What an amazing gift these young men have given us. We lost march madness just as we seemed to be emerging as a team to be reckoned with, we’ve lost so much of our summer sports, and football is going to be much different, if it plays at all, and yet we have some hope.
My hope is that basketball will be more likely to occur than football. Basketball is a smaller group, both in terms of players and staff. As enjoyable as the TBT was, I think it also served a useful purpose in that it demonstrated how basketball can be done. I think basketball, in some form or fashion, will occur. I’m not so sure about football, and not so sure about crowds at basketball, but I think we will see something enjoyable, at least on TV.
This team is going to be special. I think this team compares favorably with the other great teams I recall (’84, ’89, ‘01 and ’05). In particular, this team looks extremely deep. Unlike some of our other recent great teams, it looks to me like this team will not be purely “positionless,” and yet there is enough overlap that BU will have many matchup options, and conversely be able to create matchup issues for the other team. I’m sure he really looks forward to this season.
One of the things I love about BU is that he will change up his scheme to fit his personnel, as we saw with last year’s defense. I look for him to do this masterfully this coming year. We need to go up-tempo. Not only does this play to our strength with depth, allowing our guys to be in better shape at the end of the game, but also creates more possessions to share, and that will help in team chemistry. Ayo and Kofi need to see the ball with the choice they have made, and yet there are others that deserve it. (This is why Demonte is going to see so valuable when he is on the floor, and I get the idea maybe Curbelo as well)
It is easier for positionless teams to go up tempo, but I think our guys will be able to do this with well defined positions. Kofi and Georgi both run the floor well for big guys (and maybe Hamlin as well). I would split them at the 5, and the same with Trent and Curbelo at the 1, and it might be good to let Ayo see some time at the 1 for the next level. Then BU has tons of levers to pull at the 2-4. Hopefully with all the options we can play a tough full court pressure D and still have fresh legs on the floor at the end of the game.
I think Kofi will compare well with any big on these teams. In terms of an assassin, Ayo compares well, with obviously a lot of greats in this category on these teams. I think Damonte will be a great glue guy (e.g. the Rev and Bardo). What this team will need is other credible scoring options to appear that takes the pressure off of Ayo and Kofi, and Trent is at the top of the list there but you have to wonder how good Miller can be in his freshman year, and also the two guys that have sat out last year.