Starters/Rotation

[tufan56]

Thoughts on the starters and potential rotation? Based on Haith's comments yesterday, seems like Williams is going to play a bigger role which to me is encouraging. My prediction:

1 - Joiner
2 - Embery
3 - Haywood
4 - Rachal
5 - Idowu

 

[nevadanatural]

I think that’s a reasonable and probably even likely starting lineup. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jackson replace Embery-Simpson as a starter but Haith may want him to fill the role he had last year of energy off the bench. I’m looking forward to seeing if Ugboh has improved. He had some presence around the basket last season but really needed improvement in his hands and footwork. I also expect to see a lot of Keyshawn Williams based on Haith‘s interviews. It’s entirely possible that our most effective lineup might have Jackson and Williams at the guard positions.

 

[el duran]

I think that’s a reasonable and probably even likely starting lineup. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jackson replace Embery-Simpson as a starter but Haith may want him to fill the role he had last year of energy off the bench. I’m looking forward to seeing if Ugboh has improved. He had some presence around the basket last season but really needed improvement in his hands and footwork. I also expect to see a lot of Keyshawn Williams based on Haith‘s interviews. It’s entirely possible that our most effective lineup might have Jackson and Williams at the guard positions.

The 4 returning starters with Early at the 4. Kes is the backup to Joiner with hopes that he’ll take over next season.

 

[tufan56]

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jackson replace Embery-Simpson as a starter but Haith may want him to fill the role he had last year of energy off the bench.

This was exactly my reasoning in leaving Jackson out. He could start, but he seems to thrive more in that energy off the bench role.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

A little off topic, but I haven't heard anything about preseason matches. I am assuming with the virus going on they are not going to happen right?

 

[nevadanatural]

Yeah, no preseason games this year. First game is in 15 days against TCU in KC.

 

[astonmartin708]

I think we’re going to need more than 2 starters who can shoot the ball somewhat reliably. Rachal has been great but that’s not his strength. Joiner has a better percentage last season but he’s not really a deadeye either.

 

[Gold*]

Who could that be? Hmmm?🤔

 

[I.I.]

The opponents can't scout us very well this year as we go directly into serious play. Haith's old pattern of not being ready needs to be scrapped this year for immediate readiness, even if it means not playing everybody.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

The opponents can't scout us very well this year as we go directly into serious play. Haith's old pattern of not being ready needs to be scrapped this year for immediate readiness, even if it means not playing everybody.

Not counting on that. He has been fairly consistent on that.

 

[seniorgolfer]

The opponents can't scout us very well this year as we go directly into serious play. Haith's old
pattern of not being ready needs to be scrapped this year for immediate readiness, even if it
means not playing everybody.

Our recruiting has produced talents spread over thirteen or so players that should be condensed
into eight or nine.....Given that, we always have players on the floor that have frailities that a four
star wouldn't have.....

Does that condemn us to hell and damnation?? Of course not! We have performed well above
our talent level for years on end....Many under our current coach......Good coaching and good
strategy can somehow (and somewhat) overcome talent differences......Novel defense and key
match up substitutions can overcome some of those differences.....

Haith's achilles? His unwillingness to hold early in the season game substitution patterns to the
players that he can actually win with....He somehow wants to use those games to determine
who can help him win in conference.....Each game counts one....If he doesn't believe that, he
might want to go back and see how many post season opportunities we have lost because of
those early season losses.......

 

[nevadanatural]

If you‘re gonna talk stars we have two players that were four stars coming out of high school and we had one on the floor last year. Don’t underestimate our talent.

 

[astonmartin708]

I wish some of the recurting services game more accurate ratings to all of our players. Rivals is pretty stuck on the 2-3-4-5 star system which doesn't tell you much unless the player is in the top 150. 247 has a better rating system but they miss so many of our players that it's ridiculous. ESPN is just goofy.

 

[ba11game]

If your gonna talk stars we have two players that were four stars coming out of high school and we had one one on the floor last year. Don’t underestimate our talent.

I don't really follow recruiting and rankings that much. Who are the 4 star players?

 

[Gmoney4WW]

I don't really follow recruiting and rankings that much. Who are the 4 star players?

Rachal and Embery I believe.

 

[Tulsafanzz]

Our recruiting has produced talents spread over thirteen or so players that should be condensed
into eight or nine.....Given that, we always have players on the floor that have frailities that a four
star wouldn't have.....

Does that condemn us to hell and damnation?? Of course not! We have performed well above
our talent level for years on end....Many under our current coach......Good coaching and good
strategy can somehow (and somewhat) overcome talent differences......Novel defense and key
match up substitutions can overcome some of those differences.....

Haith's achilles? His unwillingness to hold early in the season game substitution patterns to the
players that he can actually win with....He somehow wants to use those games to determine
who can help him win in conference.....Each game counts one....If he doesn't believe that, he
might want to go back and see how many post season opportunities we have lost because of
those early season losses.......

I agree with Senior’s Achilles heel comment. I think Haith developed that strategy while coaching in the ACC, where winning conference games was enough to get you in the NCAA tournament, even if you stubbed your toe a time or 2 in non-conference games. That’s not been a good strategy at Tulsa.

 

[TU_BLA]

I think we’re going to need more than 2 starters who can shoot the ball somewhat reliably. Rachal has been great but that’s not his strength. Joiner has a better percentage last season but he’s not really a deadeye either.

Joiner is a hot and cold type of guy.

 

[I.I.]

Thoughts on the starters and potential rotation? Based on Haith's comments yesterday, seems like Williams is going to play a bigger role which to me is encouraging. My prediction:

1 - Joiner
2 - Embery
3 - Haywood
4 - Rachal
5 - Idowu

I'll give it a try.

Joiner
KES
Jackson
Rashal
Idowu

6th man for a brief while- Williams- then permanent starter at PG

Others getting a lot of minutes:
Haywood
Richie
Earley-
Urbanic

We need KES to have a break out year as well as Williams. Idowu and Earley are crucial parts to the puzzle.

Williams could be one of our best ever according to early reports. Better than Uzoh or Clarkson as freshmen.

 

[Gold*]

Wow. Wow. Wow. Uzoh and Clarkson were damn good freshmen.

 

[seniorgolfer]

I'll give it a try:

Joiner
KES
Jackson
Rashal
Idowu

6th man for a brief while- Williams- then permanent starter at PG

Others getting a lot of minutes:
Haywood
Richie
Earley-
Urbanic

We need KES to have a break out year as well as Williams. Idowu and Earley are crucial parts to
the puzzle.

Williams could be one of our best ever according to early reports. Better than Uzoh or Clarkson
as freshmen.

Good thoughts all around......I'm curious about any significant improvements (especially hands and
footwork) from Ugboh.....It would be a shame if all that size and reasonable athleticism all adds up
to naught....

KES and Williams are really important, as you say.....Their early productivity would give us some tools
that we badly need.....

 

[Henry Kendall]

I don’t see Shumate mentioned. He’s too athletic not to be in the mix.

 

[astonmartin708]

I have honsestly not seen Earley in a single piece of media in this offseason. Haven’t seen him in one of the practice or scrimmage videos that the team has released. If his name wasn’t on the TU website I would think he’s left the team.

You forgot Ugboh and Shumate both have been regular features in practice.

Biggest question marks for me this season is what are Alcime, Urbancic, and Gendron going to give us.

 

[nevadanatural]

I expect Alcime to redshirt.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

I expect Alcime to redshirt.

Not sure how redshirting works w/the extra year of eligibility, though. Would think a freshman this year would be a freshman next year, and it might only make sense to redshirt next year, if at all. If you redshirt this year, it would seem like you gave up your extra year of eligibility, by not playing.

 

[Gold*]

I have honsestly not seen Earley in a single piece of media in this offseason. Haven’t seen him in one of the practice or scrimmage videos that the team has released. If his name wasn’t on the TU website I would think he’s left the team.

You forgot Ugboh and Shumate both have been regular features in practice.

Biggest question marks for me this season is what are Alcime, Urbancic, and Gendron going to give us.

Useless post. He’s been on videos. There’s not much info and you want to Fox News it into something that the lack of information doesn’t mean. Just stop.

 

[I.I.]

Earley is coming back from injury he had last year and maybe not full speed yet. No redshirts anymore since everyone gets an additional year of eligibility. This will lead to some player frustration eventually and will make immediate transfers a big deal at the end of the year. All seniors can stay again or transfer as can all other classes at every school. It will be the Wild West in recruiting in the spring.

I probably should have put Shumate in the mix as he is athletic.

 

[astonmartin708]

Useless post. He’s been on videos. There’s not much info and you want to Fox News it into something that the lack of information doesn’t mean. Just stop.

He really hasn’t. Not in a single video or photo from practice since early October as far as I can tell (Just went back and checked again). It had me suspecting Covid protocol or injury rehab.

 

[Gold*]

He was in one early on. If you weren’t such an asshat with useless speculation, I would go and look for it, but the BS you’re spewing indicates to me it’s a waste of time.

 

[astonmartin708]

He was in one early on. If you weren’t such an asshat with useless speculation, I would go and look for it, but the BS you’re spewing indicates to me it’s a waste of time.

You’re right (kind of) he was in a couple from early October... but hasn’t been in anything since then. It’s a bit weird when you see literally every other player but somehow miss him completely, even in the background. My guess is that he reinjured something, so I wouldn’t bet on him necessarily being a big rotation piece early on.

Ugboh was a big fixture in terms of play time in the practice highlights (along side Idowu) so I wouldn’t write him off.

 

[TUMU]

He really hasn’t. Not in a single video or photo from practice since early October as far as I can tell (Just went back and checked again). It had me suspecting Covid protocol or injury rehab.

Saw Early and several other players at the SMU game.

 

[tufan56]

I'll give it a try.

Joiner
KES
Jackson
Rashal
Idowu

6th man for a brief while- Williams- then permanent starter at PG

Others getting a lot of minutes:
Haywood
Richie
Earley-
Urbanic

We need KES to have a break out year as well as Williams. Idowu and Earley are crucial parts to the puzzle.

Williams could be one of our best ever according to early reports. Better than Uzoh or Clarkson as freshmen.

That is a really encouraging report on Williams! So if he is the eventual starter at PG, what happens to Joiner I wonder? Do we bump Joiner to SG and bring Jackson off the bench?

 

[nevadanatural]

Not sure how redshirting works w/the extra year of eligibility, though. Would think a freshman this year would be a freshman next year, and it might only make sense to redshirt next year, if at all. If you redshirt this year, it would seem like you gave up your extra year of eligibility, by not playing.

I guess I should have said I don’t expect him to see the court. With 13 scholarship players and a walk on the quality of Gendron I just don’t see even Haith being able to give everyone court time unless we’re blowing people out by 50 points. I would expect Alcime and Seals to see most of the pine time. As II said this will only get worse when rosters of scholarship players reaches 16 or more with returners and new signees.

 

[I.I.]

That is a really encouraging report on Williams! So if he is the eventual starter at PG, what happens to Joiner I wonder? Do we bump Joiner to SG and bring Jackson off the bench?

You know how Haith is with “starters” He may start someone and they end up with 6-8 minutes of time for the game and a reserve may get 20+ minutes. I have never figured out his starter mentality. I do think Jackson comes off the bench better than Joiner. By the way Urbancic won’t be 18 until May. The strength guys will really help him.

 

[URedskin54]

Interesting game 1 lineup

 

[TULSARISING]

Interesting game 1 lineup

View embedded media

I bet Jackson will always come off the bench as a boost

 

[astonmartin708]

Please note that Early didn't see the floor in the first half.

 

[t-townpod]

Still hurt