2025-2026 Season

Marillac2 said:
I don't think Jackson has anything to worry about with minutes. We just don't have a ton of ball-handling in the backcourt. He basically has to be in every lineup or we have to have 3 guards on the floor.

Mitchell very clearly has sub-par offensive perimeter skills for a 3. For him to be at the 3, I think Darling has to be on the court -- and probably Jackson as well.

Jackson-Sanon-Mitchell 1-3 is not even close to enough ball-handling. We aren't even in the ballpark there.
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It may wind up that it is almost a Mitchell-for-Darling deal - when Mitchell is on the floor Jackson and Sanon are in the backcourt, when Mitchell comes out Darling comes in and it's a 3-guard lineup. My concern is how much we will be able to get away with that - going to depend on matchup, ball security of the 2 guards and wings, etc. And agree with DK that it seems Sellers may also get minutes to provide ball-handling.

Bottom line is that there are a lot of mouths to feed here and the staff is going to have their hands full managing rotations and egos.
 
dk423 said:
Don't sleep on Sellers. Not saying he's an upper echelon ball handler by any means, but he's on par with the guys not named Darling.

Also wonder where Lefty figures into this. I know the Greek team stuff is a good thing for the most part, but this is the second consecutive summer not being with the team.
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Agree, Sellers seems a glue guy.

I just can’t see Lefty getting any time this year and frankly view his limited foot speed as incongruous with Pitino’s desire for quick defenders, length and uptempo transition. Seems a great kid, only a sophomore, but being objective this will be a challenging place and level for him. Hope I am wrong.
 
Marillac2 said:
I don't think Jackson has anything to worry about with minutes. We just don't have a ton of ball-handling in the backcourt. He basically has to be in every lineup or we have to have 3 guards on the floor.

Mitchell very clearly has sub-par offensive perimeter skills for a 3. For him to be at the 3, I think Darling has to be on the court -- and probably Jackson as well.

Jackson-Sanon-Mitchell 1-3 is not even close to enough ball-handling. We aren't even in the ballpark there.
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The only time Mitchell will be at the “3” is on the defensive end and when Hopkins in on the floor. That has to change your ball handling equation
 
dk423 said:
Don't sleep on Sellers. Not saying he's an upper echelon ball handler by any means, but he's on par with the guys not named Darling.

Also wonder where Lefty figures into this. I know the Greek team stuff is a good thing for the most part, but this is the second consecutive summer not being with the team.
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Oh, I like Sellers a lot. He's half of what troubles me about seeing Mitchell and Hopkins in together with a big man. You can lean on Sellers for + skill at the 3 to make up for what you lose with the other two guards. The other half of that equation is that Sanon has an absurdly high ceiling and he's a 3 in my eyes. If you want to play positionless basketball -- at least one of those guys really needs to be on the court.

Lefty taking a leap would be huge. I need to see that first, though. I think he's a tremendously skilled kid and can allow us to play without a true PG.
 
Amaseinyourface said:
The only time Mitchell will be at the “3” is on the defensive end and when Hopkins in on the floor. That has to change your ball handling equation
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Yeah, but Hopkins should be a 4. He's more than big and strong enough to dominate the 4 in the paint, and then his skill from the 4 is back-breaking. I mean, good luck dealing with, say, Jackson-Sellers-Sanon when you have that dude coming at you from the 4. Good freaking luck.

Drop Hopkins to a 3 and I guess you could argue he gives you + skill from that spot, but barely. He's an animal with 3 perimeter plays from the 4 spot.
 
Marillac2 said:
Oh, I like Sellers a lot. He's half of what troubles me about seeing Mitchell and Hopkins in together with a big man. You can lean on Sellers for + skill at the 3 to make up for what you lose with the other two guards. The other half of that equation is that Sanon has an absurdly high ceiling and he's a 3 in my eyes. If you want to play positionless basketball -- at least one of those guys really needs to be on the court.

Lefty taking a leap would be huge. I need to see that first, though. I think he's a tremendously skilled kid and can allow us to play without a true PG.
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I also think we're going to be a lot more athletic than basically every Big East team, absent UConn, which will help us against any pressing or ball pressure. We finally have shooters also, so double-teaming us may not be the smartest thing.

Of course, and unfortunately, Big East success really isn't that strong of a barometer anymore. Will be curious how we stack up against bama/Ole Miss/Iowa St.
 
Marillac2 said:
Yeah, but Hopkins should be a 4. He's more than big and strong enough to dominate the 4 in the paint, and then his skill from the 4 is back-breaking. I mean, good luck dealing with, say, Jackson-Sellers-Sanon when you have that dude coming at you from the 4. Good freaking luck.

Drop Hopkins to a 3 and I guess you could argue he gives you + skill from that spot, but barely. He's an animal with 3 perimeter plays from the 4 spot.
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I agree with all of that but I don’t get the necessity to refer to Dillion as the 3 on offense. Hes not gonna be IMO.
 
I feel our squad can go 10-11 deep easy. Also want us to sweep them burnt pizza clowns again. It’s going to be a special year hoping before one final moment plays old blue eyes is playing in Indy!
 
Amaseinyourface said:
I agree with all of that but I don’t get the necessity to refer to Dillion as the 3 on offense. Hes not gonna be IMO.
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That was unintentional this time. I agree he won't be a 3 on offense. Moving Hopkins from the 4 is too tall of a task for my brain in the summer. The larger point to me is that we'd be playing two guys who are made to play the 4 together with a 5. It's tough to get away with that if your guards aren't overwhelming.
 
lawmanfan said:
What has gone unsaid in all of this conversation is that if Zuby (lock) Hopkins (lock) and Mitchell (probable) start up front then if Darling starts at the point two of the following guys are coming off the bench: Sanon, Jackson, Sellers.

My personal suspicion is that Sanon and Jackson start and Darling comes off the bench but that Darling's minutes eat significantly into Jackson's. Which may pose a chemistry issue to keep an eye on. I am sure there will be many lineup combinations (and lots of 3-guard looks) and lots of guys will get minutes. But after awhile the averages will tell the tale.

And in truth if Darling is a capable ball-handler I think Pitino will have no choice. If I were an opponent like (say) U Conn, I would press the bejeebers out of a team that has no real point guard. And I don't think U Conn will be the only one.

Hopefully there will be a lot of attention paid on how to break a press with a minimum of dribbling because I would think most opponents would think ball pressure is a strategy to deploy against us for a number of reasons (limit time in the front-court, take advantage of lack of ball-security depth, etc).
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Would be shocked if Mitchell doesn’t sit in the middle when pressed with his experience, height, mobility, ball handling and passing ability he is the ideal player to attack a press looking for easy points.
 
logen said:
Would be shocked if Mitchell doesn’t sit in the middle when pressed with his experience, height, mobility, ball handling and passing ability he is the ideal player to attack a press looking for easy points.
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That's what I would do, yes. I am hoping Pitino will do that instead of trying to pound square pegs into round holes as he has done some of the last couple of seasons. It sounds from his "we are positionless" comment that his approach may be more flexible with this roster which is good.
 
lawmanfan said:
That's what I would do, yes. I am hoping Pitino will do that instead of trying to pound square pegs into round holes as he has done some of the last couple of seasons. It sounds from his "we are positionless" comment that his approach may be more flexible with this roster which is good.
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I pretty much feel you could amalgamate Pitino’s pre-season quotes and predict any style of play and support your conclusion. We shall see…………
 
logen said:
Would be shocked if Mitchell doesn’t sit in the middle when pressed with his experience, height, mobility, ball handling and passing ability he is the ideal player to attack a press looking for easy points.
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If Mitchell is breaking the press, we are in trouble.
 
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