Considering a few facts:

A:  I know this team isn't winning anything this year, but want to limit how bad the year is. . . 
B: I know Crocker and Fontenot are deeply flawed, but I kept them this year because they fill out the ten man rotation and graduate leaving the slots open for next year anyhow
C: Marden has to start somewhere due to a promise. . .

What would be the most effective lineup one could create with these players around Marden?  Just looking for ideas. . .

So far Putting Castello/Marden/Hays/Fontaine/Klein as the starting lineup, but Have also tried Marden/Collins/Hays/Fontaine/White Also the above two lineups with Kivett at Center. . . 

Name	Yr.	Pos.	A	SPD	REB	DE	BLK	LP	PE	BH	P	WE	ST	DU	FT	TOT
Danny Fontenot	Sr.	PG	28	81	16	2	3	1	74	71	54	40	82	45	B+	497
Jim Castello	So.	PG	30	79	10	19	2	19	34	72	64	38	79	72	C	518
Joe Marden	Fr.	PG	26	74	10	26	1	1	32	68	57	62	77	45	C+	479
Michael Collins	Jr.	SG	30	66	2	33	3	6	81	50	48	40	77	63	B+	499
Ernest Hays	Fr.	SF	57	32	14	41	1	30	52	31	19	50	67	53	C-	447
Robert Crocker	Sr.	PF	15	44	57	11	32	62	40	35	30	56	75	76	B	533
Lynn Klein	Fr.	PF	91	2	51	72	33	38	1	1	1	60	83	56	C-	489
Eric Fontaine	Sr.	C	45	18	66	24	78	84	26	2	21	56	76	83	C+	579
Michael Kivett	So.	C	22	24	78	14	75	46	20	25	52	40	68	39	C-	503
John White	Fr.	C	36	4	73	34	60	67	3	1	6	60	61	60	D+	465

My ideal lineup:

PG - Marden, Castello
SG - Collins, Fontenot
SF - Crocker, Hayes
PF - Kivett, Klein
C - Fontaine, White

You don't have a true PF, but I believe Kivett will reduce your turnovers and Fontaine will be successful at the 5. If that doesn't work, you can try swapping them (Fontaine at the 4, Kivett at the 5).

Yeah.  A pure power forward is a high priority in recruiting for me next season>  Lost one in a recruiting battle this year.

I personally would try to start Klein, even though he's a frosh. I also wouldn't start a freshman at PG. I would probably have it something like this:
PG Castello
SG Marden
SF Fontenot
PF Klein
C Fontaine

I wouldn't even have Crocker in my rotation with 15 athleticism and 11 defense. But I guess if you're penalizing guys for their defensive rating, you don't have 5 to play with haha

Crocker was, indeed, a mistake I never cut.  Defense is a high priority next recruiting

FWIW, here's an idea.  Klein is a great defender and has pretty good stamina for a big.  Fontenot is a terrible defensive PG, but will be an excellent shooter and has some value as a rebounder. I would build the team on those two, try to get them as many minutes as possible by playing slowdown, and hide Fontenot's bad defense and accentuate Klein's good defense by playing 3-2 zone.  Crocker, I would barely play him, if at all.  Use him very sparingly as an instant offense guy off the bench.  You mainly need rebounders to compliment Klein. Hopefully, you can lean on Fontaine and Kivett for some low post scoring and see what sort of productivity you can get out of Castello if you set his shot selection to -2 and strictly take the ball to the hole.  Let Fontenot and Collins cast away from 3 and be the spearhead of your offense and then try to balance that with Castello, Fontaine, and Kivett taking the ball inside.  If you think you need more rebounding, then throw Crocker in at SF.  If you think you can get away with less rebounding, then try playing 3 guards part of the time. Yeah, I like the 3-2 idea because if you play 2-3, you have zero good defensive perimeter players.  If you play 3-2, at least you can put Hays out on the perimeter and maximize Klein's inside defense, and that also allows you to get the most out of Fontenot, if you choose to.

I have been happy with Klein's performance so far.  Fontenot has been sort of a 'super sub' for me so far.  A microwave.  With Marden and Castello holding down the guard slots and seemingly, at least vs three point shooting, making up for their lower defense with their speed.  Been keeping Hays at SF for his defensive ability.  With both Collins and FOntenot coming off the bench I have a bit of scoring there.

The zone doesn't act as a collective average defense.  What happens is that if an inside shot is taken then one of the players in the zone is randomly asigned to be the defender.  If you are playing a 3-2, then either the PF or C will be asigned as the defender.  You have no control over which player becomes the defender.  You just hope that the simulation picks your best defender more often than not.  One of the benefits of the zone is that if you have a bad defender, you can put that defender in an alignment with two other good defenders.  There's is only a 1-in-3 chance that defender will be guarding the shot, if you have hidden the defender in the "3" part of the zone. 3-2 zone will give Klein a 50-50 chance of being the defender in any inside shot (when he is in the game) and Fontenot only a 33% chance of being the defender (when he is in the game).  If you are playing a 2-3, then Klein only has a 33% chance of being the defender and Fontenot has a 50% chance. 

One thing I still wonder about is whether the simulation tries to even out the distribution of defensive asignments over the course of a game, or whether every time a shot is taken the odds are still 50% or 33% of any player getting the asignment, regardless of how skewed the asignments may have been during the game. In other words, is it possible to have games where you get very lucky (or unlucky) with who gets the asignments?  Could you have an unlucky game where Klein only gets 25% of the possible asignments he could get in a 3-2 zone and Fontenot gets 66% of the possible asignments he could get in a 3-2 zone?  Or is there some mechanism to even out the distribution over the course of a game, just as there is a mechanism to even out FG% over the course of a game?

Yes, Klein is DEFINITELY producing so far.