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A look at the 2024-25 MU bball roster and rotations
Posted on: June 8, 2024 at 17:19:46 CT
Harvest MU
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Now that most or all of the freshman basketball players on campus, it's a good time to look at the roster and rotations. I think the staff have done a good job of addressing depth at each position, which will really help if the injury bug bites again like it did last year.
There are 15 players on the roster who could see the court at some point, not including the known walk-ons (mop up minutes), and essentially you can assign three members of the roster to each of the typical spots on the floor. I would expect in most games, especially early in the season, we'll see at least 9 players play and maybe as many as 11-12.
POINT GUARD
Perkins - the clear starter, 5th year transfer from Iowa where he was 2nd team all conference, good size at 6'4", not a great 3 point shooter but excellent defender, able to rebound and a very good scorer at 14 points a game last year in the Big 10. Averaged over 4 assists a game and assist to turnover ratio was about 2.4 to 1, which is very good. He's a great addition to this squad.
Robinson - a sophomore and solid sub at the point guard position, got some good experience last year, another excellent defender, needs to keep developing his offensive game. About 6'2" - he's being positioned to be the starter as a junior in 2025-26.
Barrett - an incoming freshman and another point with good size at 6'4" and known as an excellent defender. There may be other players like Warrick or Bates who are more likely to handle the ball if Perkins or Robinson aren't in there, but we could see Barrett in for short periods.
SHOOTING GUARD OR WING 1 (I'm not sure that the coaches really think in terms of shooting guard and small forward - they probably just look at having 2 wings in the game)
Bates seems likely as one starter - he played very well in conference games
His backups might be Warrick and then Boateng. Warrick is a 5th year transfer, scored over 2200 points in college so far, averaging nearly 20 points a game last year at Northern Kentucky. On the smaller side at 6'2" and not a great 3 point shooter, but able to score at all three levels. His weakness besides height may be defense. Boateng on the other hand is bigger (around 6'5"), stronger, and likely a better defender than Warrick, so depending on how his offense progresses could potentially push for more minutes later in the season, but as a freshman (an excellent top 25 recruit) his minutes will probably only be moderate at most. Rock M Nation had a good article about how even highly rated freshman are increasingly playing fewer minutes due to all the experienced transfers.
SMALL FORWARD OR WING 2
The starter for this spot is the hardest for me to predict. It would seem likely that it is either 5th year transfer Crews at 6'8" or Grill at 6'3". They both can score the ball. Crews averaged 19 points a game last year and was a decent rebounder at 8 rebounds a game, although that was at UT Martin and not the SEC. Grill is also an excellent rebounder for his size and probably the stronger defender of the two, and a streaky 3 point shooter who can get hot from distance. Who starts between the two of them may depend on defensive matchups and which of them is on a hot streak from a shooting standpoint. Or maybe Warrick starts opposite Bates?
The third player at the small forward spot is incoming freshman Allen at 6'6" or 6'7" who is another player known particularly for his defense. He can effectively slash to the basket but the rest of his offense reportedly needs further development, so I doubt we'll see many minutes from him this year unless he's coming in for defense.
POWER FORWARD
The starter here is clearly Mitchell, a junior with two years to play who transferred to MU after being a two-year starter and productive player at Duke. He's a rugged 6'9" athletic forward who will rebound well and reportedly plays very good defense. On the offensive end, it sounds like he's best around the basket, not a great 3-point shooter but maybe that part of his game will continue to develop as Kobe Brown's did. He will be another great addition this year and next.
Backups will be Shaw at 6'8" and Pierce at 6'10". You'd expect Shaw to be the first one off the bench to sub Mitchell. Anyone following the team knows Shaw is very athletic, good at blocking shots and an improving rebounder, but his offense really needs to come along. Hopefully it will this year. Pierce has good height but a thin frame. He reportedly has good offensive skills but we didn't see too much of that last year. I'm hoping we see continued growth from him, he could really help with depth at the forward spots.
CENTER
Gray, the fourth and last of the 5th year transfers to sign, is the clear starter at this spot. Excellent size for the position at 6'11" (MU lists him at 7'0") and around 260 pounds (some reports say 255, some say 265). He's been an effective rebounder per minute, particularly in conference play, where he averaged 8 rebounds a game in the SEC while at South Carolina in his best year. He's particularly good at offensive rebounding. However, not a big scorer. He seems to get most of his points on put backs and dunks, which fits with grabbing offensive rebounds. Given the offense capabilities of players at the other four spots on the floor, I think that's okay, we don't need a ton of points out of him as long as he rebounds well and plays good defense.
Subs here are Marshall at 6'11" (current weight unknown but closer to 300 than 200) and Burns at 7'3" but probably closer to 200 pounds in weight. Both are 4 stars as incoming freshman. Marshall would appear more ready to bang in the SEC than Burns, who may need a year or two in the weight room before contributing significantly. It wouldn't surprise me to see them rotate Shaw or even Pierce in ahead of Marshall at times, or have Mitchell guard the other teams center and go with Crews or Shaw at the other forward spot for portions of a game.
I used the word defense quite a bit above. If all the written evaluations of the new players are accurate, I expect this team to be much better defensively than last year. The two players not as well rated for defense are Warrick and Crews, but they will be two of the best scorers on the team so there will be a tradeoff there.
It's hard to predict who the top scorers will be, but Bates, Perkins, Warrick, Crews, Grill and Mitchell have all shown they can regularly post double digit games offensively. I particularly like the fact they have four capable scorers at the two wing spots. That allows them to sub without having a lull in the scoring. Although Warrick could start he seems best suited as an offensive spark plug off the bench, probably the first sub in.
Perkins and Mitchell come in as the two highest regarded transfers, and I would expect them to play the most minutes this year.
Overall, this team looks much improved "on paper" compared to last year. Hopefully they learn to play together well and avoid injuries.
There are 15 players on the roster who could see the court at some point, not including the known walk-ons (mop up minutes), and essentially you can assign three members of the roster to each of the typical spots on the floor. I would expect in most games, especially early in the season, we'll see at least 9 players play and maybe as many as 11-12.
POINT GUARD
Perkins - the clear starter, 5th year transfer from Iowa where he was 2nd team all conference, good size at 6'4", not a great 3 point shooter but excellent defender, able to rebound and a very good scorer at 14 points a game last year in the Big 10. Averaged over 4 assists a game and assist to turnover ratio was about 2.4 to 1, which is very good. He's a great addition to this squad.
Robinson - a sophomore and solid sub at the point guard position, got some good experience last year, another excellent defender, needs to keep developing his offensive game. About 6'2" - he's being positioned to be the starter as a junior in 2025-26.
Barrett - an incoming freshman and another point with good size at 6'4" and known as an excellent defender. There may be other players like Warrick or Bates who are more likely to handle the ball if Perkins or Robinson aren't in there, but we could see Barrett in for short periods.
SHOOTING GUARD OR WING 1 (I'm not sure that the coaches really think in terms of shooting guard and small forward - they probably just look at having 2 wings in the game)
Bates seems likely as one starter - he played very well in conference games
His backups might be Warrick and then Boateng. Warrick is a 5th year transfer, scored over 2200 points in college so far, averaging nearly 20 points a game last year at Northern Kentucky. On the smaller side at 6'2" and not a great 3 point shooter, but able to score at all three levels. His weakness besides height may be defense. Boateng on the other hand is bigger (around 6'5"), stronger, and likely a better defender than Warrick, so depending on how his offense progresses could potentially push for more minutes later in the season, but as a freshman (an excellent top 25 recruit) his minutes will probably only be moderate at most. Rock M Nation had a good article about how even highly rated freshman are increasingly playing fewer minutes due to all the experienced transfers.
SMALL FORWARD OR WING 2
The starter for this spot is the hardest for me to predict. It would seem likely that it is either 5th year transfer Crews at 6'8" or Grill at 6'3". They both can score the ball. Crews averaged 19 points a game last year and was a decent rebounder at 8 rebounds a game, although that was at UT Martin and not the SEC. Grill is also an excellent rebounder for his size and probably the stronger defender of the two, and a streaky 3 point shooter who can get hot from distance. Who starts between the two of them may depend on defensive matchups and which of them is on a hot streak from a shooting standpoint. Or maybe Warrick starts opposite Bates?
The third player at the small forward spot is incoming freshman Allen at 6'6" or 6'7" who is another player known particularly for his defense. He can effectively slash to the basket but the rest of his offense reportedly needs further development, so I doubt we'll see many minutes from him this year unless he's coming in for defense.
POWER FORWARD
The starter here is clearly Mitchell, a junior with two years to play who transferred to MU after being a two-year starter and productive player at Duke. He's a rugged 6'9" athletic forward who will rebound well and reportedly plays very good defense. On the offensive end, it sounds like he's best around the basket, not a great 3-point shooter but maybe that part of his game will continue to develop as Kobe Brown's did. He will be another great addition this year and next.
Backups will be Shaw at 6'8" and Pierce at 6'10". You'd expect Shaw to be the first one off the bench to sub Mitchell. Anyone following the team knows Shaw is very athletic, good at blocking shots and an improving rebounder, but his offense really needs to come along. Hopefully it will this year. Pierce has good height but a thin frame. He reportedly has good offensive skills but we didn't see too much of that last year. I'm hoping we see continued growth from him, he could really help with depth at the forward spots.
CENTER
Gray, the fourth and last of the 5th year transfers to sign, is the clear starter at this spot. Excellent size for the position at 6'11" (MU lists him at 7'0") and around 260 pounds (some reports say 255, some say 265). He's been an effective rebounder per minute, particularly in conference play, where he averaged 8 rebounds a game in the SEC while at South Carolina in his best year. He's particularly good at offensive rebounding. However, not a big scorer. He seems to get most of his points on put backs and dunks, which fits with grabbing offensive rebounds. Given the offense capabilities of players at the other four spots on the floor, I think that's okay, we don't need a ton of points out of him as long as he rebounds well and plays good defense.
Subs here are Marshall at 6'11" (current weight unknown but closer to 300 than 200) and Burns at 7'3" but probably closer to 200 pounds in weight. Both are 4 stars as incoming freshman. Marshall would appear more ready to bang in the SEC than Burns, who may need a year or two in the weight room before contributing significantly. It wouldn't surprise me to see them rotate Shaw or even Pierce in ahead of Marshall at times, or have Mitchell guard the other teams center and go with Crews or Shaw at the other forward spot for portions of a game.
I used the word defense quite a bit above. If all the written evaluations of the new players are accurate, I expect this team to be much better defensively than last year. The two players not as well rated for defense are Warrick and Crews, but they will be two of the best scorers on the team so there will be a tradeoff there.
It's hard to predict who the top scorers will be, but Bates, Perkins, Warrick, Crews, Grill and Mitchell have all shown they can regularly post double digit games offensively. I particularly like the fact they have four capable scorers at the two wing spots. That allows them to sub without having a lull in the scoring. Although Warrick could start he seems best suited as an offensive spark plug off the bench, probably the first sub in.
Perkins and Mitchell come in as the two highest regarded transfers, and I would expect them to play the most minutes this year.
Overall, this team looks much improved "on paper" compared to last year. Hopefully they learn to play together well and avoid injuries.
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A look at the 2024-25 MU bball roster and rotations - Harvest MU - 6/8 17:19:46