26-27 Roster

[sman]

unpopular opinion but I don't need a 15 man roster. especially when so many are experienced transfers coming in. I'm good with 13 ... use the savings to pay good players.

we need about 10 minutes in a backup center. I've never seen Homenick but he's been in the program and weightroom for a year. at 6'11", there's no reason he can't hold his ground inside by now.

 

[URFan1]

Roster management becomes more complicated and important during this NIL time.

 

[MrTbone]

unpopular opinion but I don't need a 15 man roster. especially when so many are experienced transfers coming in. I'm good with 13 ... use the savings to pay good players.

we need about 10 minutes in a backup center. I've never seen Homenick but he's been in the program and weightroom for a year. at 6'11", there's no reason he can't hold his ground inside by now.

First, I agree on Homenick, towards the end of last season, he didn't look rail thin to me, legs looked strong, I'm presuming he's continued to put on muscle.

Second, I think I concur on the roster size. Sort of antithetical to my traditional view which is you want as many players as possible because you never know who might rise to the top or who might get injured. Given the NIL implications though, you are probably better off paying fewer guys more money, or ideally, one impact guy a lot more money. We are probably in a little bit of the nether here given how much turnover we've had in the roster with so few known quantities coming back/in, so I can see going either way.

I think unless another 5 projects as a legit backup, I wouldn't spend the money on that.

 

[97spiderfan]

If you're only looking for a guy to give you ~5 backup minutes, I'd rather give a frosh a shot to show what they can do and learn on the job than give it to a one-year Kwesi who isn't going to do much anyway and isn't building for the future.

Now, if you can get a higher-quality experienced guy to take a larger backup role, by all means, but as noted, those guys are hard to come by.

I think we are looking for more than 5 minutes per game from our back-up center. Mooney does not play his center 35 minute per game. Heck, Grant who was one of our all time great was usually around 25 minutes per game.

So, I see the back up center as being a player who is going to play about 15 minutes per game. And in some games probably more because Dorries is not a physical 5 and when we get matched up with a big physical 5, we need to match that. And I don't think a true freshman or Homenick who really had no good offers as a redshirt freshman are candidates. So, put me on the side of an experienced big man.

Obviously, Kweisi was a terrible player, terrible comp, should have never been offered a spot to play on our team. So, we should not be fishing in that pool of talent ever in the transfer center. I have no idea how much NIL we have left for this final spot, but hopefully enough to entice a guy, who has produced at the college level. We don't need a superstar center, we need a serviceable one, but not one who is a warm body.

 

[sman]

guards: AA, Saran, Stewart, Simmons
wings: Kaiser, Tanner, Harper, Richardson
big forwards: McCaffrey, Ball, Caldwell
posts: Dorries, Homenick, Cook

some are interchangeable. but that's a good looking roster. our strength is clearly in the backcourt. front court is pretty young and has to develop. but we have some pieces.

bringing in Mojo helped but I think the increased investment made a huge difference. we were recruiting with one hand tied behind our backs last year. now we're competitive.

 

[gospidersgo]

guards: AA, Saran, Stewart, Simmons
wings: Kaiser, Tanner, Harper, Richardson
big forwards: McCaffrey, Ball, Caldwell
posts: Dorries, Homenick, Cook

If someone just woke up from a month-long coma or doesn't follow the offseason pretty closely, you would have a hard time convincing them that this is really our roster. A nearly completely new team every year. I still love the Spiders, but man do I hate the current state of college sports.

 

[Urmite]

If someone just woke up from a month-long coma or doesn't follow the offseason pretty closely, you would have a hard time convincing them that this is really our roster. A nearly completely new team every year. I still love the Spiders, but man do I hate the current state of college sports.

9 who haven’t stepped on campus, 2 more who haven’t stepped on the court, 3 with minutes…

 

[RichmondNative]

If someone just woke up from a month-long coma or doesn't follow the offseason pretty closely, you would have a hard time convincing them that this is really our roster. A nearly completely new team every year. I still love the Spiders, but man do I hate the current state of college sports.

Agreed. The mid-major fan of a good team gets to watch a new team every year and watch their team’s best players move to the P4 who have the most money. Gone are the days of watching a team grow. Now it is who can assemble the best team for a year.

 

[fan2011]

unpopular opinion but I don't need a 15 man roster. especially when so many are experienced transfers coming in. I'm good with 13 ... use the savings to pay good players.

we need about 10 minutes in a backup center. I've never seen Homenick but he's been in the program and weightroom for a year. at 6'11", there's no reason he can't hold his ground inside by now.

Honestly, we should be using our budget on only like 9 players.

 

[Spider17]

unpopular opinion but I don't need a 15 man roster. especially when so many are experienced transfers coming in. I'm good with 13 ... use the savings to pay good players.

we need about 10 minutes in a backup center. I've never seen Homenick but he's been in the program and weightroom for a year. at 6'11", there's no reason he can't hold his ground inside by now.

I said the exact same thing like 1-2 years ago. Completely agree about using NIL to try and find the best top 12 guys. Especially now when we’ve seen that not only are guys 12-15 on the bench not playing, they’re going to transfer as well.

The only counter-argument to this point is that guys 12-15 on the bench aren’t getting NIL anyway or very negligible amount and you never know if one of those guys develops into a Jordan King. So if we have the spot, might as well use it.

 

[Urmite]

Agreed. The mid-major fan of a good team gets to watch a new team every year and watch their team’s best players move to the P4 who have the most money. Gone are the days of watching a team grow. Now it is who can assemble the best team for a year.

So we should change our name from Spiders to Avengers?

 

[Eight Legger]

I'll go way out on a limb and predict that Homenik is not ready.

 

[sman]

have we improved so much that returning guys that were getting time won't get time?
1) AA 30, Simmons 10
2) Saran 25, Stewart 15
3) Kaiser 30, Stewart 10
4) McCaffrey 25, Ball 15
5) Dorries 30, Homenick or Cook or Caldwell 10

maybe Harper is ahead of Simmons, with Saran playing some point?
Tanner will have to work to beat out the transfers.
no idea if Richardson can break through.

 

[vt4700]

have we improved so much that returning guys that were getting time won't get time?
1) AA 30, Simmons 10
2) Saran 25, Stewart 15
3) Kaiser 30, Stewart 10
4) McCaffrey 25, Ball 15
5) Dorries 30, Homenick or Cook or Caldwell 10

maybe Harper is ahead of Simmons, with Saran playing some point?
Tanner will have to work to beat out the transfers.
no idea if Richardson can break through.

I think we could see Kaiser and Stewart playing together with 2 guards. I hope McCaffrey is a 25 mpg player. That would be key at his size. I have very little confidence in Tanner and Richardson because we have seen Tanner for 3 years and Richardson had the redshirt year, and we know what that means. Harper is more of a not sure guy because we didn't see him much last year, but I would give the edge for any playing time to him over those 2. But, that is just right now. A lot could change by November. All 3 need to try to get better and better and have a goal of beating guys out and making the rotation.

 

[brooklyn brownstone]

Harper has a good looking shot, was able to make a few plays off the bounce, has 3 point range (unlike CT) so I'm still in on him.

 

[vt4700]

Harper has a good looking shot, was able to make a few plays off the bounce, has 3 point range (unlike CT) so I'm still in on him.

I edited my above post. I earlier said I had no confidence in Harper, but it is more of a not sure about him because we didn't see him as much. So, I changed that. He does have good size and potential. Wish we would have seen him more last year, but at least he didn't redshirt.

 

[SpiderTrue]

Nice to see so many of you back on the wagon.

Have a safe and enjoyable summer Spider fans and I'll see you in October.

 

[97spiderfan]

have we improved so much that returning guys that were getting time won't get time?
1) AA 30, Simmons 10
2) Saran 25, Stewart 15
3) Kaiser 30, Stewart 10
4) McCaffrey 25, Ball 15
5) Dorries 30, Homenick or Cook or Caldwell 10

maybe Harper is ahead of Simmons, with Saran playing some point?
Tanner will have to work to beat out the transfers.
no idea if Richardson can break through.

My issue with this roster is the 4 and 5. Outside of Dorries, who played one year on a bad Patriot League team, the rest of our big man/forward room are 4 guys who have never set foot on a college court (McCaffrey played some limited minutes) and a reserve role guy from another small mid major.

And we are going to compete in the A-10 with this?

I like all that we did in the portal, but we are severely lacking in experienced and developed big men and that is going to hurt us when we get into the meat of our schedule. We are going to get bullied on the inside. Need that last transfer slot to address that in my opinion.

 

[sman]

I think we could see Kaiser and Stewart playing together with 2 guards.

sure, they're both good sized guards. that would be pretty normal for us, sacrificing interior defense/rebounding for offense.
I just hope McCaffrey and Ball and maybe Caldwell are so good at the 4 that we don't use a guard there. I think it's better for us in the long run.

 

[sman]

My issue with this roster is the 4 and 5. Outside of Dorries, who played one year on a bad Patriot League team, the rest of our big man/forward room are 4 guys who have never set foot on a college court (McCaffrey played some limited minutes) and a reserve role guy from another small mid major.

And we are going to compete in the A-10 with this?

I like all that we did in the portal, but we are severely lacking in experienced and developed big men and that is going to hurt us when we get into the meat of our schedule. We are going to get bullied on the inside. Need that last transfer slot to address that in my opinion.

agreed, that's our achilles heal.
need Boyden to get them up to speed quickly. these days, it's doable. should be getting to work around June 1.