Standout [227]
TigerPulse: 99%
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Potential Rotations for Next Season
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Jun 16, 2025, 10:36 AM
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After Brad's interview with Walt, I was curious to see how the incoming freshman might stack up in the potential rotations for next season. With Welling being out until September, he might be on a minutes restriction to start the season, but I'm putting this together assuming everyone is at 100% strength.
(1st/2nd/3rd String is the order)
PG: Hunter/Buckner/Foster
SG: Porter/Johnson/Foster
SF: Godfrey/Thomas/Thompson
PF: Welling/Godfrey or Wahlin/B. Davidson
C: N. Davidson/Welling or Wahlin/Steinour
I tried to limit placing one player at multiple positions, but with only 13 guys on the roster, a lot of the players are going to have to shift over and play multiple positions.
With only three experienced players at least 6'10", the rotations for SF, PF, and C are kind of murky. Godfrey, Wahlin, and Welling can all play the 3-5, and Davidson can play PF and C. However, without a true backup center, Wahlin and Welling might have to slide over to fill that gap, with Godfrey covering the 4. This leaves SF wide open, with both Thomas and Thompson as potential options when Davidson and one of Wahlin, Welling, or Godfrey is out.
Looking at guards, the one thing the team is lacking is a true PG. I think Hunter will get most of the touches there, but once he's out, I don't know who really could take over. All three guards with experience (Hunter, Johnson, and Porter) were all combo guards, with none positioned as the primary ballhandler. Johnson and Porter were primarily used as 3-point shooting guards, with both of them having 3pt rates of 47.3% and 50.1% respectively. Even Hunter took a lot of his shots beyond the three-point line, with 46.8% of all shots over his career being three-pointers (for reference, Joe Girard sat at 60% for his career). Foster and Buckner could be potential backup options, but they also were combo guards during recruiting. With Buckner and Johnson acting as more defensive guards, and Dillon being more of a gel-type player last year, it will be interesting to see how Brad rotates the guards in and out. If Dillon can make a leap offensively, this team gets much more dangerous.
I guess the ultimate point I'm trying to make is that this might be one of the deeper teams Brownell has had in recent memory. Last year, Ian was the best backup center, and he was clearly outmatched sometimes against taller opponents. I really wish Reeves could've blossomed, but his bricks-for-hands couldn't keep up against the ACC. Even during the Elite Eight run, they didn't have a true backup big for PJ Hall for 75% of the year after Bas Leyte went down (and even then, he wasn't that great to begin with). This year, they'll have three guys capable of playing center, something this team sorely missed in previous seasons. Also, if Thompson and Foster perform up to how Brad is talking about them, they'll have plenty of chances to get meaningful minutes (even if it's 5-10 minutes per game).
I really believe on paper that this is an extremely talented team, and a very deep team also. I think this year if the team can gel early, they have a good shot of making a deep run in both the ACC and NCAA tournaments. I'm hoping Brad can get some rotations going this year and include some of the young guys in ACC play, maybe convincing them to be Tigers for their 4 years of college. He can fall into playing the NET rankings too much, which kept younger guys out of the lineup, like Asa Thomas or Del Jones (although they were replaced by much better players).
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