Tait on Wilson and McCullar withdrawing

Now that the roster is set it is time to pontificate and speculate, as HE has done, on the roster, minutes, scoring, risers, stars and role players. We have 7 players who I would classify and largely unknowns. The 4 freshmen, plus Cam Martin, Kyle Cuffe and even Bobby Pettiford I would include in that group. And Zach Clemence and KJ Adam’s are only somewhat known.

Starters
It seems about a 100% lock that Dajuan, K-Mac and J-Wil will start. I cannot even imagine where that could not happen. That leaves a big and a wing or 2nd PG. my thought is that with K-Mac here, the 2 PG lineup Self loves is less likely. K-Mac is sort of that 2nd PG even though he is a wing. And J-Wil is deft at handling as well. So I would guess Pettiford and Cuffe starting is off the board. KJ is a big so he is off the board at the wing spot. That leaves Yesufu, Dick and Rice. I think you could make a case for any of the three. With K-Mac and J-Wil already at wing, I would think the player one of Yesufu, Dick and Rice that proved to be the best shooter will be tHe starter. We will desperately need a deep threat. The only check on that logic is the fact that we finally have a big who is a legitimate deep threat in Clemence. Could Self possibly put Clemence at the wing and go back to a 2 big lineup with Clemence more on the wing. I think defense becomes the big issue with that. It is certainly a lineup you might see. But starting? Dick has the rep as the better shooter but this summer and fall will determine that. We need a shooter in there. If I were betting, I would bet Dick gets the nod. But this team has some very intriguing options. If Yesufu buckles down and does a Ochai and works his tail off, he could be that
3rd wing. I think it is really a crapshoot right now.

As for the big, well that depends if Self conjure up a 2 big lineup with Clemence that can defend. Clemence as the 3rd wing with KJ as the big is super intriguing. We know KJ is a defensive dynamo and will be bigger, stronger and more offensively polished next year. I am very intrigued with the Dajuan, K-Mac, J-Wil, Zach, KJ lineup. It is probably unrealistic but wow, what a lineup that would be if Zach turns out to be a 40%+ 3 point shooter. Something tells me that Self is going to look for a way to build a lineup that includes KJ. He is just too good defensively to sit on the bench much. But then there is Ejiofor and Udeh. I have no clue what we have in these gUys other than they are freshmen. But that Is a significant fact. I just can’t get over the feeling that KJ is going to figure into a significant role on this team.

We have 2 freshmen who think they are OAD. But Yesufu and KJ and Zach may end up with a lot of their minutes. And even Pettiford could play into a significant role. I know Self has spoken very highly of Bobby and I hope it is legit. I am not yet sold. But he is another intriguing part of the equation. And speaking of intriguing, is Cam Martin the 2023 Mitch Lightfoot? Does he find a way with smarts and savvy and a 45% 3 point shot to carve out 10-12 minutes per game? Do MJ and Gradey fulfill the recruiting hype and dominate from the get-go? This is going to be really fun to watch this develop.