Originally posted by Ship69
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The one thing this IUP team is - defensively - is lightning fast. It's by far Joe's quickest overall lineup he's had in a long time.
Kymani Merraro (PG) isn't tall but he's built well and is incredibly quick. Christian Moore is also an extremely fast player. Tyler Grove would be a football coaches' dream at 6'8" with the way he runs. Brooks and Triggs move very well for bigs. Ian Herring is literally all over the place (for better or worse) with his 6'5" frame. Sarp is actually the 'calming' figure on the court as he's played in Joe's system. He's also a good defender and a big guard.
That said, 3 of the 7 playing are true freshmen. They get out of position a lot on defense and lapses follow. Their speed, however, is creating a lot of havoc for opposing teams. They are getting more settled with each game. I think this can be a very strong defensive team by mid- to late-January.
Pickens and Dillard will give a huge boost on both ends. Both are very strong, big and fast defenders. It will also cut the current rotations minutes down and keep everybody fresher. I have no doubt a lot of these lapses we are seeing are the result of guys being gassed (and we all know Joe doesn't call any timeouts).
I unfortunately don't think we're going to see Bautista Rodriguez this year, so the post will remain fairly light, depth-wise. I would really like to see Joe get Callum MacNamara more minutes. I can absolutely guarantee a game is coming when either Triggs or Brooks will be in foul trouble. In the meantime, they need to get him as much game action as possible. He's a bruiser. There's no sugarcoating. He's the 'muscle' off the bench at 6'8" and 240 lbs. But, he needs to be ready. He's not going to be a scorer by any means, but he is a capable rebounder and defender. He's not easy to move around.
The cavalry is on the way. They just need to get by a couple more games.
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