Line-Up Predictions

Forum Forum Lehigh Sports Lehigh Men’s Basketball Line-Up Predictions

This topic contains 9 replies, has 1 voice, and was last updated by  norcalfan 13 years, 4 months ago.

Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #2548
    StablerBum
    StablerBum
    Participant

    1 – McKnight – Small

    2 – McCollum – Keefer

    3 – Ojo – Keefer/ Grenier

    4 – Knutson – Adams/Grenier

    5 – Maneri? McCarthy?

    I think McKnight will start the majority of the season at the point, if not from Day 1. I think he could be a potential All-Rookie pick and possible even a sleeper for ROY.

    McCollum, Ojo, and Knutson are lock starters. We could go smaller with Knutson at the 5 and Adams or Grenier at the 4. It will be interesting to see if Coach Reed tries to find a starting role for Keefer.

    Any other thoughts?

    I’d like to think this team can contend for a PL Championship. Hopefully with all the attention C.J. is sure to receive, Knutson and Ojo can become dependable scorers and maybe someone else (McKnight? Grenier? Adams? Keefer?) can step up as well. It looks to be a pretty athletic squad as well by PL standards if not very big.

    #2555

    LUHoops00
    Participant

    I agree with a lot about what you said, and I too am very very high on Mackey McKnight. I followed him a lot last year in Houston for Langham Creek and spoke with some beat writers in the Houston area who were all very complimentary about his game. He seems like the consummate floor leader/winner, and I think he’ll slide in at PG from day one. Put it this way, for LU to get to the promise land for a 2nd straight year, we need Mackey because I’ll otherwise add a lot more grey hairs by March if it is 30 minutes per game for Prentice! From youtube highlights, Mackey can get up and down the floor, he should be a +PL athlete and he’ll be able to run with CJ and Ojo at the wings, and Gabe trailing down the middle. Those 4 on the court at once, that is a speed nightmare for opposition.

    I think they start out as below.
    1 – Mackey, Prentice
    2 – McCollum, Keefer, D’Orazio
    3- Ojo, Keefer
    4 – Adams, Grenier
    5 – Gabe, Safstrom, McCarthy

    The plus and minus of this team is that you only know what your going to get from 3 guys on the entire roster, in CJ, Ojo, and Gabe. I think CJ improves, averages 22/23 a game for the year, Gabe hopefully added some strength and can become a consistent low post scorer with his spins and drop steps, and Ojo fills it in transition game and with the 3-ball. In my mind, the 3 most important players for this team outside of the big 3 are Mackey, Adams, and Grenier. If Mackey can pull a day on Marquis/CJ/Jose type frosh performance, we’re going to have best guard play by a landslide in this league. I think it is possible, I really do, so that leaves us with the frontcourt, which is big question marks. This is why my next two most important guys are Adams and Grenier, they are huge to this teams success in 2010-11. Adams, he has shown some brilliant flashes, but consistency and health have been an issue. He needs to stay healthy, give 25 mins a game, and rebound/defend the post. Grenier, I’m hoping he added some bulk to his frame, but he needs to be a source of offense and also help defend post. His growth from frosh to soph year is needed. Rest of frontcourt, we know we got fouls and some rebounds from Safstrom, and you hope McCarthy is ready after PGing a year last year at prep school, but I’ve not gotten ton of information on him so he is complete unknown to me….

    Nov 12th can’t come soon enough….fired up.

    #2558

    LU65
    Participant

    While McKnight, McCollum, Ojo and Knutson appear to be the only locks to start once the real season gets underway on Janurary 8th, there’s no telling what you’ll see at center circle on November 12th out in Happy Valley. One thing you can count on is Dr. Reed’s liberal substitution policy during OOC play. Last year, it was not uncommon for 9 players to see double-digit per game minutes early in the year. Compare that to the PLChampionship Game when six players played 181 of the 200 game minutes!

    There’ll be plenty of sub-plots this year as the teams rounds into shape. I’ll be most interested in seeing……..

    a. what Rob Keefer makes of himself after his recent slide in minutes and production.
    Freshman Season: 24.5 mpg, 7.8 ppg, .412 FG% – named PL Rookie of the Year
    Sophomore Season: 26.4 mpt, 8.8 ppg, .407 FG%
    Junior Season: 8.9 mpg, 3.6 ppg, .374 FG%

    b. the expected advancement of two players – junior Jordan Hamilton (15 games played, 5.3 mpg, 1.6 ppg) and sophomore Holder Greiner (29 games player, 11.1 mpg, 3.1 ppg). CJ praised each and said "you’re going to hear their name soon." Hamilton was tabbed as having "excellent work ethic" while Greiner got the label of "gym rat." CJ may be onto something. Let’s watch and see.

    c. the McCarthy, Maneri, Safstrom battle for post dominance. Someone has to step up! Will the prep-school product push for time, is Maneri ready to contribute in his junior year after languishing in his first two campaigns (averaging 7 mpg, 1.7 ppg, and 1.4 rpg), and did his success – as limited as it may have been in the post season – give David, our 7’1" product, that needed shot of adrenaline.

    #2560
    Bison137
    Bison137
    Participant

    "LUHoops00" wrote:

    I think they start out as below.
    1 – Mackey, Prentice
    2 – McCollum, Keefer, D’Orazio
    3- Ojo, Keefer
    4 – Adams, Grenier
    5 – Gabe, Safstrom, McCarthy

    That’s exactly the same prediction as mine. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Small start at PG early but I’d expect McKnight to get the starting role before PL games begin. It also wouldn’t shock me if D’Orazio eventually takes some of Keefer’s minutes.

    "LU65" wrote:
    the McCarthy, Maneri, Safstrom battle for post dominance. Someone has to step up!

    I think you’ll see Knutson starting at center the whole season with Maneri being the first choice as backup. My guess is that you’ll rarely see Knutson in the game at the same time as any of these three post players. Time will tell.

    #2561

    LUHoops00
    Participant

    My analysis is what, if healthy, they open up "league games" with. Let’s not forget, Mr. McCollum came off the bench in the first two games of last season, so for Mackey to beat out a Senior in Prentice by game 1 in Happy Valley, I’d be shocked, about as shocked as I’d be if Mackey doesn’t take the job pre-PL play, but after PSU. The key here is, if Mackey is legit PL point guard, which I think he will be, we’re deep at guard play. Add CJ and 2-guard play off bench with Keefer and D"Orazio and we have enough guard play to win the league. Having best guard play important, and it is how we’ve won our two championships, in that both years we’ve won we had the best backcourt in the league.

    I look at front court as the obvious key to the season as you have 80 minutes a game to manage, 36+ are going to Gabe. It is the other combination of 44 minutes that will get sliced and diced by the Dr. between Adams, Grenier(can slot to 3), Safstrom, McCarthy, Maneri. You can go big when Ojo gets breather at the 3 spot, and slot Hamilton or Grenier in there, with Adams/Maneri/McCarthy/Safstrom in with Gabe.

    Re recruiting for next year, we need athletic wings 6’5-6’7 players who can defend multiple positions, get out in transition game, and rebound on both ends. We’ll know where we are with Mackey, and if we’re right, you got him and CJ for the next two years, with Gabe down low. Hopefully Grenier develops into the 3rd big piece of that CJ/Gabe class, and if so, we’re in great shape for the CJ Era…..

    Nov 12th baby…

    #2562

    LUHoops00
    Participant

    FYI could also use a 6’10 big, plus athlete who can’t be moved from paint and can rebound against anybody…oh, and if he had some post-up game, we’ll take that as well….but we need bigs and stud wings to compliment CJ…

    #2563
    StablerBum
    StablerBum
    Participant

    I really agree with most of the assessments going on in this thread. I too find it hard to believe that Reed will start Mackey at Penn St in his first game (although I would love to see that) but don’t see Prentice holding him off for too long.

    As far as the frontcourt, both Greneir and Adams have to step up. As much as we would love to see Gabe play 35+ minutes that will be hard to depend on if he is our primary interior defender and bound to get in some foul trouble. There are some big opportunities out there for guys to become key pieces for the next few years of the CJ era.

    If Keefer can get his confidence back, he could be a HUGE asset hitting open 3’s when people give too much attention to CJ/Gabe/Ojo.

    #2594

    lfnadmin
    Keymaster

    I’ll just put it out there – why not put C.J. at the point? Why suffer through a freshman point with a learning curve or a declining Keefer when C.J. seems to have all the skills to distribute the ball that a point guard needs? And if you don’t play tight on him – he pulls up for the jumper and kills you. If I’m coach Reed, I think about that possibility.

    I’d much rather find a shooting guard than a point.

    #2595
    StablerBum
    StablerBum
    Participant

    ll just put it out there – why not put C.J. at the point? Why suffer through a freshman point with a learning curve or a declining Keefer when C.J. seems to have all the skills to distribute the ball that a point guard needs? And if you don’t play tight on him – he pulls up for the jumper and kills you. If I’m coach Reed, I think about that possibility.

    This is possible, but I think there are a couple of reasons why this isn’t the best idea for us:

    1) We don’t want to tire CJ out bringing up the ball (especially against pressure) when we know we need him to play major minutes

    2) With a player of CJ’s offensive talents, oftentimes their teammates tend to stand around and watch. If CJ plays the point and has the ball in his hands even more than he already dwill, this could be an even bigger issue.

    3) It will be harder to run CJ off of multiple screens to get him open for easy looks if he plays the point.

    4) We don’t want to mess with CJ’s mentality on offense. He is our best scorer. One of the best in the league. That’s his job. We don’t want him to be concerned with trying to get others involved and in the flow of the offense. If he is double teamed or collapsed upon, then yes he should find the open man and give it up, but his primary responsibility should remain as a scorer, not a distributor.

    All that being said, late in a close game, I think you want your best player to have the ball as much as possible. Which means I’d be totally fine with CJ bringing it up (although I do think McKnight will be quite a player).

    #2597

    norcalfan
    Participant

    Well as far as Greiner and Adams, Reed has to put them in the game long enough. Two -four minutes does not allow time to get in the flow. Give them minutes and they can help the Starting 5. Gabe knows he has the minutes, so no worry for him. If they can develop the chemistry, the team will do fine. Looking forward to LU basketball. Reed had his critics last year, including me, but he made it to the NCAA. Let’s get behind the teams in the PL.

Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.