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CBB_Fan wrote:He looked good enough to be our starting PF, with Carter at center. Wakumota may start at center with Carter at PF if Marshall values his defense more than Nurger's offfense, which isn't unlikely. Nurger seems like the best bet to take over some of what Early provided for us though; all of his scoring came from pick plays with Fred. Early loved the pick'n'pop, and from what I've heard Nurger is probably to make use of that same play a lot in his career.

Nurger is a center, not a power forward…at least not in college and not yet. Think Dirk Nowitski. The fact that he can catch the ball, pass the ball, and legitimately shoot it from 23 foot and in doesn't make him a wing forward or power forward. He's still a center. If Rauno wants to play PF he's going to need to be quicker on his perimeter D. If he plays alongside Carter, Carter will be the one chasing the PF around while Nurger bodies the center. To use UE and ISUr as an example, Carter would chase Wiley and Hawkins around while Nurger guards Mock and Lynch. Fun side note: Carter use to ABUSE Wiley and Gerring at Vincennes college when they were all there together in 2012-13. On the offensive side of the ball, Nurger makes things interesting by either dragging the oppositions center 20 feet from the basket, or by posting players that are 3 inches shorter than he is if they switch.

For the record, I wasn't suggesting Nurger would be a favorite for FOY, just that he might be WSU's best candidate. That's going to depend a lot on Wamukota, though.

Alex Etherington is gonna be taking Khristian Smith role of last year as the "6th man". Now that Burnett is out for the season his minutes will increase so he will have every opportunity to produce as I think you mak see Khristian slide to the 4 spot at times.

I'm probably more excited about McIntosh but good to see Hawkins get the votes.

While there is no way I could ever vote for him, this has to be Hawkins' to lose. It took the guy 3 years to become eligible after he left (and I said left, not graduated) from HS, so he's got some physical mturity most Fr don't have. It would appear to be impossible for him not to have gained some mental maturity in those 3 years, considering where he started from.

I have very high hopes for Cunningham's career but he might not get the minutes needed to push for conference awards this season as the frontcourt will be loaded with Barnes and Shaw. After Barnes leaves hopefully he can take the reigns at the 3.

If Cunningham isn't good enough to start for Bradley this year, I either totally overvalued his talent level, or Bradley is going to be WAY better than I think, for reasons I can't pinpoint.

Cunningham should play the 3 and that also happens to be the position of the Braves' best returning player, 5th year senior Auston Barnes. Barnes averaged 9ppg and 6rpg last year and was the team's best 3 point shooter (34%). If Cunningham could run the point he'd be starting but forward is crowded.

Mikovio wrote:Cunningham should play the 3 and that also happens to be the position of the Braves' best returning player, 5th year senior Auston Barnes. Barnes averaged 9ppg and 6rpg last year and was the team's best 3 point shooter (34%). If Cunningham could run the point he'd be starting but forward is crowded.

Sometimes freshman don't excel in their first year. VanVleet took a back seat to Armstead as a rookie. That said, Bradley is not WSU, and PG takes a little longer to learn than forward. The 3/4/5 positions should be manned by Shaw, Taylor, Morgan, Barnes, and Cunningham. Even if all 4 are able to play 25 mpg (a lot for big men) that still leaves 20 mpg for JC. Barnes is capable of playing PF, and Shaw and Morgan are capable of playing center. That being the case, Cunningham should be competing for time with Taylor, not Barnes, in order to put the best players on the court. If he's not playing 20+ mpg by Valley time, then, as stated above, either Bradley is extremely good, or he's a bit of a disappointment in his first season.

Wufan wrote:Sometimes freshman don't excel in their first year. VanVleet took a back seat to Armstead as a rookie. That said, Bradley is not WSU, and PG takes a little longer to learn than forward. The 3/4/5 positions should be manned by Shaw, Taylor, Morgan, Barnes, and Cunningham. Even if all 4 are able to play 25 mpg (a lot for big men) that still leaves 20 mpg for JC. Barnes is capable of playing PF, and Shaw and Morgan are capable of playing center. That being the case, Cunningham should be competing for time with Taylor, not Barnes, in order to put the best players on the court. If he's not playing 20+ mpg by Valley time, then, as stated above, either Bradley is extremely good, or he's a bit of a disappointment in his first season.

Taylor's a center. Cunningham isn't a center at this level.

Morgan and Taylor are playing the 5 and should split about 25/15. Morgan might be able to chip in at the 4 but given Taylor's consistent foul trouble he won't have much time to play beside him. If Taylor has made great strides here then I suppose Morgan might be competing for minutes with Cunningham.

At the 3/4 there's Barnes (who played 32mpg last year), Shaw, Cunningham and Donte Thomas. You've got a 5th year senior returning starter and another former top 100 recruit 4th year junior who has practiced with the team for a full year and impressed. Of 80 total minutes at these positions, I'd expect 60 are accounted for between Barnes and Shaw. Assuming Morgan only handles the 5, that's probably 15mpg for Cunningham at best.