Topic: Men’s BB Starting 5

[mubowhunter]

I haven’t attended any practices to see anyone’s progress this year but will go out on a limb with my starting 5.

Taylor-if eligibility allows
West
Kinsey
Jannson
Miladinovic

Thoughts?

[overherd1]

That may be close...first two off the bench?

[mubowhunter]

Beyers maybe?  I don’t know enough of the new guys to even speculate.

[herdorbust]

I haven’t attended any practices to see anyone’s progress this year but will go out on a limb with my starting 5.

Taylor-if eligibility allows
West
Kinsey
Jannson
Miladinovic

Thoughts?

Goran will be a stud before he leaves here and play a lot this year. But he will not start over Bennett.

[mubowhunter]

I’m really impressed with Miladinovic.  He is actually quite athletic for a guy his size and I’m excited to have him on our side.  He has the body type to be extremely muscular if he works hard in the weight room.  I really wish Cam-Harris would put on some weight soon because it would definitely be to his advantage.

[mubowhunter]

If we could somehow land Obinna and Jonatis then this team would be on another level!

[coalherd]

Without ANY inside knowledge, observations at practice, etc., I'll go out on a limb here and state that I believe for the first time in Danny's MU tenure it may be less important overall as to who starts for the Herd.  Pretty obvious that we have the most depth in his time at Marshall.  Yes we may be short on experience at some spots, but the level of our overall talent has risen.  I'm sure Danny will use the pre season practice time to try guys at some different spots, perhaps, and certainly mixing and matching different combos in order to get guys comfortable playing with each other.

I'm excited for the season to start.  Really, after several seasons of knowing what to expect and what we would look like from the opening tip with Elmore, CJ, Watson, etc., I expect most of the Henderson Center will be like me to see what our play will look like when that opening night game ball goes up.  One thing for sure, I don't believe too many of our early opponents will be looking at game film from the 2018-19 season!!

[goherd24]

Goran should start at the 5, but i feel like Dan will start Bennett because he feels he owes it to him for working so hard probably and Goran being a newbie. But Goran will end up with more minutes than Bennett. Our best 5, IMO would be

West
Kinsey
George/Taylor? This is the spot i really dunno who will fill.
Williams
Goran

But we have plenty of depth with guys like Beyers, Rucker, Bennett, Marko, George if not starting. Should be able to really amp it up onndefense because we have the depth to go the distance. Love to see some full court pressing for extended lengths of time this year if we could, but I don't think it'll happen. Dan seems to love channeling people to the baseline and trapping

[mubowhunter]

I completely forgot about Darius!  I would love to see him get a mean streak.  I like him but I just don’t see fire in him.  Maybe Danny can somehow make him mad before games.

[MUtim]

I was at practice today, and I agree with herdorbust.  No way Goran starts over Iran.  Goran isn’t as good as Iran right now.  He’s more athletic and possibly a higher ceiling, but it will take some time to get him there.  Won’t be this season IMO.  Lot of unwarranted Bennett hate on this board.  It’s shocking how much weight that guy has lost.  Looks totally different from end of last year.  He doesn’t have a gut.  Not a leaper but still 300 pounds of muscle.

I thought every returning player has reshaped their body in a positive manner.  Some added muscle and others lost some extra weight.  Props to the strength and conditioning coach.

Marko is built like a power forward and while he is a great passer, IMO he will not be the starting PG. I’d say he weighs around 235-240.

I was impressed by Taylor.  Whomever said he was short must be comparing him to all of our tall guys and we have a lot of height.  I’d bet he is around 6’2.5”.  Great handles and he has that move like Elmore’s where he steps back on his shot.  Also pics of him are deceiving.  He is cut and looks ripped.

After watching the rotations they were using in the drills and assuming Taylor is ineligible the first semester, I predict the starting 5 as follows:
PG- West
SG- Kinsey
W- George
PF- Williams
C- Bennett

With Beyers, Marko, and Goran being the main contributors off bench.   

I do think Taylor starts at PG as soon as he is eligible.  Probably sending George to the bench and a 9 player rotation.

Only thing I was disappointed in was the outside shooting. Hopefully it was because they were in gullickson.

[coalherd]

Typically, being that Marshall is not a "privileged" Power/Major School, Taylor's case will probably languish near the bottom of a deep pile on a NCAA drone's desk for weeks and weeks while the organization concentrates on clearing ALL Power/Major transfer eligibility cases at the speed of light!!!  ;)

[herdorbust]

I was at practice today, and I agree with herdorbust.  No way Goran starts over Iran.  Goran isn’t as good as Iran right now.  He’s more athletic and possibly a higher ceiling, but it will take some time to get him there.  Won’t be this season IMO.  Lot of unwarranted Bennett hate on this board.  It’s shocking how much weight that guy has lost.  Looks totally different from end of last year.  He doesn’t have a gut.  Not a leaper but still 300 pounds of muscle.

I thought every returning player has reshaped their body in a positive manner.  Some added muscle and others lost some extra weight.  Props to the strength and conditioning coach.

Marko is built like a power forward and while he is a great passer, IMO he will not be the starting PG. I’d say he weighs around 235.

I was impressed by Taylor.  Whomever said he was short must be comparing him to all of our tall guys and we have a lot of height.  I’d bet he is around 6’2.5”.  Great handles and he has that move like Elmore’s where he steps back on his shot. 

After watching the rotations they were using in the drills and assuming Taylor is ineligible the first semester, I predict the starting 5 as follows:
PG- West
SG- Kinsey
W- George
PF- Williams
C- Bennett

With Beyers, Marko, and Goran being the main contributors off bench.   

I do think Taylor starts at PG as soon as he is eligible.  Probably sending George to the bench and a 9 player rotation.

Yes it is obvious about Bennett. I dont know what 24 is looking at. I agree Goran has all the tools to be tremendous. You cant coach 7’ and athletic. The one area Goran has to improve is strengthening his hands. He fumbles the ball around sometimes when he isnt ready for the pass. But he will play a lot behind Bennett and get great minutes. It is exciting to have those 2 for the next 3 and 4 years.

[mubowhunter]

MUTIM Do you think the change in the 3pt line has caused shooting woes?  I know all teams have to adjust.  Just a Thought.

[MUtim]

MUTIM Do you think the change in the 3pt line has caused shooting woes?  I know all teams have to adjust.  Just a Thought.

I hadn’t even thought of that.  Good point and probably the case. 

[herdfan129]

Goran will be a stud before he leaves here and play a lot this year. But he will not start over Bennett.

Then we are doomed for an average season...or we have to change up our style of play. Both options suck imo.

[herdfan129]

We all know IB has lost weight. goherd even said so in multiple posts. We all give him props for working hard on that. Unfortunately, we are not competing for the biggest loser but trying to win basketball games.

Can he actually get a rebound, go up strong and dunk on someone? Or does he still do his pump fake and fade away layup as soft as a middle school girl? Can he now catch the oop off the pick and roll and dunk it? Or is that still a wasted possession to even try to throw him the ball off pick and roll?

THOSE are the important questions.

For the record, I'm an IB fan. I hope he starts doing those things. Hard not to love a kid who has worked so hard to lose that much weight, but he needed a lot more work than just losing weight.

[Herdmeister]

Dan loves Goran but has said he has a long way to go before being a major contributor.
He has also said the starting 5 means very little with the depth we now have. Don't expect to see any guys logging 35 minutes a game this year barring injuries.
I would expect the starting 5 for Robert Morris to be:
West
Taylor
Kinsey
Williams
Bennett

Expect to see a lot of Marko, Darius, Goran, Beyers and possibly Brooks-Harris

[herdorbust]

Dan loves Goran but has said he has a long way to go before being a major contributor.
He has also said the starting 5 means very little with the depth we now have. Don't expect to see any guys logging 35 minutes a game this year barring injuries.
I would expect the starting 5 for Robert Morris to be:
West
Taylor
Kinsey
Williams
Bennett

Expect to see a lot of Marko, Darius, Goran, Beyers and possibly Brooks-Harris

That is exactly what i see also. How many dunks did bennett have todayHM? Seems i counted at least 10-12. And he never got gassed that i saw. Amazing!!!

[Collis P]

Dan loves Goran but has said he has a long way to go before being a major contributor.
He has also said the starting 5 means very little with the depth we now have. Don't expect to see any guys logging 35 minutes a game this year barring injuries.
I would expect the starting 5 for Robert Morris to be:
West
Taylor
Kinsey
Williams
Bennett

If Taylor is not cleared for the first semester than I would guess maybe - Marko

Expect to see a lot of Marko, Darius, Goran, Beyers and possibly Brooks-Harris