2019 G Francisco Farabello (Transfer Commit)

[Jays26]

Like Chicagojay said, this all makes a lot more sense if the staff has complete confidence in Mason’s ability to be a high minutes starter next year. That may be the case, and I do think he has a chance to be a special player, it just makes me nervous since we haven’t actually seen him in game action yet.

Also, I know all of you expect Scholtzberg to make an instant impact but with Ryan/Shareef/Trey/Cristofilis/Francisco/Rati all firmly ahead of him I’m not really sure how that happens unless one of those guys transfers or he plays a lot of SF as a freshman. I’m starting to lean toward him being a redshirt now. If the staff is telling guys they can’t promise a transfer a starting job because they have that much confidence in Miller than I trust them. Otherwise, I wouldn’t feel comfortable with any of Reef/Francisco/Rati/John filling that role. Maybe in other years, but not this one. We’ve got more potential with this group than maybe any in program history we have to maximize it.

What you are saying makes total sense but I will bet large sums of money that Ben will not Redshirt.

[Trifecta]

Like Chicagojay said, this all makes a lot more sense if the staff has complete confidence in Mason’s ability to be a high minutes starter next year. That may be the case, and I do think he has a chance to be a special player, it just makes me nervous since we haven’t actually seen him in game action yet.

Also, I know all of you expect Scholtzberg to make an instant impact but with Ryan/Shareef/Trey/Cristofilis/Francisco/Rati all firmly ahead of him I’m not really sure how that happens unless one of those guys transfers or he plays a lot of SF as a freshman. I’m starting to lean toward him being a redshirt now. If the staff is telling guys they can’t promise a transfer a starting job because they have that much confidence in Miller than I trust them. Otherwise, I wouldn’t feel comfortable with any of Reef/Francisco/Rati/John filling that role. Maybe in other years, but not this one. We’ve got more potential with this group than maybe any in program history we have to maximize it.

I'd be shocked if Shtolzberg redshirts. Especially if we have another transfer or two, or if we don't get King.

I would not be confident in saying that Rati or JC are ahead of anyone at this point. I could buy the argument for Reef because he was set to start at the beginning of this past season at least, and the coaches have a lot of trust in him. But Rati could barely crack the rotation and only got serious minutes when we were down to 6 bodies. JC could never see the court on a team that lacked shooting, and that was supposed to be his elite skill.

[JacobPadilla]

Agree. I think he looks like a really nice fit - we weren't looking for a guy who wanted to be a guaranteed starter. His usage should go up with us (we share the ball really well) and we can definitely use a solid 3 PT shooter, but to me he looks like he brings more than that as well.

I don't think this is true. If they can get a guy who's good enough to slot into the starting lineup and replace what AO gave the team, they'd absolutely take him. I think that was priority 1A to back-up center's 1B. Right now they have four guys who seem like locks to start with a hole on the wing. They have guys who could fill that spot, but you'd probably be starting either smaller or bigger than would be ideal. I think they definitely have something to sell a sharp-shooting wing with versatility.

I don't have any insight here specifically, but it seems like this could foreshadow other moves. Not sure with the current roster construction that it makes all that much sense to add another smaller combo-guard with one of your two open scholarships while saving the other for a big. Adding shooting? Sure, makes sense. Adding shooting from a 6'3" guard who has been a low-volume guy throughout his career when you already have R2 (6'), Trey (6'4"), Reef (6'), Rati (6'4"), Christofilis (6'3") and Shtolzberg (6'5")? Not as much to me.

That's going to be a tough sell for a guy who wants to start given that O'Connell typically played the 2 for us last year, and there's pretty much little to no question in my mind that Alexander's going to grab that spot and run with it. I also think we want a guy there who is more like Alexander who's, IMO, a more sure-handed distributor than AOC was last year.

We also aren't looking for Shtolzberg to redshirt either. We could be looking for a starting SF with the idea that Kaluma plays more of a stretch 4, but then we're in competition for minutes by Miller, and we can theoretically slide Alexander down and let Farabello or Shtolzberg play the 2 at that time. And Kaluma's the guy who had the best 3 PT shooting that they tracked in practice and I suspect his shooting will look much better this year... so we're running into problems for guys who want to start and to be the guy in an offense.

PG - Nembhard, Mitchell, maybe some Alexander and Rati here if needed
SG - Alexander, Farabello, Rati, Shtolzberg, JC
SF - Kaluma, (Alexander), Green, (Shtolzberg)
PF - Miller, (Kaluma), Green
C - Kalkbrenner (TBD)

To me I can see wanting another wing who's a bit more of a forward than a 2 guard, but are we going to add a guy who's a guaranteed starter there? Kaluma's not going anywhere, and theoretically someone could beat out Miller, but I see Miller getting close to the minutes that Alexander and Kaluma got last year (for reference Patton got 25 minutes a game after his RS year as well).

And we have Green who should get some minutes, and Farabello, Rati, Shtolzberg, and maybe JC who will take time at the SG/SF when we go smaller).

People may disagree on Miller's minutes, but we'll see. We played Kaluma as one of 2 bigger forwards last year, and I think we'll do the same this year for a lot of minutes.

I think last year's lineup was by necessity more than choice. Alex is an off-ball wing and Kaluma is a 4, but because of Hawkins they both got bumped up a position in the starting lineup. Alexander at the 2 next to Nembhard and Kaluma at the 4 I think is a more natural fit for everybody than what we saw last year. A 6'6" wing with the lateral quickness and ball skills (including 3-point shooting) to play on the perimeter on both ends would really complete the starting lineup. You're higher on Miller's immediate impact than I am, though I think he'll be good long-term.

A starting-caliber player with experience isn't going to be worried about any of those back-ups if you're saying that group would be a red flag for potential transfers.

[Jaysker12]

In a way, Miller, JC, and Shtolzberg are all in the same boat. All were good shooters in HS. Which of them is most likely to translate that to actual results on the court? And which of them is best suited to defending the 3? These are questions the coaches need to answer if they're considering one of them for the starting 3 spot.

I am skeptical of Miller's ability to stay in front of guards (no direct evidence, but 6'8 guys with a guard's lateral quickness are rare), and equally skeptical of Ben's and JC's ability to match the physicality of bigger 3's (solely because of their size and lack of experience). Our defense won us a lot of games, and I see all three of these guys as huge defensive downgrades from AO.

[bird_call]

The Jays are returning 4 players who averaged 10+ points/game when they started. We can certainly expect 13+ out of Kalk and 10+ out of Nembhard, Kaluma, and Trey. The Farabello/Rati/Miller/JC/Shtolzberg group won't need to have any individual score 10+ points/game but they do need to be able to hit 3s to keep defenses from packing the paint against Kalk and Kaluma.

We do seem to lack size compared to last year. But last year's group might have been the tallest average Creighton lineup in the last 30 years.

[Trifecta]

Ben would likely not be guarding the 3, let alone starting. At this point, probably a combo of Miller/Farabello. I guess he probably could play there, but I think it would be more likely we would shift Alexander. If Ben is in the game, I'm thinking it's more likely he's handling the ball versus Trey, but Trey got a lot of experience this year doing so...

[Chicagojayfan]

In a way, Miller, JC, and Shtolzberg are all in the same boat. All were good shooters in HS. Which of them is most likely to translate that to actual results on the court? And which of them is best suited to defending the 3? These are questions the coaches need to answer if they're considering one of them for the starting 3 spot.

I am skeptical of Miller's ability to stay in front of guards (no direct evidence, but 6'8 guys with a guard's lateral quickness are rare), and equally skeptical of Ben's and JC's ability to match the physicality of bigger 3's (solely because of their size and lack of experience). Our defense won us a lot of games, and I see all three of these guys as huge defensive downgrades from AO.

In terms of defending, we rolled with Hawkins and Kaluma at the 3/4 most of last year with AOC at the 2 most times. I thought we had some struggles like that, but Kalk was more often than not able to clean up any drives to the paint.

Alexander will be defending most of the people that AOC defended last year

Hard to know about the shooting, but both Miller and JC did play and practice last year

[NateFunkyTown]

I’ll trust you guys on Ben as I’ve got no inside info whatsoever. I also do agree he looks like a stud and probably underrated by the various recruiting services. Like I said still got some wing size concerns, but all things considered, what an exciting team man. I can’t believe where this program has gone. When we lost Dana and brought in McDermott, I was prepared to see us take a step back as a program. Now here we are. So lucky to be a part of this fan base.

[jon4thejays]

I disagree. We have 4 starters on this team and we have an open slot at wing. Miller/Shtolzberg "might" be able to fill that role but they are both freshmen. We are losing alot of scoring and 3% shooting in AO and Hawkins. We don't have a go to scorer on this team. We hope Art/Ryan/Trey grow into that role next year but it's not guaranteed. I definitely think we can attract a wing who can score/shoot and play 20-30 mpg. We are that one big time transfer away from being a legit Final 4 contender. I would be disappointed if it's just Farabello and a center (King).

+1

[vivid_dude]

I’ll trust you guys on Ben as I’ve got no inside info whatsoever.

Does anybody?

You can argue that Ben Shtolzberg and Jasen Green are the biggest unknowns going into this season, by fans, pundits and even the coaches. We've seen them play in HS and they are really good. Will that transfer to college? Until Ben and Jasen are on campus, practicing, learning the offense, competing against college players, grasping the system - even the coaches don't really know if the fit is there. Sometimes the transition from high school is seamless; sometimes it takes a few years; sometimes it never happens.

With Mason Miller, John Christofilis and FF, the coaches have a decent sense as to what they will be able to do. Not fully there, because players can evolve quickly and you don't know how they'll respond to the spotlight and pressure of playing basketball for a Top 10 team - but a way better sense than Ben/Jasen.

All this talk about depth charts, minute apportionment, rotations, etc. are fun, and I love to engage in it as much as anyone. But it's also very premature. Even the coaches don't know until the new guys are here. Ben and/or Jasen could come in and force the coaches' hands by playing so well, they bump others down the rotation. Maybe Ben starts and becomes that 30 minute-per-game, scoring wing we need? Or maybe he redshirts and never sees a minute on the court b/c he transfers out next offseason. The spectrum is that wide and speculative until they arrive on campus.

That makes it fun.