Another season is dawning and my Rochester squad has been miraculously pre-ranked as the 21st most talented team in all of Knight D3.  A quick look at the team will indicate that while we do possess the 16th highest OTR in Knight D3, the actual talent level doesn't live up to that billing.  Anyway, I have 2 questions regarding my team on which I'd like a little feedback from those who don't mind.

First: Who should I start at SF?  My first thought was that I should start McCook (SG) there.  His passing and BH, while the worst among my guards, would make him something like a second PG at the SF position, setting up my other scorers.  The problem with that is an overall lack of other scorers.  My only decent guard is Golden, and he's a pure PG himself.  I asked him to shoulder a bit more of the scoring load last year and his overall stat line suffered as a result.  Obviously the majority of my scoring is going to happen in the post with Petit, Stewart, and Manfredi likely projecting as my top 3 scorers.  But a little outside help would certainly have a positive impact on the team's balance.  Anyway, my other top options at SF are Grubb (PF) and Holt (SF).  The argument for Holt is that he's a better rebounder and a better defender.  I could play him in a 3-2 zone and he would help prop up a very weak perimeter defense.  He also has a lot of potential.  Until he starts to reach some of that potential, however, he brings absolutely nothing to the table offensively.  Grubb would probably be the best scorer of the 3.  And of course option #4 is to rotate the 3 depending on matchups, playing Grubb against a team with a thin front line to help wear them down with fouls, Holt against a team that shoots a lot of 3s, and perhaps McCook against a man team with a slow SF.

Second: Should I try to redshirt Kevin Judge?  He was my only recruit for this season and, despite the objections of those who idolize athleticism, I view him as a future stud in my triangle/zone set.  The biggest strength I view from this O/D combination is that I can get away with playing guys who are less athletic than would be required in other offenses and defenses.  And of course I can maximize the value of an offensive stud and get away with recruiting a guy who is a mediocre defender by hiding him in the zone; that's a nice combo as well.  Anyway, back to the subject at hand, Judge has high-high potential in speed, reb, def, and perimeter.  If I start him at SG for the full season he could grow 80+ points with his work ethic, and by tournament time he could be the outside threat I need to bring a bit of balance to my offense.  On the other hand, a redshirt would give him time to bring up his defense and speed a bit and give him 4 productive seasons overall instead of 3 and a fraction.  Also as of now he's a complete moron in my system (Fs for both offensive and defensive IQs).  But on the other hand Stewart and Golden, 2 of the best 3 pieces on the team right now, are going to be graduating after this season and while I might hope to build another comparable or, hopefully, better team by Judge's upperclass seasons, there are of course no such guarantees.  So I really don't know what to do here.  I recruited him thinking I would at least try to redshirt him, but now I'm having doubts.

i think the 20-win question (get it? $20 million question, except 20-win?) is:

which is better?
-play 3 guards at a time with questionable jump shots and 2 great inside scorers at a time
-play 2 guards at a time with questionable jump shots and 3 very good inside scorers at a time

but i'm going to dodge that question entirely. first off, i would redshirt judge so you have the chance to build a well-balanced 4-man class next season with judge, a pure PG (like Golden), a pure C (like Stewart) and an athletic forward type with a bit of an outside but mostly inside offensive game.

also, my depth chart would look like:

PG
Golden
Peters
McCook

SG
Taylor
Towner
McCook

SF
Grubb
Holt
McCook

PF
Petit
Anderson
Manfredi

C
Stewart
Manfredi
Petit

With stamina in mind, McCook will be playing mostly at SF. Grubb gives a bit of an outside presence, along with Taylor.

The top of my distro would be something like:

Stewart 20
Taylor 16
Petit 14
Manfredi 14
Grubb 8
Golden 8

you could absolutely rotate the SF's depending on matchups, i'm just more of the 'set it and forget it' type

1. Don't think it matters a ton -- whether you start McCook or Holt, both will get significant minutes in your rotation. Rotating sounds like a good idea (you could start McCook vs. press teams, etc.)

2. Aboslutely, positively RS him. I honestly don't think this is a two-sided debate. I don't think he'd be a legit outside threat for you by tourney time due to iq. And he's a 50 pe now, so he'd be 60-65, which isn't lights out to begin with. You've already got a guy at 58 pe w. better iq. RS him, let him blossom, and then unleash him for four more seasons. No question.

3. I know you didn't ask, but this is the perfect time to point out how important team building is. You have three seniors (the two bigs and the pg) who can score well in the low post or by driving, but no perimeter shooters. You needed to take the opportunity to recruit a really strong pe guy the following season. It would've made your team much more dangerous. Not that the players you recruited are bad -- they're not -- but more foresight and a look at team building had the potential to turn your team from good to great here.

dalt - with regards to 3, when I recruited Petit and Anderson I NEEDED one of them that season and I wanted to RS one since they both have exceptional potential (neither is anywhere near maxed out, and Anderson's ceiling is actually a little higher).  Taylor was the guard that came in that season and he was really the best guard I could locate in the state who would talk to me.  It was a bad year for guards.  The next season I spent about $7 million between 2 dominant pulldown guards, had them, and they were both poached by D2 schools.  I guess that's the risk I run.  Anyway, that's why I have 3 mediocre sophomore guards - by the time I'd thrown most of my money away on 2 guys I wasn't getting I didn't have much left.  So that's how I ended up so post-heavy.  Next year I guess I'll NEED a post player and WANT a future SF I can redshirt.  The third guy will be flexible and could end up being a walk-on.

Incidentally, I'm never going to regret recruiting Petit.  He's one of the best post defenders I've seen in D3 who is still an offensive and rebounding threat.  And like I said, he still has quite a bit of room for growth, probably will eclipse 700 this season and possibly 750 next season.

Posted by dahsdebater on 1/19/2011 5:42:00 PM (view original):
Incidentally, I'm never going to regret recruiting Petit.  He's one of the best post defenders I've seen in D3 who is still an offensive and rebounding threat.  And like I said, he still has quite a bit of room for growth, probably will eclipse 700 this season and possibly 750 next season.

Oh, I certainly wouldn't regret recruiting him. He'd be a good DII player.

Damn, Judge has refused the RS twice now.  Not looking good.

looks like judge took the RS... i've never had a guy refuse a RS when he was 3rd on the Depth chart...

How does it look that way to you?  On the third attempt his WE dropped to 1 again.  He's not even on the depth charts and it's killing him.  I'll probably start him after his IQs grow to Ds so he can improve faster.

I'm showing a 66 point drop to four.

Posted by dahsdebater on 1/20/2011 3:11:00 AM (view original):
How does it look that way to you?  On the third attempt his WE dropped to 1 again.  He's not even on the depth charts and it's killing him.  I'll probably start him after his IQs grow to Ds so he can improve faster.

i'm assuming you're not going to redshirt him, which would be the correct way to go

Posted by trobone2 on 1/20/2011 2:21:00 AM (view original):
looks like judge took the RS... i've never had a guy refuse a RS when he was 3rd on the Depth chart...

Really? It's happened to me more times than I can remember.