Guards

[spider23]

Disclaimer, by guards I am including Hunt, Tyne, GW3, and B. Artis
For now I would categorize guys that guys like Apostolos, Roche and even Tanner more as wings. The four above I see as guys that can act as primary ball handler, and guard quick guards on the opposition.

I was excited to have Tyne and Hunt back. Really like what they bring to the table, with defense, intensity, ball handling. Both aggressive and fearless. Both can score the ball. However neither has yet been a real big time scorer at this level yet. Hunt exceeded my expectations this past season, and shot a career best 38.6%. Tyne also exceeded expectations, as a true freshman, reclass backwards at that, he came in and looked like he belonged, but again - offense
not that consistent yet.

Really nice job to add two more guys into this rotation. B. Artis looks like a proven commodity to me, can hit shots, quick, can make plays for other guys. GW3 - probably the most interesting player of the group. Super high ceiling guy. Can do a little of everything - but has yet to do it or have the opportunity at the college level. As others have said, likely one of the most celebrated guys we have recruited - based on high school rankings. I love the possibilities of this group. I kind of feel like the floor is that B. Artis and Hunt play big minutes and are very good A10 players. Ceiling is that GW3 steps in and has a Jordan King like year and Hunt and B. Artis play as well as last season, and Tyne adds consistency with his shot. I think if all play well there are minutes to go around, and with GW3's size and athleticism I could very well see some rotations with 3 of the 4 on the court for stretches. Exciting outlook for our backcourt next season.

 

[Eight Legger]

I think we'll see some time with a three-guard set, almost out of necessity, because we have the weapons to do it. GW is someone I would expect to play big minutes right away. Candidly I don't think he's here otherwise. An Ohio State commit who switched to Michigan? We've really never had a kid dealing with that kind of high-level interest. I'm penciling him in for 30 mpg.

White strikes me as a King-type but probably not quite at that level. But I assume he'll play 20+ minutes a game for sure too. And Hunt is going to get his 20+ too, with Tyne getting the rest to spell whoever needs it.

This is a deep and talented backcourt.

 

[97spiderfan]

Agreed, the competition for minutes is going to be intense. I honestly can't remember a guard situation like this in the past. 3 guys who have already proven themselves at the college level and the 4th the highest rank recruit of the Mooney era.

 

[brooklyn brownstone]

I'll guess that Tyne and GWIII get a lot of run together, both being the same class, with the idea that when we lose Hunt and B. Artis after next season, they are the backcourt for the next 2 years.

Honestly, at this moment I see something like a minimum of 16 on average for the least mpg for any of the 4, with it ending up something like 16, 18, 22, 24 splits. If all the guards play well, I could even see those numbers tick up a minute each because of 3 guard lineups. Additionally, I can see using 3 guards in offense/defense subs a lot where Tyne, Hunt and one other guard are on the court when we are ahead and the other team is looking to shoot 3s.

The trust factor Moon has with Hunt is a significant advantage for him.

I do agree if going with traditional guard thought process, these are our 4 guards, but we saw how useful it was to have a guy like Dji who was essentially a guard starting at the wing/sf spot last year.

As for the transfers in and freshmen, still a ton we don't know about guys stepping up levels and guys getting real run for the first time, while doing it in a Moon system where he demands precision from his guards.

At this time last year probably zero people had Tyne playing any minutes regularly, so our speculation is fun, but ultimately filled with huge gaps about many guys at this point. Will be fun to hear about it all and it's fun to speculate. Personally, I feel like we now have the shooters we always want and can fill lineups with them and that's exciting to me.

 

[spiderman]

... we saw how useful it was to have a guy like Dji who was essentially a guard starting at the wing/sf spot last year.

Dji was a big guard at 6'5"+.
GW3 is the biggest of our current 4 by far at 6'2".
White and Tyne are 5'10" in sneakers.
Hunt is listed at 6'0".

not that we won't, but if we're playing 3 together we're really small.

 

[brooklyn brownstone]

yeah, this is definitely my small/quick lineup, which is why I think it will be used to defend teams looking to catch up via the 3 and playing almost exclusively on the perimeter - i.e. switch all screens with your quick guards. And you'll note I mentioned ticking up a total of 4 mpg so I'm not advocating for it big time.

As others frequently note, there are a lot of 3 guard lineups in college ball these days, but you're correct that many of them include at least 1 bigger guard of 6'4" or above. I think having quick defenders is better than tall defenders in such spots (if you have both, that's ideal.)

 

[VT4700]

Dji was a big guard at 6'5"+.
GW3 is the biggest of our current 4 by far at 6'2".
White and Tyne are 5'10" in sneakers.
Hunt is listed at 6'0".

not that we won't, but if we're playing 3 together we're really small.

I wouldn't call Dji a guard last year. He rarely brought it up and rarely shot a 3. I think it comes down to our best 5, whether that means starting 2 guards or 3.

 

[urmite]

Dji was a big guard at 6'5"+.
GW3 is the biggest of our current 4 by far at 6'2".
White and Tyne are 5'10" in sneakers.
Hunt is listed at 6'0".

not that we won't, but if we're playing 3 together we're really small.

Actually, UConn didn’t find out but Glu is Magic and will be the third guard…

 

[VT4700]

yeah, this is definitely my small/quick lineup, which is why I think it will be used to defend teams looking to catch up via the 3 and playing almost exclusively on the perimeter - i.e. switch all screens with your quick guards. And you'll note I mentioned ticking up a total of 4 mpg so I'm not advocating for it big time.

As others frequently note, there are a lot of 3 guard lineups in college ball these days, but you're correct that many of them include at least 1 bigger guard of 6'4" or above. I think having quick defenders is better than tall defenders in such spots (if you have both, that's ideal.)

Definitely all kinds of 3 guard lineups out there. I agree that quickness is better defensively if you can't have both quickness and size, and I think we would be fine with 3 smaller guards out there.

 

[spiderman]

I wouldn't call Dji a guard last year. He rarely brought it up and rarely shot a 3. I think it comes down to our best 5, whether that means starting 2 guards or 3.

agreed, he didn't play guard last year but he did the prior 3 and had guard skills ... if not the shooting part.

my point is more about size. while some teams play 3 guards, any 3 of our current 4 would probably be among the smallest 3 guard lineups out there if we go with that.

in our bad defense years, I felt we were getting shot over too easily. wasn't the case last year despite 2 smallish guards. not sure why not. I just don't want to go from last year's strong defense to anything weaker.

 

[brooklyn brownstone]

again, my example is a very specific late-game scenario to guard multiple shooters who are primarily looking for 3s to catch up. And our short guards should not be closing out on shooters and getting shot over in these situations (where we had an issue in the past), they should be glued to them and forcing tough/bad looks from inopportune spots.

I think good defenders of any size who stick to their man can have better success than guys like JNel did where he would sag off and close out weak, adding to his height issues. We took advantage of his close outs last year and shot over him, which was a nice touch.

Anyway, I like our guard situation for next year, should have very nice options, to complement some very good size and good shooters. Offseason rosy glasses are fully on.

 

[Philaspidur]

I think that 1 of the 4 comes to play over 30 minutes in non blowouts and 1 of the 4 is wanting for minutes.

 

[MrTbone]

Dji was a big guard at 6'5"+.
GW3 is the biggest of our current 4 by far at 6'2".
White and Tyne are 5'10" in sneakers.
Hunt is listed at 6'0".

not that we won't, but if we're playing 3 together we're really small.

I don’t want us playing 3 guards for this reason. If they’re lights out shooters maybe you get away with it but I think we’d get punished on D against a lot of teams.

We also have some big guys who project as good three point shooters apparently. They may not be demonstrably different on the percentages but big difference in defensive alignments.

 

[spider23]

I think ideally you get Apostolos on the wing as a 6'8 shooter with some athleticism, or McGlothin, or Tanner. Thinking about it more I tend to agree with sman that Neskociv plays a lot of minutes at the 4.

 

[97spiderfan]

I think that 1 of the 4 comes to play over 30 minutes in non blowouts and 1 of the 4 is wanting for minutes.

Agreed. If they all were in the 15-25 minute range as postulated that would be a severe departure for how Mooney manages his roster. Mooney typically goes with an 8 man rotation, so having 4 guys in it 6'2 and under, probably isn't going to happen.

 

[SpiderLaw]

With the large number of talented players available I hope to see a 9 or 10 player rotation - I believe we were a bit weakened when we lost Roche to injury last season

 

[VT4700]

Agreed. If they all were in the 15-25 minute range as postulated that would be a severe departure for how Mooney manages his roster. Mooney typically goes with an 8 man rotation, so having 4 guys in it 6'2 and under, probably isn't going to happen.

Since we have never had 4 6'2 and under guys this talented, it is irrelevant what has happened in the past. Even with an 8 man rotation (don't forget we played as many as 10 early last year and all 10 got 10+ minutes in the Colorado game), all 4 guards can still get plenty of minutes. I like Tyne a lot, but he is behind 2 proven seniors and a top 100 recruit, so my guess is he is 4th in minutes behind the other 3. Maybe a 35-30-25-15 type split. This would still leave 95 minutes for the non guards.

 

[Eight Legger]

It should all work out one way or another. Someone will get hurt, someone will get in foul trouble, etc. We have a lot of good options, which is the most important part.