What's Our Starting Five Next Season?
Now that we pretty much know what the roster is going to look like, what's our starting five? Who will be the first three or four off the bench? My guesses:
STARTING FIVE
Jon Teske
Zavier Simpson
Isaiah Livers
Franz Wagner
Brandon Johns
ROTATION GUYS
Colin Castleton
David DeJulius
Eli Brooks
Cole Bajema
Me, John, Paul, George and Ringo.
Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, and Dylan
Castleton ahead of Johns.
I think Castleton has a big upside and showed some great skills late last season. I am optimistic to see him make a big leap this year.
Johns and Castleton are likely to be the two biggest beneficiaries of Coach Howard’s instructional influence. They’re also both primed for year 2 learning.
That is a big and long starting 5 if that’s the case. Johns and Livers both saw minutes at the 5 this past year. I expect Brooks to start at the 2 with Johns being the primary forward backup.
Who plays the 2 spot in this starting lineup? Historically Beilein had shorter shooting guards there but maybe Howard wants something different. You have 4 people that are 6’7 or above in that lineup.
Also, Nunez should be in rotation as a shooter off the bench.
With Howard coming from the NBA I'd expect to see more of a 'positionless' feel to our lineups as he tries to sort out who can do what and the best guys to have out there. Not saying it'll work like it does in the NBA, just my guess to how it'll shake out at first.
Plus, I rather enjoy the thought of watching a smaller defender try to guard a 6'7" 2-guard.
Have to have a solid ball handler at the 2, teams will double Simpson and full court press all the time without one.
Lol. Full court press X? You serious?
I agree, I have-
1- Simpson / Brooks. 35/5
2- DDJ / Brooks. 25/15
3- Wagner / Nunez. 30/10
4- Livers / Johns. 30/10
5- Teske / Castleton. 25/15
Overall minutes-
1. Simpson 35
2. Livers 30
3. Wagner 30
4. Teske. 25
5. DDJ. 25
6. Brooks. 20
7. Castleton 15
8. Johns 10
9. Nunez 10
Grading the positions (1-10)
1- 9
2- 5
3- 7
4- 8
5- 9
Total- 38
Per position- 7.6
Teske was at 27.9 MPG last season. I think his minutes likely increase in his final season.
Wagner's never played more than 25.9 MPG. Expecting him to come to a new country and new system and put up 30 MPG seems optimistic to me.
https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Franz-Wagner/Summary/108861
I see a total of zero ball handlers outside of Simpson in that starting lineup. After last year where we had 4 ball handlers starting I think it would be a very unfortunate situation to have only X.
I absolutely think Brooks will start, at least until someone else proves they can handle the ball.
Franz not on par with Iggy in regards to ball handling?
Franz can handle the ball.
....yes, in the sense that Wagner likes to pass it sometimes.
Brooks is alot better than people think.
Brooks is better than he thinks. I think his biggest problem last season was a lack of confidence. Hopefully, in his third year, getting more minutes, he settles down, stops being afraid of making mistakes, and shows what he can do.
Livers can also handle the ball effectively if necessary.
I don't see Johns making the starting 5.
Teske
Livers
Wagner
Brooks
Simpson
That being said, UM is going to need either one of Johns/Nunez,DDJ and Bajema to step up. Preferably a shooter since I see some scoring slight issues with the starting 5. This is the problem with having a Simpson type pg. He is a quality pg but he needs guys who can fill it up otherwise they are going to need a big year from Teske/Castleton because Wagner and Livers can't do it all every single night.
This is all conjecture until we know what JH plans to run on offense....... That said; I think your lineup is the most-likely group to start the season (still) under Beilein - plus Brooks is probably the best defender of the non-Simpson guards at present. Ideally you would want a taller player to handle the 2 if Nunez or Bajema can grow into a starter.
Backups to your lineup would be:
Castleton
Johns
???? (Livers)
Nunez/Bajema
DDJ
That is potentially a pretty good lineup and could have been “great” despite the early departures if Wilson had stayed in the class.
I think Davis can step in and help with big centers or foul trouble and Castleton could probably play the 4 in a pinch or in the right situation.
Pre-Wagner - I am guessing Nunez would have had to slide to the 3 to give 3 bodies for the 3-4 rotation which would have left 3 (short) bodies for the 1-2 rotation until Bajema could contribute. —- Wagner fills a BIG hole in this team.
Brooks is so far better than than DDJ that it's not even close. If we didn't have Simpson, then Brooks value would skyrocket here. He is overshadowed by Simpson
Disagree here. I think by the end of the year that DDJ is getting more minutes than Brooks.
You mean starting 9.
FIFY
#baseballschool
So, I guess everyone expects Franz to pick up where Mo left off? I guess we all forgot about Mo's freshman (and maybe sophomore) year?
Give the kid a chance to develop.
No, I think we expect him to pick up where Iggy left off, or close to it. No reason for that not being attainable.
This. What I think is potentially great about Wagner is that he brings a more finesse and perimeter game to the floor since UM has plenty of guys who can hit the glass. Wilson, in hindsight, might have deterred Wagner since they are basically the same player.
UM is 1-2 guys away from having one heck of a team. Those two guys could be Nunez or Bajema or Johns who can give this team a little more offensive punch. Maybe DDJ. In fact, if DDJ can be that quality scoring pg off the bench then that might do the trick.
Remember that Iggy was older and more mature for his age group. Franz is 18, if anything he might be young for a freshman. I've read that Franz is more ready to contribute right away than Mo was, and at the very least he should provide nice spacing and shooting. But expecting him to put up an Iggy type season might be putting too much on his shoulders, at least right away.
Iggy came in mature and physically ready to play no doubt.
Franz has been playing professional ball against grown men and more than holding his own. Big Ten Basketball is not going intimidate him at all.
Franz is further along his development curve when compared with his brother. Pretty much no NBA guys were talking about Mo before he signed, whereas Franz is already getting some chatter. I wouldn't expect an All-American season, but I'd be shocked if 4 of the 5 starters aren't Franz, X, Livers, and Teske.
You realize they're not the same person right?
I think we are all confident that three of the starting five are Simpson, Livers, and Teske.
The other two spots are up for grabs, and I don’t think any of us know exactly who will get it- Johns, Wagner, Bajema, DDJ, Brooks, or even Nunez could grab it. I don’t think we have enough information on that group to determine who is going to start. Brooks is the only one that we have seen play significant minutes and he has not stood out as a clear cut starter.
I know but that would ruin a good thread.
I think the starters will be:
X, and Brooks at guards
Franz and Livers at forward
Teske at C
Castleton and Johns will be 1st big men off the bench.
Bajema and Nunez at the 2 and 3 spots off the bench
DDJ will come off the bench to spell X & Eli.
Now when practice starts before the season you could have DeJulius and or John's be starters instead of Franz and Brooks it just all depends on how they come and play their sophomore seasons but we could be a pretty deep team if the guys step up.
The ones who can beat Ohio State.
Minus Wagner and Bajema, literally everyone on this team had proven they can beat OSU. In most cases they’ve proven it more than once. We’re not cursed against their basketball team the way we are in football.
I’d be more concerned about finding guys who can beat MSU.
.....and Texas Tech.
Yeah, beat OSU but I'd much rather take down the whiner Izzo and little brother in basketball. I can't stomach that a-hole. Holtmann seems (so far) to have a little class unlike the cry baby.
My B1G preseason favorites are MSU (hurts to say), Maryland, OSU, and Purdue. We're now just outside that group and could make a run at the title.
What a disappointment that Iggy never beat MSU... While Mo crushed them.
To be fair that was literally NEVER Iggy’s fault.
He was often the only guy to show up.
Someone said last night, in Franz's Hello thread, that he played the two for Alba Berlin. If that's the case, I think he'll push Brooks immediately to start at that position. Simpson, Teske, and Livers are a given. Depending on how Howard runs his offense, either Johns or Castleton will be the other starter. So:
1) Simpson; 2) Brooks/Wagner; 3) Johns/Livers; 4) Johns/Livers/Castleton; 5) Teske.
The problem here is neither Livers nor Johns has played a lot of the three spot, though they both certainly can do it well. But I'll admit to not being a basketball expert, so I can confuse the 2 & 3 and 3 & 4 spots pretty easily...
It'll be interesting to see what type of offense JH runs, and what type of player he wants on the floor. But with Wagner, his options just opened up in a big way!
If Franz is 6'9" and still growing why can't he play the 3? How about a rotation of:
1. Z/DDJ/Brooks
2. Brooks/Wagner
3. Wagner/Johns/Bajema
4. Livers/Johns
5. Teske/Castleton
Brooks, Wagner, and Johns would slide as needed. And a slick shooting 3 who can hit the Trey might give other teams fits.
If Franz is 6'9" and still growing why can't he play the 3? How about a rotation of:
1. Z/DDJ/Brooks
2. Brooks/Wagner
3. Wagner/Johns/Bajema
4. Livers/Johns
5. Teske/Castleton
Brooks, Wagner, and Johns would slide as needed. And a slick shooting 3 who can hit the Trey might give other teams fits.
If Franz actually can play the 2, that's a pretty nice mismatch for us to have on the court if he can shoot over shorter guys
Lots of options...it will be interesting to see what Juwan values. I hope someone values the role of the PG very highly because this is going to key the success of this team.
I hope that by the second half of the season the starting lineup will be DeJulius, Nunez, Wagner, Livers and Teske...because they have ascended and earned it. This would bode very well for coming down the home stretch. Three snipers, a scorer and a rim protector would be a solid base to work from. The bench would be very strong to give blows, relieve for foul trouble and take advantage of matchups.
If DDJ supplants Simpson, that means he is playing All-B1G ball, if not AA. That would be awesome. I think it more realistic for DDJ to be a Vinnie Johnson style bench assassin. Although Simpson's shooting can be an anchor, the other facets of his game are all a plus, with FT shooting even being solid.