Starting Five?
Is this the current starting lineup for basketball next season?
PG Lamont Jones
SG Dwight Lewis
SF Marcus Johnson
PF Leonard Washington/Nicola Vucevic
C Alex Stepheson
Any one envision a different lineup? And who's helping off the bench?
I still think Gerrity might start at PG when he becomes eligible. And, I don't see Nicola beating out Leonard. So, here's my team depth chart:
PG Gerrity
SG Lewis
SF Johnson
PF Washington
C Stepheson
Key Bench: Simmons, Jones (guards); Cunningham, Vucevic, Diarra, Williams, Smith (forwards)
Projection: Athletic, defensive team. Limited offensively. Weak at guard. Washington is a beast who can board and score. Stepheson is a strong defender. Lewis is inconsistent, but dangerous on the perimeter. Wildcard is Johnson. If he scores, this team can be pretty good. With lost recruit Noel Johnson knocking down perimeter shots, this team could have made the tourney. Instead, USC will finish 5 - 7 in conference in a down year and not make the tourney.
DFW - I hope USC is eligible for the NCAA tournament in March 2010.
Bench help: The Fat Booster
Don't know how much Diarra or Smith will contribute. Hopefully Cunningham stays healthy. It'll be another year with a short bench. This off-season has been absolutely brutal.
Jedi Counsel team:
PG: Yoda
SG: Luke Skywalker
C: Chewbacca
SF: Han Solo
PF: Obi-Wan Kenobe
Key Bench: R2D2, C-3PO, Princess Leia(gaurds) Anakin Skywalker (pre-dark side) Mace Windu (forwards) Qui-Gon Jinn (center)
DFW,
Excellent analysis as always; you should put it up at the Chronicles. I vote you USC Hoops Fan #1 amigo.
Yoda,
Your bench sounds like Chalmun's (Mos Eisley) Cantina on Tatooine, therefore I nominate Desmo, RuinFaithful, Rodney, Panchito and KalGirl. On a side note, UltimateBruin is the spitting image of Jabba the Hut.
many requests, for Yoda’s Dark Side Team i received:
PG: Jaba the Hutt (or his stand-in Lodrick Stewart)
SG: Darth Maul
C: Darth Vader
SF: Darth Sidious
PF: Count Dooku
Key Bench: General Grievous, Boba Fett, Storm Troopers, Battle Droids
Coaches: Floyd Sidious
Asst Coach: Darth Carroll
many requests, for Yoda’s Dark Side Team i received:
PG: Jaba the Hutt (or his stand-in Lodrick Stewart)
SG: Darth Maul
C: Darth Vader
SF: Darth Sidious
PF: Count Dooku
Key Bench: General Grievous, Boba Fett, Storm Troopers, Battle Droids
Coaches: Floyd Sidious
Asst Coach: Darth Carroll
many requests, for Yoda’s Dark Side Team i received:
PG: Jaba the Hutt (or his stand-in Lodrick Stewart)
SG: Darth Maul
C: Darth Vader
SF: Darth Sidious
PF: Count Dooku
Key Bench: General Grievous, Boba Fett, Storm Troopers, Battle Droids
Coaches: Floyd Sidious
Asst Coach: Darth Carroll
What is with 5 -7 for a conference record when there are 18 games total played? Gerrity will be too far behind when he becomes eligible in Dec. to start right away. Definitely lacking an outside attack except for Lewis who will have to be at his very best each game. Williams and Cunningham could be the x factor.
Uuuh, I believe DFW was referrng to the projected SC finish at somewhere between 5th to 7th place, not its conference record. Just for the record.
Sure is a come-down from what could have been. And a lot of the fun of college basketball has been scraped away by the team's quick turnover year-to-year. You start to like a kid, and then boom, he's gone.
I can see what pro fans see in their teams-- some sort of identification year by year.
Just remeber this name Derrick Williams