In light of the NCAA ruling, what does your predicted lineup look like?

Who runs the point? How many minutes will Admon play the one?

Hampton/Gilder
Gilder/Eubanks
Hogg
Trocha/Vila
Davis/Miller/Williams

Interesting. I suppose Vila can sit on the wing and drop threes. I do like Williams at SF.

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I'd move Vila to the wing as well as the SF. I'd move Williams to SF.

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How good is Williams' shooting? I saw him shoot some jumpers in his highlight videos, but don't really know much else besides that.

Without a decent PG, it really doesn't matter how you juggle the lineup. We just have to hope Hampton can play PG and Caleb Smith can give us something because Gilder at PG is not a good idea. Gilder needs to focus on scoring and defendig the opponent's best guard. His plate will be full.

We didn't have a true PG in Turgeon's first season.

I bet its: Hampton/Smith
Gilder/ Eubanks
Hogg/Vila
Williams/Trocha/Vila
Davis/Miller
I think because we really have no depth now, Trocha will come off the bench to be more of a factor. Going to be a long year. Hope we can keep our recruits to buy in no matter how the year ends.

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I bet its: Hampton/Smith
Gilder/ Eubanks
Hogg/Vila
Williams/Trocha/Vila
Davis/Miller
I think because we really have no depth now, Trocha will come off the bench to be more of a factor. Going to be a long year. Hope we can keep our recruits to buy in no matter how the year ends.

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Define "long year". Sounds like you dont think we will be very good.

I disagree in Williams being a sf. I'm only speaking from the highlight videos I've seen but he seems a little slow for opposing sf's. Didn't look like he was a slasher or could handle the rock well enough for sf either. Don't see the coaches rating him at the sf position. Vila at least can handle the ball well enough to play the position.

#sizematters


C - Davis
PF - Williams
SF - Trocha
SG - Hogg
PG - Gilder



You put the 5 best players on the court.


Vila off the bench.
Miller
2 of 3 Hampton, Eubanks, Smith with Gilder, Hogg moving to the 2 and 3, respectively


Starting 5 will see a lot of minutes, not necessarily together, but muchos minutes. Miller and Vila next.

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I'm not following you on Trocha coming off the bench because the lack of PG depth. Trocha will be a starter, and a very good starter.

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Trocha / Davis is a great combo if they get on the floor at the same time 20+ minutes per game
very difficult to match up against

When Davis isn't in the game rebounding is going to be a potential problem. Hogg, Miller, Williams and Villa are going to have to step it up. Would be nice to have Elijah Thomas about now.

If losing Caldwell means we are in for a long year, then we were already in trouble. I don't think that Caldwell was going to start regardless. I do think him not being eligible hurts some, but I don't think it has that much of an effect on the outlook for the season.

Thanks, Logan. I assumed they were bringing in JC Hampton to start at PG (similar to A Collins last year) while Caldwell would be the backup/gain college level experience. Since JJ is ineligible, I then assumed Gilder would fill the backup PG minutes.

BK signaled last year that he expects Gilder to take significant minutes at the one. I think we imagined that Gilder would play fewer minutes at the one than BK indicated once we heard both Caldwell and Hampton were coming in. But I don't recall any signal from the coaching staff about it.

I think we need Gilder involved until a third PG is comfortable. Yes: I could imagine one of several other possibilities but Kennedy is loyal to players he trusts.

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If losing Caldwell means we are in for a long year, then we were already in trouble. I don't think that Caldwell was going to start regardless. I do think him not being eligible hurts some, but I don't think it has that much of an effect on the outlook for the season.

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We have a strong roster in the front court and perhaps at the wing as well with Hogg and Vila. Offhand, I don't think I would trade our front court rotation of Davis, Trocha, Williams, and Miller for anybody else's roster in the SEC except the usual suspect of maybe Kentucky. Would Have to think more about that, but we will have a really strong front court.

We have a PG issue now that likely will mostly be resolved by riding Gilder like a rented mule. I would be willing to bet Gilder averages approx 35 min/game. While he can probably be very competent if not flat out good at PG, seems like we will lose something probably from Gilder in terms of things he can do off the ball. For Gilder's own personal development, this next season will obviously be a great opportunity for him to work on being a PG, probably a nice thing for his growth and resume working towards a potential pro career. But for the 2016-2017 Aggie team itself, obviously the situation will be more challenging with no Caldwell. And Caldwell's development is getting delayed.

2016-2017 still is a realistic NCAA season IMO with the roster strengths that we still have. No reason to throw in towel yet on next season being poor due to Caldwell news.

2017-2018 meanwhile is setting up to be a potential monster good season and potential deep NCAA run if we have Gilder, Hogg, Davis, Trocha, Eubanks as juniors and seniors plus a ton of elite young top-rated fish and soph talent in Caldwell, Flagg, Williams, Jasey, Vila, Starks , maybe Victor Bailey, etc. could be an ultra loaded roster situation for 2017-2018. We'll see how things fall out.

My own expectations for Williams on offense at this stage is a guy who will mostly score on putback opportunities, maybe some transition plays, and some designed lobs here and there that try to take advantage of his freak length and athleticism.

We should definitely still be a tournament team even without Caldwell. We're just getting really thin at guard.

And I'd agree Gilder will probably play 35 minutes in important games, but we're going to have to be able to put lesser teams away and get him on the bench or he'll be gassed by March.

Thanks Logan.

So if Admon is the starting PG....who is our 2?

I had assumed we would go (even before JJ not making it in) with:

JC
Admon
DJ
Tony
Tyler

Is Eubanks the 2 with Admon at the 1? With Collins and JC getting some time at the 2?

Do you see caleb being able to get about 10 minutes or so at the point?

#5 on Williams priorities: If Davis is in the game with you and a whistle is blown for a defensive foul, raise your hand

The great thing about our team is that most of our players can play multiple positions easily. Gilder can play 1-3, Hogg 3/4, Davis 4/5, Trocha 4/5, Vila 3/4, Eubanks 2/3, Williams 4/5. Makes rotations way easier.

Hampton
Gilder/Eubanks
Hogg/Vila
Trocha/Williams
Davis/Miller

Would be my guest with Gilder running back up point.

****, I think you could even have Hogg bring up the ball. Our offense is going to run through Davis any way. I'm sure Hogg could break/pass out of a press well enough to get the ball into our half and dump the ball to Davis in the post.

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I'd move Vila to the wing as well as the SF. I'd move Williams to SF.

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How good is Williams' shooting? I saw him shoot some jumpers in his highlight videos, but don't really know much else besides that.

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1 point guard
2 shooting guard
3 wing
4 small forward
5 power forward/center (not many college teams have a true center these days)

I didn't try to suggest that Williams is a shooter/wing. He is still skinny and can't pound inside, but he moves well and has the athleticism along with a great reach to extend his defense further from the basket than a post. Williams isn't going to do a lot offensively other than dunk and hit a few short put-backs. He's not going to be asked to do that at this stage in his career. He's here to block shots, change shots, rebound, and cut-off passing lanes in the paint. Shooting is No. 5-6 on his list of priorities this season.

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The way I, and I believe most people, interpret it is 3=small forward (usually considered a wing), 4=power forward, and 5=power forward/center

Edit: this is also consistent with the interpretation on Wikipedia, which while not always accurate gives a good barometer for general consensus on a topic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball_positions

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Not sure who will be the back up PG just yet. Hampton? Collins? Chase? Caleb?

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Who is Chase?

Chase is a walkon that is actually good.

I think the better option would be to play the 'old school' way of having dual guards kinda like Kirk and BJ Holmes did it in Turgeon's first year. Gilder and Hampton both handle some PG responsibility. It isn't ideal but the most likely solution IMO. I like Gilder but you can't rely on him to do everything (I.e scoring, defense and facilitate) That's not fair to him.

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I think the better option would be to play the 'old school' way of having dual guards kinda like Kirk and BJ Holmes did it in Turgeon's first year. Gilder and Hampton both handle some PG responsibility. It isn't ideal but the most likely solution IMO. I like Gilder but you can't rely on him to do everything (I.e scoring, defense and facilitate) That's not fair to him.

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I think you mean Kirk and Sloan.

Either way, we've made it this far without having any great scoring options at the point, why start now?

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We should definitely still be a tournament team even without Caldwell. We're just getting really thin at guard.

And I'd agree Gilder will probably play 35 minutes in important games, but we're going to have to be able to put lesser teams away and get him on the bench or he'll be gassed by March.

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Maybe Gilder will be able to get more time on the bench during conference play in those two games versus Mizzou. Most conference games though, sure seems like it will be hard to take him off the court much.

Here were the guys who got the most minutes per game in previous seasons of the Kennedy era.

2015-2016 Danuel House 30.9 mpg
2014-2015 Danuel House 32.5 mpg
2013-2014 Alex Caruso 29.8 mpg
2012-2013 Elston Turner 35.6 mpg
2011-2012 Elston Turner 33.7 mpg

We'll see if Admon Gilder gets into Elston Turner territory. I'm thinking probably, as long as he stays healthy. Though Admon should have a better overall team around him than Elston did.

Kennedy will have to find a way to steal some minutes for him, because very few players can play 35 minutes a game for a whole season and not wear down.

I think that's actually part of what happened to us a couple of years ago. House and Caruso were up over 33 minutes per game in conference play. Last year only House played more than 30 minutes per game in conference play, Caruso was down to 29 min/gm and you could tell the difference. Two minutes per game difference may not seem like a lot, but over the course of a season it is.

Especially if he's running point most of the time he's out there and defending the other team's best guard. We'll have to mix in some zones and some different things to help him on defense.