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•PG
o 21 Ryne Hamblet 6-5 170 Sr. Chicago, Ill./Von Steuben/Chipola JC
o 14 Joe Jakubowski 6-2 180 Fr. Rossford, Ohio/Toledo St. John's
•SG
o 23 Chris Knight 6-7 210 R-Fr. Cincinnati, Ohio/The Patterson School [N.C.]
o 1 Brian Moten 6-4 190 Jr. Saginaw, Mich./Arthur Hill/Eldon Acad.
o 12 Ryan Sims 6-1 180 So. Ft. Wayne, Ind./Snider
•SF
o 20 Nate Miller 6-4 240 Jr. Springfield, Ohio/South/UNC Wilmington
o 2 Darryl Clements 6-4 200 Jr. Detroit, Mich./Rogers Academy
•PF
o 34 Erik Marschall 6-7 235 Jr. New London, Ohio/New London
o 11 Dusan Radivojevic 6-7 215 Jr. Cacak, Serbia & Montenegro/Sports Gimnasium
o 24 Cameron Madlock 6-8 200 Fr. Whitefish Bay, Wis./ Dominican
•C
o 45 Otis Polk 6-9 280 So. Detroit, Mich./Consortium Prep
o 50 Marc Larson 6-9 245 So. Mattawan, Mich./Mattawan

My guess is that often this will all shift down with Jakubowski or Sims at the point and Marschall on the pine. Dusan could be effective if we can get him to play down low and add some lbs.

Just with the structure of the squad my guess is the first guys off the bench are Jakubowski (which goes against what I would normally want but he seems to be our only true PG) Moten and Clements

I expect Jakubowski to start, and Hamblet to get most of his minutes at the 2. Ryne is a good player and he can do a little of everything, but he's not a true PG. From what I can tell Orr's system is going to need a true PG running the show.

Jakubowski was at class and couldn't attend the tip off banquet, but coach Stone talked about how sub par our PG play has been the past few seasons (surprising since he was actually here then), and he pointed out how Jakubowski was a pure PG.

Perhaps he won't start right away, but I get the impression that as the season goes on he will get the majority of the PG minutes for this team.

Chris Knight will also be a SF...because of his height, he may be asked to play down low in the 4 spot occasionally.

I would think Dusan would be at the 3 to stretch the defense with his three point shooting ability. And Chris could play the 2 but not as often depending on what line-up we have in. I hope he had improved his ball-handling skills to play the 2. I have been telliing him for years to get low when he dribbles so the smaller guys can strip it from him.

G Hamblet
Jakubowski

G Moten
Sims

F Miller
Clements
Rad

F Marcshall
Knight

C Polk
Madlock
Larson




This is my stab at the start-of-year depth chart. Orr mentioned that Moten has been very impressive in practice and may be looking at a major breakout. I can see it happening, he has a very confident, beautiful shooting motion.

Both Knight and Marcshall could be very good, so it's hard to pick one over the other. There will be many sets where Polk goes to the bench and both Marcshall and Knight will play. Both will be fixtures in the rotation, so which of the two actually starts on any given day isn't important.

It's very rare that a freshman can start immediately at the point, but it's fair to expect Jaku's minutes to rise steadily as the season goes on.

Sims is an unknown. It's hard to say if he'll contribute more or be able to flip to the point when needed. Clements will be a very valuable player because of his versatility. He can play a tough small forward or rotate up to the point when we need the depth.

Hamblet had some excellent all around performances last year, especially in February. He's a tough kid, and I think he'll elevate his game a notch this year.

Overall, I'm actually very optimistic. If I had to bet, I'd expect 15-17 wins this year. However, the material is there to compete for a MAC championship if players step up and avoid injuries.

Coach Orr seems to be indicating that PG will be Jakubowski and Clements. That moves Hamblet to 2.

orangeandbrown wrote:Coach Orr seems to be indicating that PG will be Jakubowski and Clements. That moves Hamblet to 2.

Yeah, I think you're right. We'll see one hell of a dogfight for minutes this year btw Moten and Hamblet at 2G.

If Jaku can play point 1/2 the time right of the bat, that would awesome. It's been a very long time since a freshman has come in and played significant minutes at the point. David Greer was the last person that I recall doing so.