Thoughts on starters and finishers
There were some pretty good responses to the “So, umm … who starts next season?” post.
In case you missed them, here are a few to look over:
NIUHuskiesFan wrote: “I would go with a 3-guard lineup that has Jake Anderson, Xavier Silas, and Mike DiNunno starting. Then have Tyler Storm at forward and Sean Kowal at the post. That's my starting five.”
Mad.Mike had a few thoughts on the offseason and settled on: “Also I like to see Najul Ervin starting games, but he's never going to get serious minutes because he's mainly a defensive specialist. Starting: Anderson, Silas, Hall, Ervin & Kowal. Finishing: Anderson, Silas, DiNunno, Storm & Fakuade Put DiNunno & Storm on there because they're big time 3-point shooters and I trust Fakuade more than Kowal after what I saw from him last season.”
A few of you had some interesting ideas.
Is Mike DiNunno better served as a Ben Gordon-type of spark plug off the bench?
We all know he can go on a streak where he can shoot from Naperville and it’s going in, but the 83 turnovers from last season really don’t sit well with some people. Some of that can be attributed to a freshman hitting the wall. His two highest turnover games (eight against Akron and seven against Western Michigan) came about 2/3 of the way into the conference season, when travel, a high number of minutes and college life in general catch up to most freshmen. Ironically, though, NIU won both of those games.
The short answer is I’m not really sure if DiNunno fits that role of a sixth man. He’s used to starting and it’s a tough mental transition to go from starter to coming off the bench, even if you play starters’ minutes. Also, I don’t think you can ignore DiNunno’s success at the free-throw line (75 percent in conference) on a team that struggles to make freebies.
If DiNunno doesn’t start, that means Bryan Hall does. Hall is more of a traditional point guard and you have to like his assist-turnover ratio. But Hall’s not a scorer (1.4 points a game last season) and so defenders can sag off him and play the passing lanes.
Where I think you can utilize Hall best is by going small and spreading the floor with a lineup of Hall, DiNunno, Jake Anderson, Xavier Silas and Sean Kowal/Michael Fakuade. Silas is big enough and athletic enough to play the 4 for short stretches, and this lineup gives you two slashers in Anderson and Silas, plus a guy you can’t exactly leave open on the perimeter in DiNunno. That gives Hall room to operate the offense against a defender that can't cheat into the passing lanes. That also means a forward matches up against either Anderson or Silas, leaving a mismatch for one of those two to drive to the hole.
Tyler Storm starting is another interesting idea and he certainly got some experience as a starter last season. Can he hit shots consistently from outside? If he can, that can give NIU some inside-outside potential with Kowal, Fakuade, or even Anderson and Silas posting up inside. If he can’t, developing another part of his offensive game is critical.
If you read part two of my conversation with NIU coach Ricardo Patton, you saw that Storm is converting to more of a small forward-type. So, if NIU wants to go big for a stretch you could see a lineup of Anderson, Silas, Storm, Fakuade/Najul Ervin and Kowal/Ante Dzepina, with Anderson and Silas bringing up the ball. That’s a tall lineup, especially for the height-challenged Mid-American Conference.
In the post, I think Kowal and Fakuade can work well together, and now that Kowal has a full year under his belt, it will be interesting to see what he can do.
The question no one has the answer to right now is: Where does Tony Nixon fit in with all of this?
I think, in an ideal world, Patton would like to utilize Nixon off the bench in order to let him get used to the pace of the game, but turn him loose when he can and maximize his strengths.
So, who starts and who finishes? Here’s how I see it with the disclaimer that it will probably change at least four times before the start of the season.
Starting: DiNunno, Anderson, Silas, Fakuade, Kowal
Rotation guys: Nixon, Storm, Hall and Dzepina
Defensive stoppers: Jeremy Landers and Ervin
Change-of-pace guys: Lee Fisher, Michael Patton, Keith Smith and Michael Peaster
Finishing: DiNunno, Anderson, Silas, Fakuade, Kowal
So, what do you think? Am I way off base or does this, in theory, work? Does any of it matter if NIU shoots 59.2 percent as a team from the free-throw line again?
