I’ll sign on for that, makes a lot of sense.
Get Ready for 25-26!
- Thread starter paultzman
- Start date
Right now we really have 6 starters.
Zuby, Bryce and Ian will definitely start to begin the season and then I think whoever plays the best defense and passes at least a little will play the most amongst Sanon, Sellers, and Mitchell. That means Mitchell has the inside track to be starter 4 or play more mins than the other 2 but it will also depend upon matchups. Prey is gonna play a lot and our backup PG will too.
Loaded!
You forgot Joson Sanon who is still excited about his commitment after all these guys followed him. Gotta love it!
Different positions from our PG candidates, but Rick develops players well and has an eye for potential, as evidenced by this excerpt from old SI article.
“ATLANTA -- In the spring of 2011, Louisville coach Rick Pitino called up former George Mason assistant coach Chris Caputo for a scouting report on Luke Hancock. George Mason wouldn't allow Hancock to follow departing coach Jim Larranaga and transfer to Miami, which left Hancock testing the open market.
Hancock showed flashes he could play at the highest level, averaging 10.9 points per game as a sophomore at George Mason and hitting a game winning three-pointer in the NCAA tournament against Villanova. Caputo delivered an endorsement that proved startlingly prophetic.”
He's fearless," Caputo recalled telling Pitino, "and there's no moment too big."
The rest is history.
“ATLANTA -- In the spring of 2011, Louisville coach Rick Pitino called up former George Mason assistant coach Chris Caputo for a scouting report on Luke Hancock. George Mason wouldn't allow Hancock to follow departing coach Jim Larranaga and transfer to Miami, which left Hancock testing the open market.
Hancock showed flashes he could play at the highest level, averaging 10.9 points per game as a sophomore at George Mason and hitting a game winning three-pointer in the NCAA tournament against Villanova. Caputo delivered an endorsement that proved startlingly prophetic.”
He's fearless," Caputo recalled telling Pitino, "and there's no moment too big."
The rest is history.
Yeah I could see him being our 6th man. Ian and the 4 seniors with Sanon coming in as a microwave scorer off the bench. I know he’s super talented and hope he buys in on defense so Rick has no choice but to play him 30+ mins. What a great problem to have.
Sanon isn’t getting 10 more than Hopkins.
Always concerned about managing all these egos. I imagine each one of them consider themselves a starter.
Hopkins is the anchor
Being ranked in the 2025-26 Top 10 may not be a precursor of the season, but it's certainly indicative of the high regard with which blue chip players hold RP, otherwise they wouldn't be committing to SJ. That, and our HOF coach's track record of success are more than enough for me to refrain from playing armchair coach and questioning his moves. I'm also tired of the folks who continue to bash RP for benching Luis. The kid gave us a great season and I loved him as a player for the most part, ball hogging and judgement issues notwithstanding. But in the most important game of his career, RJ choked. Flat out choked. As for next season's PG, let's not forget Daniss played for a MM before transferring to SJ. RP may yet come up with a solid PG from the MM ranks. As excited as I became over the course of this past season, it quickly disintegrated into one of the most disappointing seasons in years for me. I'm cautiously optimistic for the upcoming season, and am as glad as ever RP will be on the sidelines for us.
he isnt... i have Hopkins splitting some minutes at one of the guard spots
This group next year is going to be an entire different animal. I don’t think teams are going to have an answer to our inside play with Zuby/hopkins/prey/Mitchell coupled with some ridiculous shooting ability on the outside. Even Hopkins is real dangerous from outside. Add to that the dribble penetration ability of Jackson and teams will be scrambling:.
The real key is getting one more lead guard, maybe one more big man but most importantly getting this team to play defense as close to last year’s level as possible. I think starters and minutes will be doled out that way especially early on. So who are our best defenders?
We know Zuby and Mitchell will be perfect. Hopkins won’t be a bench player because of his offensive ability so hopefully he’s healthy and gets up to speed early. I can see those three as the starting 3-5 to start the season.
Ian is of course going to play immediately: the best defender gets the SG spot off the bat. I haven’t seen Sellers but have heard that Sanon is not a good defender right now so im gonna say Sellers is rhe starting SG. Sanon will get a lot of minutes but will need to learn to play nasty defense which u believe he’s far from. I think he’s a generational shooter-type though so he will come along as the team does. First guys off the bench are Sanon and Prey.
Interesting to see who else we add. Need some talented depth at center and PG.
The real key is getting one more lead guard, maybe one more big man but most importantly getting this team to play defense as close to last year’s level as possible. I think starters and minutes will be doled out that way especially early on. So who are our best defenders?
We know Zuby and Mitchell will be perfect. Hopkins won’t be a bench player because of his offensive ability so hopefully he’s healthy and gets up to speed early. I can see those three as the starting 3-5 to start the season.
Ian is of course going to play immediately: the best defender gets the SG spot off the bat. I haven’t seen Sellers but have heard that Sanon is not a good defender right now so im gonna say Sellers is rhe starting SG. Sanon will get a lot of minutes but will need to learn to play nasty defense which u believe he’s far from. I think he’s a generational shooter-type though so he will come along as the team does. First guys off the bench are Sanon and Prey.
Interesting to see who else we add. Need some talented depth at center and PG.
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passitback
Well-known member
Scott was at the time one of two JUCO players to average a triple double. The other was Larry Johnson. And Scott was no Larry Johnson