Starting 5 Next Year? Bench?
Losing in the first round is brutal, sucks balls, etc. But so goes the tournament and a 1 loss elimination format. Same thing that makes it great, makes it suck when you are the higher seed that falls early. Expectations are the mother of disappointment.
Anyways, what do we look like next year. Starting 5?
PG Burke
SG Hardaway
C Horford / Morgan / McGary?
SF Robinson / Smot
PF Smot / McGary / Morgan?
Obviously this latest recruiting class gives Beilein a lot more depth and flexibility....We may actually be able to "go small" now as a strategy or change of pace instead of it being the defining characteristic or our team. What does our starting 5 look like though? Will Beilein stay small to start the year or will he throw out the big bodies. I know he loves bigs that can shoot the 3, so I see Smot getting a lot of minutes. The only positions that seem set in stone are Burke at the point and Hardaway at the shooting guard.
I trust Beilein to put the best five on the floor for the what the situation dictates. I also think that sometimes the best player is not the most athletic.
Obviously, Burke & Hardaway start. Personally, I think that Smotz and Morgan also start. I think that experience and familiarity with a system means more than we realize. A year ago, Brundidge's name was heard a lot. Now, not so much. In other words, I'm not going to make assumptions about the ability of the incoming freshmen to assimilate.
As the season progresses, the starting five may change. IIRC, the Fab 5 were not all starting at the beginning of the non-conference season many moons ago, when they were all just freshmen.
Almost more important to me than the starters is the rotation. Who gets significant PT? Who is a contributor to the team? There are three current guys who I think could add a lot: Horford, Brundidge, and Bielfeldt.
I'd like to see two solid contributors at every position. Some guys may contribute at more than one position. I think that the addition of Horford, McGary, & Bielfeldt will actually benefit and open things up a lot for Smotrycz.
People here that are saying McGrary doesn't fit Beilein's offense are fogetting that one of the reasons McGrary is ranked so high is because he can handle the ball well for a big man and has a good mid-range game. One of our problems this year is rebounding, getting killed by guys like Sullinger in the post, and not getting points in the paint production. With all the threes we shoot, it would be nice to get some offensive rebounds. Smotz is not hitting that many threes to keep a guy like McGrary on the bench. Smotz would be a perfect fit as a 6th man giving us a lift off the bench. Thus, IF McGrary is as good as advertised, he's going to start. Everyone with Vorgrich in the starting line-up, have been watching the same games? I like his attitude but do you really think Vorgrich is going to be stating over 5 star talent? If Stauskas can handle the ball well and can shoot, I think he may start over Hardaway. I love Hardaway but he's really going to have to develop his ball-handling in the off-season.
My starting five:
PG Burke
SG Hardaway
SF Robinson
PF McGrary
C Morgan
First off the Bench:
PF Smotz
SG Stauskas
C Horford
Morgan and McGary together will be fun to watch. Finally get some heat off Morgan and make every fould less of a crisis.