FanPost

Projecting the 2012/13 SU Basketball Lineup

So I know there are a couple of these up but I wanted to work through some thoughts. First, the lineup as I see it:

1. MCW, Triche, Cooney

2. Triche, Cooney, Mookie

3. CJ Fair, Southerland, Grant

4. Christmas, Fair, Southerland, Grant

5. Coleman, Christmas, Keita

One thing I don't see much mention of is Mookie's return. Up to this point he hasn't had a true role on the floor, but we won't be terribly deep at guard next year so I wonder if he won't finally get some burn provided he does in fact return to school. Should one of MCW and Triche get into foul trouble (or if Cooney struggles), Mookie might get called on for real minutes at some point.

Given his supposed rebounding prowess and size I see Coleman being our center if he has the conditioning to play long stretches. I think he starts regardless because it seems Boeheim has a PF role in mind for Christmas more than the C role. However, when Coleman isn't on the floor, but Christmas is, I think Rak moves over to C. I think Fair is too consistent to not start at this point and SF seems his natural position anyway (even though he does a fine job at whatever spot he is asked to man).

If Grant can come in and be a solid contributor (or more) it seems we should once again have some nice versatile depth with Fair, Southie and Grant all being able to contribute at both the 3 and the 4 while Rak can slide from 4 to 5. I'm also really interested to see how Triche handles being a leader. He will be a senior and have the most game experience by far. He also quietly had a pretty nice season if you go back and look at his advanced statistics, so perhaps he is prepared to take on a more central role.

After looking this over I really think, provided a few things work out (MCW comes into his own and puts a stamp on the PG position, Coleman being able to go more than 10 min/game, Cooney being the 3 pt threat he is billed as), that SU has another strong team. Now, had Noel signed on I think we become instant favorites to make the Final Four; however, without Noel I still think we have a team that should be able to make a Final Four run. (Though I don't think the regular season sailing will be as smooth.)