Who's your starting five

G- Sosa/Siva
G- Smith/Knowles/Delk/Marra
G/F – Delk/Kuric/Swopshire
F- Samuels/Goode/Buckles/Swopshire/Van Treese
C- Jennings/Goode/Van Treese

Starters listed first, subs second. I think one certainty is that Pitino will substitute liberally early on in order to determine the right rotation and best mix of players. Practice will still determine who gets on the floor for games.

And just because I have a guy listed third doesn’t mean I don’t think they’ll play, especially as younger players emerge during the season. I don’t expect anyone to play the 35-40 minutes that T-Will and Earl did this year.

I don’t think Samuels will have any trouble playing the 4 on offense. He’s a much better player facing the basket. He’ll encounter more matchups where he has the size advantage at that spot, as opposed to playing center where he was frequently against guys his size or bigger. His outside shot is solid, there’s no doubt in my mind about that. He can also put the ball on the floor and take it to the rim. He’s just not an explosive leaper when playing on the block. TJ will be a more effective center against taller players.

Or try a google search should give you some pretty recent results from this past season. And don’t forget all 4 recruits will be playing in the Derby Festival All-Star game if you want to check them out in person. Not that All-Star games give you a real idea or anything.

The leadened feet won’t allow it. The lack of side-to-side mobility won’t allow it. Quickness can be improved slightly with additional strength, but a slow player never, ever becomes a quick player. Samardo can run the floor, but he is the slowest player off his feet I’ve seen in recent years. And he has the hands of Ewve Blab. “There’s a pass to the pivot…IT’S COMPLETE!”

Let’s start with a roster breakdown. Here’s who’s (presumably) coming back:

Preston Knowles – SG
Edgar Sosa – PG
Chris Brickley – SG
Reginald Delk – SG/SF
Kyle Kuric – SG/SF
Jared Swopshire – SF/PF
George Goode – PF
Terrence Jennings – PF/C
Samardo Samuels – PF/C
Lee Steiden – SG
Jerry Smith – SG

Here are the newcomers:

Peyton Siva – PG
Mike Marra – SG
Stephan Van Treese – PF
Rakeem Buckles – SF/PF

So what do we have?

First, a lot of guards. Our talent at guard next year should be incredible: Sosa, Siva, Smith, and Knowles will be the core, but Kuric, Delk, and even Marra should definitely see some minutes, especially early in the season.

Second, we have plenty of big men. Samardo and Jennings make for a "thunder and lightning" combo that should be unmatched in college basketball. George Goode is back. Buckles and Van Treese should develop throughout the season. But the best news of all is that everyone will be able to play their natural position next year, which didn’t happen this year because of one tiny problem: Terrence Jennings’ toe. Remember this? Early in the season, TJ had a bad case of turf toe, and couldn’t practice or play for nearly a month. Not that big of deal, since Samardo was clearly the starter, but the question became, who is the backup at the 5 spot? George Goode, a natural 4 (with the jumper to prove it), had to take the role. Which meant that Swop (a natural 3) had to rotate over and play backup at the 4 (which he clearly didn’t have the physical gifts to do). When Jennings came back, he edged Goode out for the backup role at the 5 spot, but the lineup had gelled too much for coach to change everyone back to where they should be. Next year, I think everyone gets to rotate back to their more natural positions, which means Swop at the 3 and Goode at the 4.

What don’t we have?

The biggest missing ingredient is clearly a 3 (SF), which is aggravated by the fact that our best departing player was our three. The 3 has always been the linchpin in Rick’s offense at Louisville (think Gaines, Garcia, and T-Will), and not having a reliable three at the outset next year means Rick will probably have to reinvent the offense (more on that in a second). The obvious candidates to start at the three are Swop, Delk, and Rakeem Buckles. I can’t imagine Swop getting the role (he doesn’t have the ability to create off the dribble like a true 3), and I still think Delk is undersized (keep in mind the three is a position from which we need a lot of rebounds). My vote would go to Buckles who seems to have a T-Will-like game based on ESPN’s capsule:

"Buckles also plays more like a small forward than a power forward. He scores in transition by sprinting the floor and beating the defense to the rim. He has good not great bounce but what makes him a high major player is his ability to make plays of the dribble. Buckles can get his own shot at will. He has all the dribble moves in his package. Buckles will show the crossover both ways, spin along and between the legs where he does a great job of raising up the defender before he explodes by him to the rim or into a pull up jumper in the lane. When he drives left he loves the step back jumper where he creates space in order to get the shot off. He can also pick and pop to the arc but needs time and space to get off the three where he is streaky at best due to a low release and little to no elevation. Buckles can rebound on both ends but must make it a priority to get to the glass on a regular basis and look to post when he has a size or quickness advantage."

It might be a stretch, but it seems like we might have to rely on Buckles at the three, with Swop as the logical backup. Here’s what we have so far:

1) ?
2) ?
3) Buckles / Swop
4) ?
5) ?

At the guards, we will be deep and talented. Given the lack of a three (as discussed above) and our depth at guard, my guess is that Rick will redesign the offense so that it flows through out guards. There’s a chance that we’d even get to see a 3 guard lineup, with Siva, Sosa, Smith, Knowles, Delk, et al. rotating in and out of spots 1 through three, and Samardo, TJ, Buckles, Goode, and Van Treese rotating in and out at 4 and 5. However, Rick’s never done anything like that before, so assuming the positioning stays roughly the same, I’m going to go with experience and say the starting spots are Sosa and Smith’s to lose. I know Siva’s supposedly the real deal, but I’ve become very wary of believing in freshman under Rick’s system (unless, of course, they’re the only option at a position, like Samardo this year or Buckles next). I think Siva will need time to adapt to the system, and to the college game; by the end of the season he may well be starting, but even if he isn’t, the backup guards will be seeing plenty of minutes, because they’re just too good to keep off the court. So:

1) Sosa / Siva
2) Jerry / Knowles / Delk
3) Buckles / Swop
4) ?
5) ?

For the bigs, the biggest question centers around who should start at the 4 (to me, Samardo, for all his faults, is the best choice at the 5 but seems incapable of playing the 4). We need someone who can rebound, run, and finish strong inside. To me, the answer is obvious: Terrence Jennings. He’s lightning fast, finishes well, and emerged as a great rebounder towards the end of this season. Though he’s sized more like a center, he can do a lot of the things that Earl did for us (though I won’t trust him beyond the arc, yet). George Goode is tempting to put here, thanks to his jumper, but I still think he needs more work, and will probably be the first big off the bench, either for Samardo or Jennings (as he’s capable of filling either spot). Van Treese will probably see more minutes at 5 than 4, and could even become the designated backup in that spot (making Goode responsible for only backing up the 4) but we’ll see. So:

1) Sosa / Siva
2) Jerry / Knowles / Delk
3) Buckles / Swop
4) Jennings / Goode
5) Samardo / Goode / Van Treese

If Rick goes with the three guard lineup (which seems unlikely), my guess is it’d look like this:

1) Siva
1/2) Sosa
2) Smith
4) Jennings
5) Samardo

With that lineup, our first subs are Knowles for any of the guards and Buckles for Jennings. Delk and Kuric (and possibly Marra) would also see minutes at guard, while Goode would be the additional backup for the bigs. I don’t think this is the best use of our talent, however, as the Sosa/Smith/Buckes/Jennings/Samardo lineup seems to be significantly more efficient.

Sorry for the essay.

I believe that next year is going to be a great year.

There will be alot of experienced talent coming back as well as a great deal of talent coming in fresh.

I say they place UL 15th pre season.

They probably drop some games early as they always do which may take them near the bottem if not out. Then they roar back up to the top.

I predect by the end of the season top 10.

Who knows Siva may be the next Derek Rose? Hes got alot of Tatoos doesnt that mean he can play ball?