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[spider23]

Shooting Guard. This to me is the most interesting position, and a critical position for the Spider success in 2015-16. A lot of potential options here. Trey has played the 2 a bit in the past, he can defend and he is pretty strong with the ball against pressure defense, and can go to the basket. But as we are all aware, he is not your prototype for the position, as he is not a consistent shooter from range, and struggles at the line too. Will he start the season here by default, or is Mooney looking at him as a forward with the realization that we need a shooter here? OK, the candidates:

Trey Davis - See above, senior leadership, strong defense etc, but not a tremendous perimeter scorer.
Josh Jones - Very intriguing candidate, as we saw him gain some playing time down the stretch. Very athletic, good size for the position, and can shoot it some - though not super consistently which could be related to his sporadic time on the floor. Can he handle against pressure? Third year in the program, with a lot of potential, is this the year he makes a jump and puts it all together??
ShawnDre - As noted by numerous posters, and Mooney himself in the DiSano interview - we have been burned a bit by the undersized back court. Seems less likely that we will see a Fore/SDJ pairing for extended time if we are to believe what we read.
Jesse Pistokache - Freshmen man of mystery. Moved around a bit, and early hype in high school, but then not much to follow. Late commitment after Charlotte's' coaching change. Would appear to have a college ready 2 guard build and strength, with a lot of skills. Will they translate to the A10 level of play, and if so will that occur during his freshman year? Seems to have the "it" factor, very confident, personable and appears to have a very good work ethic.
Julius Johnson - Another freshman shooting guard. Good career at a good basketball school. To me, watching his tape he may be to most pure shooting guard on the roster. That is what he does on the court, not to downgrade other parts of this game, but he is ready to shoot and a confident shooter. How is his handle? Can he get his shot off and score at this level. Lot of opportunity for him and Jesse it would seem.

I think for the Spiders to have the kind of year we all hope for, one of these guys (other than ShawnDre) is going to have to grab hold of the position and be a strong contributor. Not a star/all conference player - but a consistent threat that can contribute in all phases and be a threat to score 10+ points a night. While I do think there will be opportunity for a few of these guys to have a role and contribute nightly - I think there needs to be one guy that takes control.

 

[WebSpinner]

23, is this going to be in order, 1-2-3-4-5 or will you mix it up on us, 1-2-5-3-4 or something like that? think if you challenge us a tad, would add some mystery, intrigue, excitement for us. you might even add a 6 or 7 in there to really stimulate our thoughts.

 

[spider23]

23, is this going to be in order, 1-2-3-4-5 or will you mix it up on us, 1-2-5-3-4 or something like that? think if you challenge us a tad, would add some mystery, intrigue, excitement for us. you might even add a 6 or 7 in there to really stimulate our thoughts.

Webspinner, thanks for noticing. You are very astute. I will take this request into consideration, though I have to admit I am not the creative type - probably a result of spending too much time watching basketball and hanging out on bball message boards. Maybe I will change the next post to: Positionless Basketball, What Candidates for the wing position might look like on the Spiders Roster (if we were defining positions)

 

[MrTbone]

My guess is Trey starts the season at 2, but doesn't end it there. I think he slides to 3.

If Josh is consistent, I think it's his position. If he is inconsistent, or worse, consistently bad, then one of the frosh could slide in.

My gut says Julius has the talent/upside but that's based on remarkably little data.

 

[SpiderTrap]

I am guessing with the departure of Alonzo that Trey starts at the 3 and Josh Jones gets the nod at the 2.

The only way Trey starts at the 2 is if Wood starts, and I am not sure about that yet. Its a possibility. And I think this is a season where we can see many different starting line-ups before we hit A10 play as Mooney looks for the right combination. But my guess would be - Trey at the 3 and Josh Jones at the 2. I think there will be times Mooney plays with ShawnDre and Fore at the same time to give Davis and/or Jones a rest, so who plays the 2 in that scenario really doesn't matter. But I only see that for limited minutes in each half to give guys a quick rest.

 

[gcarter52]

I think a few of our freshmen will see valuable minutes this year. This is going to be an amazing and surprising season for us.

 

[ur2K]

I'd venture a guess that this is our starting line up on Day 1.

 

[SpiderFan]

I'd like to see Wood over Taylor...

 

[AnnapSpider]

Chocolate or vanilla - give me Taylor.

 

[gcarter52]

Taylor deserves his shot during his senior year. Prior to his injury, which was no fault of his own, was headed toward an excellent career. He has been nothing short of the all around team player. I predicts a lot of great performances for his this year.

 

[Ulla1]

Taylor deserves his shot during his senior year. Prior to his injury, which was no fault of his own, was headed toward an excellent career. He has been nothing short of the all around team player. He predicts a lot of great performances for his this year.

I agree, gcarter. Deion should start and impose his defense on the other team to begin the game. Others can substitute later when more scoring or free throw shooting are needed. Look a the end of the vcu game at the Robins Center last season and Deion's defense, while properly restrained, was stellar! He is flat out a lockdown defender.

 

[MrTbone]

The only way a lineup involving starter/significant minutes for TD/DTtogether works is if at least one of them ramps up their scoring. It's not a winning formula for us otherwise.
I do think we will start this way but as mentioned, I don't think it will last, scoring caveat above excepted.

 

[Eight Legger]

Deion and Tre are both top role players on an NCAA-caliber team. If they both start and play 35 minutes a game, we are going back to the NIT.

 

[97spiderfan]

Agree with both Eight and Keef. I think Deion and Trey begin the season as our starters, but it doesn't end that way and if they remain starters for the entire season, we are not an NCAA team. We are an NCAA team if we have another player (or two) who is able to play themselves into a starters role.

And Deion is not a "lock down" defender. Deion is a very good interior, in the paint, defender. Pull him outside against other quicker small forwards and he is not good. There were numerous games last year when Deion's man beat him during a critical point during the game, when we needed a stop. That does not happen to a lock down defender.

Trey is a better an all around defender than defender. Deion has an important role on this team and that is too play tough interior imposing defense and to provide protection for Terry and TJ to stay out of foul trouble. That role in my opinion is a 20 minute maximum type of role. I could care less whether he starts or not, total minutes defines starter roles and a 20 minute a game guy is a top reserve type of players.

Trey is a bit different. If we can move him to the 3, I like him there for his all around good defense and rebounding ability. Plus unlike Deion, Trey does have some offensive game. He is great in transition and also a fairly good (not great though) penetrator. I would be OK with him playing a starter's type role if it was done with the majority of the minutes coming at the 3. Playing him at the 2, means we have no other option as a viable shooting guard and I think between Josh and the 2 freshman we will have options.

 

[spiderman]

agreed, calling Deion a "lock down" defender is over the top. he's a good defender. as CM points out, he's usually in great position. but he's not an amazing perimeter defender. his best work comes inside, where he plays bigger than his listed size.

Trey is the better all around player. I think you can play them together when you have someone like Kendall on the floor who can create his own shot. Terry, TJ and SDJ are very talented offensive players, but their scoring comes within the flow of the offense. yes, you can isolate TJ on the block, but if doubled I'd want him kicking to a better shooter than Trey or Deion.

day one, they're two of our best players and leaders. they should and will start. but its a flaw in our roster that two of our best are not strong offensively from the perimeter. that isn't ideal with our system. so we need someone to quickly step up and earn a starting spot. could be Josh, but I like him in his role. I really hope either Julius or Jesse comes out firing.

 

[keefusb]

Deion is an excellent defender, but I would not place him in "lock-down" defensive player territory. We have had a few "lock-down" defenders over the years, I think of John Davis, Tony Dobbins, perhaps even Francis Cedrick Martel. DT has done a great job building his body and transforming himself into a potential enforcer/lock-down defender type, and we have seen flashes of it especially last season after ANO was out. But I don't think he is there yet.

TD is in a similar position, outstanding defender who can guard the perimeter, and punches above his weight as an inside defender. He is also a good slasher-type player in transition, but his pi$$-poor free throw shooting somewhat negates his value as a penetrator.

The problem we have with both these guys is that they are both seniors (a highly-valued CM attribute), and they are both excellent defenders (yet another highly-valued CM attribute). They will both likely start, and see plenty of minutes. The only way they are displaced is if some other player (Josh Jones, one of the freshman, and/or MW) shows he can hold his own defensively, and shows himself to be a significant offensive upgrade over DT and TD.

 

[fan2011]

I think Trey will benefit from the expanded restricted area this season. He was often called for charges when driving to the basket, the larger restricted area will make many of these charges blocks instead, meaning more points and less turnovers for Trey.

 

[keefusb]

The expanded restricted zone will only be a tangible benefit to TD and the team if he can sink his FT's.

 

[urmite]

I see Trey getting 32 minutes and Deion 28 minutes. If someone who has not been on the Robins Center court yet (and there are plenty of those, especially if you include Khwan), steps up, those minutes will drop. I would expect with a floor of 25 and 20 respectably.

I wonder if Deion starts taking on more and more of the ANO role from the first half of conference play last season? Even if he would take a very different approach to that role...

 

[fan2011]

The expanded restricted zone will only be a tangible benefit to TD and the team if he can sink his FT's.

Well, he made many of the buckets he was called for charging on, so those points will help us too even if he doesn't make the and-1. Also, getting us closer to the 1-1 and double bonus while keeping the opponent further away is usually a good thing too.

 

[Spider B]

Rather or not TD or DT are lock down dedenders, they cant play too many minutes togeather because they are both below average offensive players. We cant play with only 3 guys that can score for extended periods of time.

 

[Not-A-Homer]

Agree with Mr. TBone, Eight Legger, and spiderman. I have been saying for months that IF this team gets significant contributions from the newcomers, it will be an NCAA year. If Taylor & Davis get as many minutes (or too many long stretches together) as predicted above, this year's team will finish less than we hope for.

With the starting 5 that are predicted, the Spiders will see a lot of help/clogging (possibly double-teaming) type defenses that are designed to make it difficult for Cline & Allen inside. The game plan will be to guard Shawndre while limiting Cline & Allen - a no-brainer. An offense that relies upon Taylor, Davis, and Josh Jones is likely to be terribly inconsistent and really struggle.

The inside focus on Cline & Allen will give them both some opportunity from the perimeter, but if this team makes the NCAA, I think that Cline & Allen need to be tearing it up from inside first.

If UR shooters (whomever they may turn out to be) can keep the defense honest by hitting consistently from the perimeter, I think that Cline & Allen have a chance to have very, very good years.