Starting Lineup Prediction #2

A few minutes ago, you were treated to the High Roller's interpretation of how the starting lineup will shake out. See, here's the great thing about our blog and its having two proprietors: double the analysis, double the insight.... and double the starting lineup projections! So here's my take on how the Terriers will look on November 14th.

Point Guard - Brian Macon. Macon comes with a boatload of experience from junior college. He's got great ballhandling skillZ, and he's definitely the fastest/quickest Terrier. He'll have to prove his ability to score and dish, but he has already shown himself to be a good floor leader. Geffen showed some flashes last year and will back him up, but I don't think he's ready to run the show himself yet. He's a PG in the mold of K-Fitz: pass first, second, third, and fourth, shoot fifth.

Shooting Guard - Shaun Wynn. Back during his sophomore year, we used to say Shaun Wynn was "Wynn-credible." Then, during his junior year, he was "Wynn-consistent", "Wynn-ferior" and "Wynn-excusable." Some would even go so far as to say his play was "Wynn-sulting." That said, he's the unquestioned vocal leader of this team, and probably the best defender in the America East. Basically we need the senior's leadership out on the floor. But without that offense, we're going to need Corey Hassan and Matt Wolff to jump off the bench for a spark. My guess is that Hassan will find his way into the starting lineup by the end of the year one way or another.

Small Forward - Tony Gaffney. Kid's got talent and potential to be a star in the America East. That and the biggest damn wingspan I've ever seen. Nobody else is as disruptive on the full-court press as Gaffney. Wolff used him off the bench for that kind of defensive spark last year, but I think with an improved shot this year he will be one of the teams scoring leaders as well. And backing him up will hopefully be the I-Man, Ibrahim Konate. They say that when he's healthy, he's a real dangerous scorer. Let's hope he comes back from that leg injury OK and puts on a little bulk (kid's a flagpole right now!).

Power Forward - Kevin Gardner. KG's the other senior leader who absolutely needs to be on the floor. He's the only guy on this year's team who I have no questions about how he will perform. He's been so consistent through his first three years in terms of rebounding and banging bodies inside that he needs to just keep doin what he's doin. And when KG needs a break, we should be able to give promising freshman Brendan Sullivan some time to get his legs. Billed as the next Ryan Butt (by me), Sully stands to learn a lot by playing in the shadow of Gardner and will hopefully be ready to step up next year.

Center - Omari Peterkin. Big O was raw last year, but he played well in enough games (at Northeastern, AE playoffs vs Maine) to give us hope for this year. Everybody's saying it, everyone knows it, but O needs to just get more aggressive and throw that big body around. If Peterkin should falter, Ben Coblyn will have a chance to prove himself after sitting out last year. Wolff seems to be pretty high on Cobber's potential for improvement, which is why he redshirted him in 04-05.

So that's how I see things shaking out, based on what we saw last year, what we read about the new guys, and what the High Roller hears from his sources with the team. There could be a deviation if Wolff decides to go with a small lineup, forgoing the center position to add another guard. In that case, I think the starting five would be Macon, Wynn, Hassan, Gaffney and Gardner. Hopefully we'll hear more in the next week or so about how Wolff plans to organize his depth chart.