Hoya 2007/2008 Power Lineup

[bowhoya]

Hoya Starting Lineup:

PG- J. Wallace 6/1 Sr.
SG- A. Freeman 6/4 Fr.
C- R. Hibbert 7/2 Sr.
SF- D. Summers 6/8 So.
PF- V. Macklin 6/9 So.

Hoya Top Reserves:

PF- P. Ewing Jr. 6/9 Sr.
SG- J. Sapp 6/3 Jr.
PG- C. Wright 6/0 Fr.
SG- T. Crawford 6/5 Jr.
PG- J. Rivers 6/4 So.

Other Reserves:

O. Wattad 6/5 Fr.
N. Mescheriakov 6/7 Fr.

Depth Chart:

Point Guard Shooting Guard Center
---------------- ------------------- ---------------
J. Wallace A. Freeman R. Hibbert
C. Wright J. Sapp V. Macklin
J. Rivers T. Crawford
O. Wattad

Power Forward Small Forward
-------------------- ------------------
P. Ewing Jr. D. Summers
V. Macklin N. Mescheriakov

This team by the end of the year will be better than last year's team, because of the added scoring ability of the incoming freshmen, A. Freeman and C. Wright. They will be a pleasant surprise. R. Hibbert, D. Summers and P. Ewing will also provide more consistent scoring.

[Hordac]

Jessie Sapp will still start in the backcourt. He's logged a lot of minutes over the last 2 years & that experience is invaluable. I also look for Ewing to start over Macklin because Macklin will be called on to substitute for Big Roy when he's tired or in foul trouble. Ewing is a senior & his performance last season, especially late in the season, is something that he can build on. The freshmen & Macklin will be great players but they are yet to prove themselves at the collegiate level. They will make great contributions but I seriously doubt that any of them start especially early in the season.

[Eurostar]

agreed. wallace, sapp, summers, ewing, hibbert is essentially a lock for our starting lineup in my opinion. i dont see macklin and roy being in the lineup at the same time very much next year. with roy in the lineup, teams are going to double the hell out of him so we need perimeter shooters in the game. the great thing about this team, even without jeff, is that everyone besides those two (hibbert and macklin) can knock down the 3.

[DudeSlade]

I agree with Hordac and Eurostar. I see almost no way that Sapp and Ewing aren't starting considering their play at the end of the year in BE Tourney and NCAA Tourney. I keep seeing posters predicting Freeman or Wright or Macklin starting and we must not have been watching the same games at the end of last year (I live in Hawaii so with the awful coverage we get out here, this is entirely possible), because I felt both Sapp and Ewing stepped up big time when we needed them and earned the opportunity to start this coming year.

[kghoya]

ewing is great off the bench...

if it aint broke dont fix it...

freeman to start alongside wallace, sapp, summers, and hibbert

[MCIGuy]

1)While I want to see Hibbert and Macklin on the floor FINALLY together at the same time (to not try that even a few times last season was absurd IMO), Macklin will be too valuable as a backup to Roy to get the job in the starting lineup. But then again in season one in which Green and Hibbert were really the only scholarship big players to get any minutes, III did start Roy for about 15 games.

2)I hate these lists because you end up doing a disservice often to returning players like Sapp who had good seasons. However the reality is that if the frosh live up to their press-clippings Sapp is indeed vulnerable to losing his starting job (if not immediately than eventually). As good as Sapp has become I still feel that both Freeman and Wright will from the very first day of practice show themselves to be better shooters and better ballhandlers. By the latter I mean they can more effectively break a defense down and create with the dribble. It also will likely mean the two of them, unlike Sapp, won't come close to carrying the ball (and being fortunate the refs didn't call it) when they are ahead of the defense on a fast break during the end of very tight games (remember Boston College and Vanderbilt?). And don't get me started at how Freeman and Wright are almost a lock to be better than the Hoyas starting backcourt of last season at being able to feed the post effectively even against well executed defenses. Rivers is better at that too IMO. With that being said Sapp could hang on to his starting role and deserves a lot of respect for hitting some big perimeter shots his frosh (Northern Iowa) and sophomore years. And he has the experience to boot. But unless he really becomes a better shooter and despite his very good assist to turnover ratio unless he becomes an even better ballhandler and penetrator (notice that whenever he penetrates it is to go to the hole, not feed a teammate which suggests he isn't capable of it at this point), he will remain vulnerable.

Wallace is inferior as an athlete to Wright and Freeman but he has a few key advantages: 1) he's great at something: shooting. I don't think either Freeman or Wright can come in and be as good or better than Wallace at long range shooting. Not at first. I don't necessarily think Sapp does anything great, or at least not anything better than Wright or Freeman. 2)Wallace's basketball IQ is pretty high. 3)Wallace has been starting for three seasons and has improved markedly each year (in other words....he's no Joey Brown). You can't duplicate the importance of having a guy (especially a guard) who has logged that many minutes as a starter. Its a rarity. And it gives him an almost insurmountable leg-up on knowing the intricacies of III’s offense. 4)As a senior Wallace will only keep one of those two stud recruits out of the starting lineup for one season at best. Sapp though would keep one of them out of the starting lineup for two seasons unless IIII goes with a smaller lineup. Hey, folks, this is how it works. You can’t wish for the Hoyas to get all these super recruits and then expect some politically correct situation in which arguably less talented returning players hold on to their starting roles or minutes simply because you’ve grown fond of them and consider them good players. Even if I exclude Green who was special. III has shown that he has no problem starting freshmen (Wallace and Summers). If Sapp holds o to his starting spot then that ‘s great because he would have taken his game to the next level in order to accomplish that..

3)The stuff about Ewing being better off the bench is a cliché. Sure, Ewing has even mentioned it himself but if you don’t think he would rather start then you don’t understand being a competitor at that level. I’m sure Ewing and III realize that Pat needs to stay out of foul trouble and remain more in control emotionally. But if he doesn’t get the starting gig it will only be because the shorter Freeman kicked all sort of butt in practice and plays SF (moving Summers to PF). Other than that the starting spot is for Ewing to take and he’s more than good enough to earn it.

[Deleted]

Sapp starts. No way it is Austin Feeman. The major reason is defense. We really don't know how good Wright and Freeman are on the defensive end and those skills are vital for JT3.

[theexorcist]

Before you lay down dollars to donuts that Freeman starts, remember the first part of last year - the team struggling to "get" the offense. The Princeton offense isn't quickly learned.

It's actually one of the interesting questions for next year. I think that, early in the season, people will be arguing that Wright or Freeman shouldn't be getting as many minutes as they are because the team plays better without them. If III is building the team for April, however, then Wright and Freeman will need more minutes to get the experience they need.

[sweetness]

-- Would love to see 10-15 minutes of Roy & Macklin together, but realistically we need Macklin to rotate in at center
-- I would bet we see a lot of Freeman at SF - hopefully we can hold our own on the boards with a smaller line-up

[FairfaxHoya]

kghoya said:

ewing is great off the bench...

if it aint broke dont fix it...

freeman to start alongside wallace, sapp, summers, and hibbert

I completely agree. Let Summers assume the "Green" role in the offense, and let Freeman give us a true "3", if a bit undersized. Ewing off the bench is a perfect shot of adreniline for the team.

[ExcitableBoy]

minionhoya said:

agreed. wallace, sapp, summers, ewing, hibbert is essentially a lock for our starting lineup in my opinion. i dont see macklin and roy being in the lineup at the same time very much next year. with roy in the lineup, teams are going to double the hell out of him so we need perimeter shooters in the game. the great thing about this team, even without jeff, is that everyone besides those two (hibbert and macklin) can knock down the 3.

Macklin reportedly can hit at least a 15 footer now. If this is the case, having another 6'9" guy who will necessarily draw an opposing big away from Hibbert would be extremely valuable.

[MCIGuy]

jerrylh said:

Sapp starts. No way it is Austin Feeman. The major reason is defense. We really don't know how good Wright and Freeman are on the defensive end and those skills are vital for JT3.

If they are so vital then how come Wallace is the starter his first season or two when guys were blowing by him? And Summers wasn't exactly a shutdown defender himself? He isn't as good a defender as Ewing but Summers got the starting job. Why? Likely because he was more talented on offense.

[prhoya]

Don't forget last year's starter at the beginning of the season and team captain Crawford.

[TBird41]

theexorcist said:

Before you lay down dollars to donuts that Freeman starts, remember the first part of last year - the team struggling to "get" the offense. The Princeton offense isn't quickly learned.

So did that first part where they didn't get the offense end when Summers was moved into the starting lineup in the fourth game of the year?

[hoyainspirit]

I will be truly surprised if our starting guards from a FF team do not start next year, all year. I will not be surprised if the youngsters get quality minutes at guard. I think MCI is dead on with the Ewing/bench cliche' statement. That kid played tremendously for us down the stretch last year, and, IMO deserves his shot as a starter. He ended up a completely different player than the one we saw at the beginning of the season, once he relaxed and figured out his role. While Summers is an excellent offensive threat, I am not sure he assumes the "Jeff Green role" next season. As we all know, Green was an outstanding passer with great court vision. Those are skills which Summers has yet to show us. Clearly, his role in the offense will expand, and, given the expected sophomore jump in productivity, he may well be up to the task. I just feel his role may be different than Green's. One thing of which I am certain is that monster battles will take place in practice. Wish I could be a fly on the wall!

[Eurostar]

I think Ewing, not Summers will fall into the "Jeff Green role" next year. It seems that Ewing learned a ton from Green as far as unselfishness, passing ability and better decision making as the year went on. Summers I think is more valuable as a slasher as opposed to a primary decision maker.

As far as who the starters are this year, I see it as a total non issue. Sapp, Wallace, Summers, Ewing, Hibbert. No way the new guards will be proficient enough at the offense in time for the start of the season, and Ewing has definitely earned a starting role. Who plays more is a different story. I just dont see one of the new guards supplanting Sapp or Wallace during the season unless theres an injury or Sapp really regresses... I think theres a chance that Freeman or Wright will start to get more minutes than Sapp, but I dont think either will start.

Its hard to predict the starters 2 years down the road because we have no idea how much Summers will develop this year. If he has a monster year he could jump which would leave us with an easy decision to have a 3 guard lineup with Wright, Sapp and Freeman after this year.

[MCIGuy]

Some of you folks sure have Sapp in some rarified air when you say you can’t even envision him losing his starting job. We’re talking about a guy who is unquestionably an asset and can play for virtually every team. At the same time we are also talking about a guy who started for one single season and perhaps that was out of necessity. Who else was going to get that job? Thornton? Egerson? Crawford? Rivers? Respectively All of then had not impressed the coaches for some reason and weren’t getting any burn or lacked handled to take the ball handling pressure off of Wallace, or lacked virtually any guard skills at all, or were too inexperienced, had an even worse shot than Sapp, lacked aggression and simply weren’t ready for the bright lights. And we are still talking about a guy who was at best the fourth best starter on the team---and if so he wasn’t ahead of DaJuan “Upside” Summers by much. No offense (and this is probably not fair because Sapp was only a sophomore) but it wasn’t as if Sapp was as good in that role as, say, Ashanti in his senior season. If that had been the case he would have a stronger argument for retaining his minutes.

Does Sapp have the lead for that starting spot. Absolutely. He deserves too. And if he makes continual improvement he could hold on to his starting role. But this is not the same scenario in which last year people thought the raw (but potentially great) Macklin would challenge Roy for his starting spot. Roy had made a national name for himself in the tourney his soph season and was, along with Jeff, Second Team All Big East. Plus he had a build that was better suited for Big East play than Macklin and had a huge physical advantage over Vernon in terms of size. Sapp doesn’t hold any such physical advantage over the newcomers, he was not selected even Honorable All Big East, and the guys he will be competing with are not as raw as Macklin. He’s good enough to keep the at bay if he has continued to make strides, but when people here can’t even conceive the possibility of him getting beat out by one of the new players I have to think you may be overrating him just a tad.

The again I could be overrating two players who have not yet played a single minute of college ball.

[GIGAFAN99]

I've been thinking about the Freeman starting at 3 scenario and I have to say I'm giving it less of a chance than first thought. I think we'll have a really nice 3-man rotation at 4-5 in Ewing, Macklin, and Hibbert. Freeman will back-up Summers and one of the starting guards.

As for Sapp, necessity or not, 11.8ppg 4.0rpg 3.8apg 1.2to/g 2spg in the tournament doesn't cry out "replace me." And the advantage to Sapp is the number of ways he can contribute. 20 points versus Belmont, 5 steals versus BS, 15pts and 8 assists versus UNC...I think you're selling him short MCI. And even if you think that's not enough, we're not comparing Sapp this year with Freeman or Wright next year. We're comparing Sapp NEXT year to those two. With his talent and that year of experience at the starting spot, he's tough to pry out of the starting 5.

Plus, Freeman can play the Owens role (likely better than Owens) and back up th 2-3 playing completely within his current skill set. That's good for both Freeman and the team. He'll get plenty of time starter or not.

[MCIGuy]

I don't see it as much as selling Sapp short as perhaps thinking too much too soon of Freeman and Wright. But just a some of us knew Vernon was nowhwere ready to get a ton of minutes his first season some of us know that Freeman and Wright are. This isn't hype. That being said time will tell. And if Sapp has developed a reliable shot other than his layup then he indeed is ready to be a star.

[RDF]

Sometimes your best defense is having great offensive firepower. Wright and Freeman will provide that immediately.

Macklin was an important recruit to get because of his talent but also the fact he needed to develop. So all this talk of "Leaving early" was funny to those who follow recruiting-because he's going to be a STEAL considering he'll be here his entire career or at least through his JR year unless he just blows up and if he does that--can't complain at all. He's a great talent and will showcase more of his game this year with team needing him to step up.

The argument of who should start/get playing time will be decided in practice. That is best thing about getting great talent--you can't take practice off, you can't ignore the offseason because if you do--you lose minutes on the court. I'm going to sit back and enjoy the talent and not worry about who starts, or who plays because it'll be EARNED on the court.

Those who haven't seen Wright or Freeman--you are in for a treat when Kenner starts (unless it's been moved to Alaska which is a possiblity--knowing how out of the loop Kenner keeps fanbase). The difference in getting guys like them is that the learning curve is a lot less then for other kids who need to develop some of the skills these kids already possess. So where some of our guys had to improve their strength/speed, these kids are developed there--they just need to focus on picking up the offense--but when you have offensive talent like they do--that won't be a problem. Defensively-they have skills to be respectable defenders--especially Wright, who will bring more quickness to backcourt and both can help with ball handling which was a problem time to time for our backcourt due to lack of depth and just facing the elite talent you see in Big East.

Jeremiah Rivers is the player I'm most anxious to see. I view him as a kid who could really take a big step forward. He was a top 20 level recruit after the Nike Camp between his Soph-JR seasons and then suffered injuries--in his JR and SR year---so a lot of his development was sidetracked due to health. If he stays healthy--he provides another big body at guard and has speed/skill to really push the ball/create offense for others and rag the ball on defense.

No reason to have any tired legs on this team--the roster is deep, talented, and flexible--you can go big upfront, small, or traditional/balanced. Outside shooting is there, interior talent, wing talent, just needs to play together and find roles for this season but it's going to be a great team, just a matter of WHEN--not if.