Rounding out the Rotation: A Look at the Key Reserves

"Hopefully we'll be able to keep everybody healthy, but we should be a lot deeper this year so I'm really really excited" - Andrew Lawrence

If the losses of Willis Hall and Anthony Stitt taught us anything last year, it was that depth is an absolute priority for a team to sustain winning through conference and postseason play. In Hall's absence we got a chance to see Adjehi Baru play significant minutes right out of the gate as a freshman. When Anthony Stitt (a freshman sensation in his own right) went down with a broken hand, Nori Johnson stepped up out of nowhere and provided a huge scoring boost at the tail end of the season.

This roster was built by Cremins to provide a solid seven player rotation and not much more. That was made painfully apparent when guys like James Carlton, Jordan Scott and TD Dixon looked lost at times and showed little impact in limited minutes. Now with Coach Wojcik at the helm, the guys sitting on the pine will be asked to take on a much larger role and allow guys like Lawrence and Wiedeman to get rest in close games. The hope is that well-rested starters will be less prone to injury and still have plenty left in the tank heading into March.

Let's take a look at five players who are likely to see reserve minutes this year. Based on prior experience or expectation, these five have the potential to be x-factors on the 2012-2013 team. Not only that, but given this team's injury history, any one of them could end up in the starting lineup.


So much more after the break...

Willis Hall

Probably the hardest guy to put on this reserve list because of his experience and his importance to this team over the past few seasons. I mentioned over the weekend how both Trent and Andrew stressed the importance of having Willis' toughness and leadership back on the court. He's been one of the more vocal players dating back even to his freshman year. Unfortunately Willis is coming off a serious knee injury and he's not going to be 100% right away. During the ACL rehabilitation we saw Trent Wiedeman emerge as a dominant big man and Adjehi Baru come far enough along offensively to make that front court tandem one of the best in the conference. Hall's size puts him in that awkward "in-betweener" position where he's not quick enough to guard the perimeter as a small forward but not quite big enough to bang in the low post. Fortunately for Willis, he makes up for these deficiencies by being a spot-on jump shooter out to the three point line and using his intelligence and awareness to establish rebounding position. 

Expected role this season: First sub off the bench replacing either Adjehi, Trent or Anthony Thomas depending on whether Wojcik wants to go with a big or small lineup. Possibly taking on that stretch forward position that Sundberg played last season. Willis is extremely versatile and I expect him to lead the reserves in points and rebounds per game. 

Nori Johnson

Aside from maybe the player he replaced in the starting lineup, Nori Johnson was the most pleasant surprise of last season. He leapfrogged his two classmates after the Anthony Stitt injury to become a significant contributor on the wing offensively and defensively for the Cougars. That alone merits playing time this year. Nori may not have the length of Wiggins but he has great instincts on defense and enough size to guard 1's, 2's and most 3's in the SoCon. On offense he can shoot from deep and get to the line. Like Willis, Nori can play multiple positions. He doesn't have the handles to play guard without Lawrence or Stitt on the floor but he's a great option in a 3-guard lineup and he can play some forward if the coaching staff wants to play small and up-tempo.

Expected role this season: Nori will sub for Lawrence, Stitt or Thomas. If you put him at shooting guard with a forward lineup of Thomas, Hall and Wiedeman you have a second unit that could compete against the first string of many SoCon teams. Put him at small forward along with Stitt, Lawrence, Thomas and Baru and you have one of the fastest and most explosive offensive lineups in the league.  

Matt Sundberg

Our sub-extraordinaire last year. At times I feel bad for Matt. I feel that due to injuries and his redshirt season he has never played his natural position as a catch and shoot three point specialist on the perimeter. The biggest he should play given his physique and skill set is at small forward; a guy who can shoot threes over whoever is matched up against him and a wing player who rebounds well for his position. He doesn't belong in the post getting shoved around by NBA PF's like Tyler Hansbrough and Trevor Booker over the years. Perhaps Wojcik will realize this and allow Sundberg to play to his strengths rather than turn him into something he's not in his super-senior season.

Expected role this season: About the same as last year, come in at whatever forward position is lacking in productivity and shoot 75% of his shots from downtown. At which time he will either compensate for his defensive shortcomings and catch fire from three (see above picture) or miss his first few looks and get yanked. 

Trevonte Dixon

Now wer're getting to the sleeper picks. Contrary to popular belief Anthony Stitt, Adjehi Baru and foster brother Pat Branin were not the only freshman on last years roster. Trevonte "TD" Dixon came into last season as another highly regarded prospect who had many of the same characteristics as former Cougar fan favorite Donovan Monroe. TD is a tough, burly guard who can handle the ball pretty well, rebound and play some at the three spot in a pinch. He didn't garner many minutes in the deep guard rotation last year but maybe he'll have an opportunity to contribute this year. Jordan Scott is no longer in the mix and Nori can't really play point guard. This gives TD a chance to play some spot minutes here and there as a combo guard.

Expected role this season: Even with Scott gone, there are still not many available minutes for a point guard on this team with both Stitt and Lawrence healthy. When either of those two leaves the game, the other will slide over to point and run the offense. Nori Johnson, Anthony Thomas and even Sundberg can play at shooting guard which seems to be TD's most natural position. If he's shown a lot of progress in his shooting and fouling tendency, Trevonte might see 5-10 minutes a game. 

Theo Johnson

Coach Wojcik wasn't shy about playing freshmen while he was at Tulsa. With Canyon Barry set to redshirt it appears as though Theo will be the youngest player asked to step up for the Cougars. We would not have the services of a kid all the way from the left coast if Wojcik had not seen some real potential in Johnson and word from open practice is that he already looks comfortable out there. Coach mentioned before the Canada trip that Theo had put on 15 lbs of muscle and we know he has the physical tools to be successful. Based on the highlight video we all salivated over this summer; expect to see lots of slashing to the basket from Johnson. It's going to be a big learning curve going from being the longest and most athletic kid on the floor in high school to stepping onto the court at TD Arena. Sort of like James Carlton the last two years, Theo's offense may be limited to getting out on the break in transition early on before he settles in. And that's fine because there are guys who can play the wing in the mean time. 

Expected role this season: Some spot minutes here and there backing up the 3/4 spots.