Season is quickly approaching

Oct 29th is just over a month away. What are we excited about this season? What are our expectations from these young lads? Predictions? Lineups?
I realize its early but I am excited to get this started. Lets get some discussion going shall we?

I cannot wait. Seriously these past few weeks with school and practice starting have just got me so pumped for another season of Pilot Basketball. The first month of the season will be pretty brutal. We only play two games at home and one of those games is against Lewis and Clark. We play both Washington and Kentucky on the road so the veterans need to step up, and the freshman need to grow up fast pretty much.

As far as starting lineup, I would guess Rev would throw something like this out there:
PG-Timmy Douglas
SG/SF-Kevin Bailey
SG/SF-Nemanja Mitrovic
PF-Ryan Nicholas
C-Riley Barker

it all starts with the returning All-WCC Nemanja Mitrovic at the 2/3. He has to be the leader on this team. His play last year proved that he had the talent, and hopefully he can continue that role despite being without JStohl and Sikma to draw some of the attention. Also, I’m assuming that Kevin Bailey is as athletic and good as advertised and putting him out there with Nem could draw some matchup problems as long as this team can function defensively. Just going by what we saw toward the end of last year I put Timmy D as a starter and Rev seemed to be leaning toward this in the final few games but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Eric get some minutes. He is rarely going to wow you, but he does have a lot of experience, so if he can cut down on his turnovers he should see significant minutes. As far as the PF/C positions go, whoever starts has some huge shoes to fill. Kramer was so solid all four years holding down the post against some really good opponents and as much as we all praised Luke, which was a ton, I’m not sure if his impact will be fully realized until we start playing without him in there. From what I understand, and this is only from one video of Coach Sabotka talking, the team is deep, which means that there shouldn’t be a huge drop off with certain lineups. We’ve been used to having veteran teams the past three years and we definitely are young this year with only 3 upper classmen, and Derrick Rodgers didn’t see a ton of play last year. There are a total of 11 players who are Freshman, Redshirt Freshman, or Sophomores, and that’s not including Rodgers the JuCo transfer last year. With a team that has a lot of question marks it’s hard to predict how many wins, but I’m optimistic, which is always fun. I really have no idea what this team can do or what to expect, which makes this so much fun right?

I would agree with the lineup above, except...I think that the new center recruit definitely also has a chance to start over Riley Barker. I think that this team will probably finish 3rd in the WCC and be potential giant killers with an upset victory over either BYU or Gonzaga. We´ve got the kind of athleticism that LMU has had the last 2 seasons which can put fear in the opponent now (with some of the new guys who have come in and will come off the bench). We just have to meet our potential.

I agree that we have athleticism this year, and have a team that can pull of an upset without relying on Nem or Stohl to rain 3's... we just need Douglas to stay healthy!

I would also agree about Van Der Mars making an impact early, but it's really hard to tell about the freshmen. Really, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a few different starting lineups early. Really I think the only real lock is Nem, and possibly Douglas, but all other positions I would have to believe are open competition, and if the coaches see a team that just compliments each other well, they could surprise us by throwing Tanner in there or even Derrik Rodgers.

Another note on expectations, the WCC should be pretty strong this year. I feel like the top teams are going to be about the same as we've become accustomed to, but there will be a lot of depth. Saint Mary's will be a bit down but still strong, of course BYU and Gonzaga. Santa Clara and San Fransisco proved last year that they can compete. LMU, San Diego, and Pepperdine could always do something. It should be fun.

The big difference in a lot of these freshmen coming in is going to be their investment on both sides of the floor. Cason and Bailey both have big time offensive tools athletically (although I'm sure Rev will have some work to do on the post games) but their ability to come in and at least be defensive contributors is going to be paramount to them seeing time. Just pure effort is key (a la Ryan Nicholas last year), giving that will earn you more time to refine your offensive game and get more looks.

Oh and if Derrick Rodgers can hit an open 18 footer? A real backcourt rotation!! (Is that too much to ask??)

My two cents worth for the starting lineup-

PG Tim Douglas
SF Nem
SF Kevin Bailey
PF Ryan Nicholas
C Riley Barker

With that said I only see three of these more likely than the other two. I think that Tanner Riley and Thomas both have a good shot at starting, if not the first game soon after.

The positive that helps equal out the inexperience is that we have depth at every position. IMHO we were a bit tired by Vegas, hopefully this year we can distribute more minutes during the season to make a better showing come the conference tournament.

In some recent interviews captured on Facebook and YouTube, I believe that Rev has said that this year is about adjusting the system to the talent that´s coming in, not the other way around. To me, that implies that he´s very open to adapting to the incoming athleticism. One way or another, I´d expect K. Bailey, Cason, and Van Der Mars to see some minutes...

Is there any word about how off-season workouts with the strength coach have gone? Has Riley Barker bulked up at all?

Those 3 coming in and putting in effective minutes are going to be critical to our success both this year, and down the road obviously....

Hahaha and Tim staying healthy.

We are thin at 4-5. Cason better be really, really good. The video I saw of VandeMaars was impressive. I hope he can play together with Barker some. Sikma really was so good. Who replaces his 10+ boards per night?? Also, we need someone to back up at 1 who isn't a minus this season.

PS-changed my mind, Cason needs to be really, really, really good.

shallwemaui10 wrote:We are thin at 4-5. Cason better be really, really good. The video I saw of VandeMaars was impressive. I hope he can play together with Barker some. Sikma really was so good. Who replaces his 10+ boards per night?? Also, we need someone to back up at 1 who isn't a minus this season.

PS-changed my mind, Cason needs to be really, really, really good.

I disagree about being thin at the 5 spot with the two guys mentioned in the posts above... But, I would tend to agree that we don´t really have a great back up point guard who will be a great ball handler...unless we could go big and Bailey or Cason could manage to run the point. I think we´re more than okay at the 3-4 spots too if Rev decides that he wants to go to a smaller 3-4 guard rotation. That´s the great thing about having swing men in college ball; they can play a wide variety of positions.

As far as the loss of Sikma goes, it would probably be a rebounding by committee assignment...though I do like Van der Mars´ potential too. Ah...what am I saying? Many unknowns.