon Whitney
2. Giordan Williams
3. Aanen Moody
4. Dischon Thomas
5. Te'Jon Sawyer (this is where I'm a little uncertain)

6th man. Josh Vazquez
7th man: Jaxon Nap
8th man: Blake Jones
9th man: Money Williams
10th man: Laolu Oke

Thoughts???
 
Griz til I die said:
Hasn't been a lot of discussion on this board lately so I thought I'd get the ball rolling a little by projecting our starting 5:

1. Brandon Whitney
2. Giordan Williams
3. Aanen Moody
4. Dischon Thomas
5. Te'Jon Sawyer (this is where I'm a little uncertain)

6th man. Josh Vazquez
7th man: Jaxon Nap
8th man: Blake Jones
9th man: Money Williams
10th man: Laolu Oke

Thoughts???

Looks good but I think Oke will be up in top 7-8.
 
UncleRico said:
Griz til I die said:
Hasn't been a lot of discussion on this board lately so I thought I'd get the ball rolling a little by projecting our starting 5:

1. Brandon Whitney
2. Giordan Williams
3. Aanen Moody
4. Dischon Thomas
5. Te'Jon Sawyer (this is where I'm a little uncertain)

6th man. Josh Vazquez
7th man: Jaxon Nap
8th man: Blake Jones
9th man: Money Williams
10th man: Laolu Oke

Thoughts???

Looks good but I think Oke will be up in top 7-8.
I think he would have been until we brought in Blake Jones. That kind of sends a message to me that they see Jones playing a more prominent role then Oke. I really liked Oke's game last year, but if there was one thing I didn't like was that he had the tendency to pass out of a shot he should've taken. Almost as if he was gun shy to try and score. If he works on that then I probably would put him ahead of Jones.
 
I also think Oke will be in the top seven or eight based on how he contributed towards the end of last season. He is a force on defense and on the boards. I also wonder if there will not be another addition. By my count, the Griz are currently at twelve scholarship players.
 
The best player on the entire roster will eventually be Money Williams. How long will it take? My guess, sooner rather than later.
 
citay said:
The best player on the entire roster will eventually be Money Williams. How long will it take? My guess, sooner rather than later.

I seem to remember a year ago you were hign on Isaiah Kerr. I hope your prediction for Money is more accurate. :)
 
maroonandsilver said:
citay said:
The best player on the entire roster will eventually be Money Williams. How long will it take? My guess, sooner rather than later.

I seem to remember a year ago you were hign on Isaiah Kerr. I hope your prediction for Money is more accurate. :)

Hmmm..selective memory?

I seem to remember I was also high on Will Cherry.

I felt Kerr could have been a good player for us but he never garnered the accolades that Cherry, Pridgett and Money have as high school players coming out of the Bay Area, or that Kareem Jamaar did coming out of Southern California. The current player I REALLY wanted at Montana was Ryan Beasley, who wound up at USF.
 
When you look at the roster next year, there are likely only a handful of players that are locked into a position and it leads to some interesting thought exercises about how lineups could look next year.

Guard/Wing:
Whitney: PG
Henderson: PG/SG (CG)
Moody: PG/SG/SF (CG)
Vasquez: PG/SG/SF (CG)
Williams, M: SG/SF
Williams, G: SG/SF
Nap: SG/SF (Could play point in a pinch)
Dick: SG/SF

Wing/Post:
Thomas: SF/PF/C (Stretch 4)
Jones: SF/PF (Stretch 4)
Bateman: SF/PF (Stretch 4)
Davidson: SF/PF (Stretch 4)
Sawyer: SF/PF/C (Stretch 4)

Posts:
Solomon: PF/C
Reynolds: PF/C
Oke: C

---
This is a super flexible and generally athletic roster from top to bottom. Potentially a better defensive roster than we've had and much better set up to handle some of the more acute defensive issues UM has faced the last two seasons. They may lack heft in the post, but they won't lack length and numbers. They'll have five or six options in the post and all the post guys can truly defend both the 4 and the 5 or at least accumulate fouls while defending (Mac Anderson school of defending).

If we follow the model from the end of the season that was likely best group we've seen in a bit:
PG: Whitney
SG: Moody
SG: Vasquez or SG: Martin
PG/PF: Bannan
P: Thomas or Oke

If that holds, the starting lineup might look like this:
PG: Whitney
SG: Moody
SG: Williams, G or Vasquez
S4: Thomas or Sawyer
P: Oke or Thomas

But there is a tremendous amount of flexibility of this roster that could spend all game hunting mismatches in the way that NAU and Eastern took advantage of size differentials... Again this is a thought exercise:

PG: Jaxon Nap (6'7'') - Can play point, question is how well...lol..
SG: Aanen Moody
SF: Blake Jones (6'9'')- Listed as a SF on VC, has range.
PF: Dischon Thomas (at times was teams best perimeter shooter last year)
C: Te'Jon Sawyer (has range to 21 feet)


---
That being said, I think the potentially the best lineup is likely something like this that probably is the best offensive lineup we have. I do think there is some legitimate concern as to whether we are going to score, with really only Moody who returns as a consistent verified scorer. Jury is out if Giordan Williams will score at all or whether he's going to play that Martin role, or will Travis look to someone like Nap who has good offensive upside to provide some wing scoring. In the post, it is hard to see how they are employed at this moment, but Thomas and Sawyer between them could pick up most of the Bannan points we are losing because unless something changes radically Oke is a d-only guy and the rest are unproven. Reynolds and Jones are absolute unknowns, and I think Davidson is likely at this point a Redshirt.

PG: Whitney
SG: Moody
SG/SF: Williams, G
PF/C: Thomas
PF/C: Sawyer

with:
6G: Vasquez
6W: Nap
6P: Oke
7G: Williams, M
7W/P: Jones
7P: Reynolds
8G: Henderson
8P: Solomon (WO)
8W/P: Bateman (WO)
RS: Davidson and Dick (WO)
 
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