Taking the question seriously for a moment, we're in really good shape for next year - and especially so if Omoruyi chooses to come.
- We're returning about 82% of our minutes and 81% of our points, with just Yeboah and Carter leaving.
- We're finally going to have a majority upper-classman squad, with at least 4 starters expected to be upperclassmen
- We'll have had a lot more experience playing in conference away games, and in 1-and-2-possession games that should help as we go into next season
The question will be how well the new pieces fill in for the lost productivity, and what sort of improvements we will see as our sophomores become juniors.
Yeboah: 23.8 min, 9.8 pts, 4.8 rb, 0.9 ast, 1.2 tov, 0.8 stl, 2.1 pf
Carter: 12.4 min, 3.6 pts, 2.5 rb, 0.0 ast, 0.8 tov, 0.2 stl, 1.4 pf
That's 36.2 min that need to be replaced from the rotation, and a total of 13.4 pts and 7.3 rb.
Incoming we have:
Palmquist (6-8, 210 Forward, with a semester of practice under his belt)
Reiber (6-10, 230 Forward/Center)
Mag (6-7, 215 Forward)
.... and possibly (hopefully?) Omoruyi (6-10, 230 Center)
.... and possibly a grad transfer
Returning minutes, based on the last 18 games (from the B1G conference restart):
29.4 Harper (12.3 pts, 5.6 rb)
27.5 Baker (10.3 pts, 3.5 rb, 3.1 ast, 1.4 tov)
24.6 Johnson (6.8 pts, 7.3 rb, 1.5 blk)
23.1 Mathis (7.5 pts, 3.6 rb)
22.6 McConnell (6.7 pts, 4.1 rb, 1.4 ast, 1.5 tov)
22.0 Young (9.2 pts, 2.6 rb, 1.5 ast, 1.6 tov)
18.3 Mulcahy (3.4 pts, 2.6 rb, 1.5 ast, 0.9 tov)
I'd expect Harper/Baker to still both hover in that 28-30 min space, and for Johnson to still sit in that 25 min range. Mathis, McConnell, Young, and Mulcahy will be fighting it out again for minutes, and it's possible that McConnell transforms himself a bit better into SF/wing role than a guard.
I know McConnell really struggled down the stretch, but there's a starting spot open for him on the wing if he can seize it.
There's no room for "trying to figure it out" games in the OOC where we drop silly games to teams like Pitt and the Bonnies. This team should largely know what it is and how to work together, Even while working in some backup bigs in the process.
