But that's the thing, right? Situational need for quality contributions from more players than your core rotation isn't an anomaly at all, it would be an anomaly if that WEREN'T the case.
I agree. Brad typically doesnt go more than 8 deep. That being said, i do expect that we will add a 4 to be someone who is more suited to back up at the power 4 spot. Maybe not on Ben's level but possibly. Last year we had 4 guys that played the 4/5 in T, Z, Mirk and Ben. We needed all of them last season due to injuries and at times fouls. Currently to play the 4/5 especailly on the defensive end we only have 3 for those roles in T, Z and Mirk. For depth incase of injury or foul trouble i do expect us to fill that void in our rosters construction. How much they play im.not sure. We are stocked at the w7ng but not at the 4/5 if someone goes down or has foul trouble. Mayb s9me dont exoectvus to add a 4 man but i do expect that to happen eventually. Players get sick, hurt and get in foul trouble. The teams we are facing will have some big strong dudes at the 4/5 and we will need some back ups for depth or if someine does go down we arent in big trouble.
I think the key is fit. We have no shortage of guys who can play on the wing, and play well.
Wow. I find this hard to believe but I will defer to your judgement. I actually really liked all of the minutes that Brandon Lee got. The Feliz comparisons were very accurate IMO
Hope they’re either showing Zens 2026 Ben film or somehow getting him in the gym this offseason. That would be sick.
late to the party
In the Mark Smith (17-18) year, DeMonte played the 9th most minutes. 10 guys played in at least 27 games and averaged over 10 mpg. Obviously, a team searching for an identity.
So if you exclude garbage time minutes, the 9th guy can expect to play 3-5 minutes per game. Pretty sure one of the freshman can fill that role.
Measuring by total minutes is tricky because there's so much early season garbage time built in. That's why, when I think about our "real" rotation, I tend to focus on what the rotation looks like in conference. But yeah, ^ that's all true.
You still need someone who will accept that role at a relatively low price point and won't cause locker room discontent.
The thing about thinking this is that neither Petro or Brandon Lee filled that role last year. Hence, in our game against Wisconsin, we were forced to play a 6-man team, with both of those guys playing 0 minutes.
Michigan and UConn both had 9 guys play >30% of their minutes on the season, though their rotations shrunk by the end (at least partly due to injury for UM).
I mean we got Jake Davis from Mercer 2 years ago, for a pretty similar role.
Well that's the other universal truism of basketball, no matter how great and perfectly constructed a basketball team is on the floor, behind closed doors guys want more playing time and more shots than they're getting.
Michigan's #7-9 guys in minutes played were: senior, senior, sophomore (all returning players who played fewer minutes than prior season)
I do not feel any of our freshman can defend in the post and fill Ben's role vs the teams we are playing. The only type of option that could rebound and defend a true power 4 with any size would be Jason J. if he is medically cleared. He did rebound well and has some size. I really hope he is at 6'10" likely 240 by now and i guess he is a third year freshman eligabilty wise with a redshirt and med redshirt season. He could play spot minutes if guys miss time or have fouls. I think we add someone else besides Jason to help at the 4/5 as depth to help Z back up the 4/5 in B10 play and ither big boys should someone hod forbid go down or foul alot.
