2025-2026 Season

Marillac2 said:
The best way to define what position a guy plays is by who they defend. Mitchell is by far the better perimeter defender. You want him guarding the 3 over Hopkins 100% of the time.

I think you could get away with Mitchell at the 3 if you won the guard battle, but I don't see that happening unless Darling is just an absolute stud or Jackson is stud PG. We are likely going to have to build some skills back with a third guard like Sanon or Sellers.
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I think a lot of this hinges on Hopkins being 100% and being an all-BE guy from Day 1. If he can, Hopkins will be totally fine guarding 4s -- especially in the Big East.

Which match-ups particularly concern you? I actually like Mitchell, Hopkins, Zuby against UConn's front court (Mullens/Stewart, Karaban, Reed) and Creighton's (Harper, McAndrew, Freeman). We're absolutely more athletic than the latter. After those two, just from quick glances, the other teams projected to be in the upper half have the following projected at the 3: Corey Floyd Jr. (Providence, 6'5"), Chase Ross (Marquette 6'5"), KJ Lewis (Georgetown, 6'5). I think we can use our size and athleticism (scary to have Prey on the bench as well) to really bully these teams.

Offensively, it's hard to imagine Mitchell being all that much of an offensive detriment with Zuby grabbing offensive rebounds, Hopkins being an elite college playmaker with his size, and the shooting from a combo of Jackson/Sellers/Sanon. I'd also say Mitchell has the unique ability to make his defense into offense because of his freakish ability.

Of course, Rick plays mind games and we'll probably see 10 variations of the lineup. But he knows Mitchell will need to be at the 3 against certain championship caliber teams (maybe UConn, certainly Florida w/ Haugh at the 3, Houston, BYU, UCLA, Duke)
 
Marillac2 said:
The best way to define what position a guy plays is by who they defend. Mitchell is by far the better perimeter defender. You want him guarding the 3 over Hopkins 100% of the time.

I think you could get away with Mitchell at the 3 if you won the guard battle, but I don't see that happening unless Darling is just an absolute stud or Jackson is stud PG. We are likely going to have to build some skills back with a third guard like Sanon or Sellers.
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Pitino shot this notion down on Tuesday after the scrimmage. I specifically asked him about Jackson being either a 1 or 2 and he said we don't have one's or twos on offense, but he will guard the one on defense. He then also said that (on offense) having Ian at the top (which I interpreted as bringing the ball up) hurts him athletically because he isn't the recipient of good movement, he's a good scorer and we don't want to take that away from him"

It's interesting to see how much Ian develops as a lead guard over the next 3 months and how much this "point-less" offense sticks when we revisit come late October.
 
Marillac2 said:
His mechanics are so clean, and he is unbelievably efficient with his movement. Love the way he makes himself available for the pass and his awareness really pops out -- he sees everything. My only concern with him is aggressiveness. You don't see too may guys that are as smooth as him that hustle and play aggressively.
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He definitely hustles and is aggressive from what I have seen.
 
SJUDave said:
Sorry just saw this - Recording tonight all about practice and more but the main non positive is Ian Jackson's transition to point guard. As of yesterday, it's not there. He struggled against pressure and while it was only August 5 it was concerning how loose with the handle he was. Odih turned him over 3-4 times when he got in his face at half court. Ian's strength is his dynamic scoring, being in the open court and shot creation off the dribble and shot making. He's not going to be able to do that while simultaneously being a Daniss Jenkins floor general.
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Guess I'll be stalking chris brickley's instagram for clips of him working with Ian on his handle
 
SJUDave said:
Pitino shot this notion down on Tuesday after the scrimmage. I specifically asked him about Jackson being either a 1 or 2 and he said we don't have one's or twos on offense, but he will guard the one on defense. He then also said that (on offense) having Ian at the top (which I interpreted as bringing the ball up) hurts him athletically because he isn't the recipient of good movement, he's a good scorer and we don't want to take that away from him"

It's interesting to see how much Ian develops as a lead guard over the next 3 months and how much this "point-less" offense sticks when we revisit come late October.
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I believe you can get the requisite ball-handling, shooting, and shot-creation in the aggregate instead of having one or two dominant back court guys. Uconn did that with their last two national championship teams.

Our best bet there is a healthy Hopkins - who I think is a ++ offensive player at the 4. But we are going to be at a deficit when we add up the contributions from the 1 and 2 against top teams. Let's say Uconn rolls out Malachi/Ball/Demary 1-3....we would be at a significant skill and quickness disadvantage if we had Mitchell at the 3. It is also means we have two of our best shooters on the bench.
 
Marillac2 said:
I believe you can get the requisite ball-handling, shooting, and shot-creation in the aggregate instead of having one or two dominant back court guys. Uconn did that with their last two national championship teams.

Our best bet there is a healthy Hopkins - who I think is a ++ offensive player at the 4. But we are going to be at a deficit when we add up the contributions from the 1 and 2 against top teams. Let's say Uconn rolls out Malachi/Ball/Demary 1-3....we would be at a significant skill and quickness disadvantage if we had Mitchell at the 3. It is also means we have two of our best shooters on the bench.
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This may sound crazy but I think Mitchell is a quick as Demary. He’s a NBA athlete.

No questions about skill. I’m also not sure Smith plays many minutes against us. As a guy who wanted him as insurance this offseason, I will say — his splits against high majors last year pretty bad.
 
Amaseinyourface said:
Yeah but nobody was considering Kadary a 4/5 last year and that’s where he was consistently defending. With Mitchell next to Hopkins, the 3/4 moniker is pointless IMO. They invert and operate where they need to on both ends. Theres more than enough skill and shooting between Zuby and Hopkins to make up for any perimeter shooting lost from Mitchell, especially when you think of the positives on the boards and inside. Agree you’d like two shooters at the guard spots next to them, which is another thing we didn’t have last year.
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Kadary could defend anyone. If the kid is strong enough, you can always move up the 1-5 position ladder on defense. It doesn't work going down. Same concept holds true in football...you can always move a tough DB to linebacker and a tough LB to the line, but you can almost never do the reverse.

My concern with this team is ball-handling. You roll out any 3 of Darling/Jackson/Sellers/Sanon/Lefty and I think we are fine. You can "share the sugar" as Lavins says. You add + skill from Mitchell at the 4 or ++ from Hopkins and the Zubester and you're in business. Whoever plays the 3 for us will have to shoulder a lot of guard responsibilities unless Darling is just an absolute monster.
 
Marillac2 said:
Kadary could defend anyone. If the kid is strong enough, you can always move up the 1-5 position ladder on defense. It doesn't work going down. Same concept holds true in football...you can always move a tough DB to linebacker and a tough LB to the line, but you can almost never do the reverse.

My concern with this team is ball-handling. You roll out any 3 of Darling/Jackson/Sellers/Sanon/Lefty and I think we are fine. You can "share the sugar" as Lavins says. You add + skill from Mitchell at the 4 or ++ from Hopkins and the Zubester and you're in business. Whoever plays the 3 for us will have to shoulder a lot of guard responsibilities unless Darling is just an absolute monster.
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I lean towards ball handlers but I think Pitino has shown that he leans towards size. Just going to beat teams up physically and still be able to compete from 3.

It’s why I’ve always kind of thought Sanon and Jackson would squeeze eachother a little bit. Plenty of options to play together and the size and athleticism to guard multiple positions, but I think out of all our guys they are the two most alike. I also think they may be too talented to play the role I think sellers will excel in this season. And if we play the 3 big lineup, and Darling plays a serious role (would guess yes) then that’s something I’m interested in seeing play out. They very well could be the two most gifted scorers on the team.
 
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dk423 said:
This may sound crazy but I think Mitchell is a quick as Demary. He’s a NBA athlete.

No questions about skill. I’m also not sure Smith plays many minutes against us. As a guy who wanted him as insurance this offseason, I will say — his splits against high majors last year pretty bad.
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Yea, I think our best defensive lineup might have him at the 3 just wreaking havoc. But without a rock solid pg they’ll probably have to balance having enough ball handlers with playing big. If this team had Kadary (or another established pg) I’d buy my final four tickets but the ball handling situation will be interesting to watch develop.
 
Hardy said:
Yea, I think our best defensive lineup might have him at the 3 just wreaking havoc. But without a rock solid pg they’ll probably have to balance having enough ball handlers with playing big. If this team had Kadary (or another established pg) I’d buy my final four tickets but the ball handling situation will be interesting to watch develop.
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Ball handling will be the x-factor for sure. I just don't think the issue with the threesome playing is defensively. And I also don't think we'll have many closing lineups with those three anyway since Mitchell can't hit a free throw.
 
dk423 said:
Ball handling will be the x-factor for sure. I just don't think the issue with the threesome playing is defensively. And I also don't think we'll have many closing lineups with those three anyway since Mitchell can't hit a free throw.
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Sellers just under 90% from the line. Definitely needs to be in at the end of any game where we have the lead.
 
Amaseinyourface said:
I lean towards ball handlers but I think Pitino has shown that he leans towards size. Just going to beat teams up physically and still be able to compete from 3.

It’s why I’ve always kind of thought Sanon and Jackson would squeeze eachother a little bit. Plenty of options to play together and the size and athleticism to guard multiple positions, but I think out of all our guys they are the two most alike. I also think they may be too talented to play the role I think sellers will excel in this season. And if we play the 3 big lineup, and Darling plays a serious role (would guess yes) then that’s something I’m interested in seeing play out. They very well could be the two most gifted scorers on the team.
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I'm surprised you are leaving me on this island alone knowing how much you always want more guard skills in every lineup 🤣 I want Sanon on the floor...I think that's what bothers me with Mitchell playing the 3. Sanon was not a college 2 based on what I saw last year. It's completely within his abilities to make a massive jump as a sophomore, but I need to see it first.

I love both Mitchell and Hopkins at the 4. I'm okay with one of them playing the three for small stretches or against huge teams. But if that Mitchell-Hopkins-Zuby trio starts owning the defensive glass, I’ll turn into the animal guy from Old School faster that SlyFoxx enters an RJ thread.

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