Speculation on the starting lineup and some actual facts and a look into Geno's track record

Let's talk starting lineup -- there's been some extra talk here and there ever since this comment was made in the paper...
"Shayok Shayok has stood out so far and appears destined for a starting spot"

BUT -- Bradley's starting lineup has historically been very hard to predict for a number of reasons...

The first and foremost reason right now is the fact that we have a NEW head coach and numerous new players.
How do we really know what's going on in Geno Ford's mind? We'll probably just have to wait and see....but if Taylor Brown makes a STRONG comeback, then he'd also be a strong consideration for a starting spot and he plays a relatively similar frontcourt position as Shayok Shayok plays....however neither plays a true center spot so you'd have to pencil in Jordan Prosser also as having a good shot to start.

But then, that makes three frontcourt players if all three of those guys start, and is Geno going to start with only two guards? Let's look at Geno's history in this area.

BUT before we do -- as most know we've done a starting lineup pick-em on BradleyFans for the past FIVE seasons, and the outcome has been pretty amazing and confirms how hard it is to pick the starting lineups.

This year's thread containing the starting lineup Pick-em - has 20 guesses so far and we're still several weeks from the first game, and eleven different player combinations have been guessed, and only ONE combination has been selected by more than THREE fans.
And that combination has two freshmen in the starting lineup - something I have my doubts about.

Then -- of the past years -- recall that every year we've had 35-40 different pick-em guesses and in ALL BUT one season NOBODY got the starting lineup right -- NOBODY!
In the one and only season that anyone got it right -- ONLY ONE GUY was right with his guess.
Of course unforseen injuries, player issues, and as happened one season - the unforseen use of four guards in the starting lineup - threw everyone off.

SO -- in the PAST four seasons - over 140 combined guesses have resulted in only ONE guy getting it right -- thus - I wouldn't look for a whole bunch of people to get it right again this year.


SO -- here's a look at Geno Ford's pattern of choosing starters. This is a fact-based look at what type of players have been his early season starters in the other years he's been head coach...and the findings going back over several seasons of Geno being head coach are pretty consistent.
That doesn't mean he can't change gears and do something different but let's be reasonable - most coaches don't make startling or major changes from what's worked in the past.

Just last season - in 2010-2011 at Kent State, their starters in the first exhibition game were:
3 guards - Sherman, Guyton, Porrini...one forward - Justin Greene...and one center - Justin Manns...ALL were juniors and seniors....none were freshman or sophomores.
Geno then went with the same starters in the first regular season game and those same five guys started the first dozen games, before a sophomore, Randall Holt, then took a starting spot.
Of Geno's four freshmen last year only two ever started any games and each started only ONCE, so it looks like Geno does not necessarily go big, and he does not look to start kids without experience.

Then in 2009-2010 at Kent State...
His early season starters were Evans, Simpson, McKee, Sherman, and Greene.
Later Singletary and Henry-Ala got quite a few starts for different reasons.
Again -- he mostly went with a 3-guard lineup and no true center.
And again - the newcomers to D-I got very few starts over the course of the entire season.

In Geno's first year at Kent State, 2008-2009:
First game starters were Sullinger, Parks, Singletary, Fisher, Mincy - again 3 guards, a forward, and a center.
Those same five remained starters most of the season...so again it can be seen that Geno favored 3 guards. Also - three were seniors, two juniors, and the underclassmen did not get many starts all season.

Before that Geno coached at Muskingum in 2005-2006 and 2006-2007.
Here's something interesting -- in Geno's first game coached at Muskingum (2005-2006), his team played Redlands - and the final score was ..
Muskingum 148 - Redlands 125....
yup that's no typo for you typo police.
Here's the box score --
http://www.muskingum.edu/athletics/basketball_m/2005games/GAME1.HTM

As one can see from the box score, the players who STARTED and played the most, and who also launched massive quantities of shots were:
Ady-guard, Ross-guard (19-23 from the floor!), Glass-forward, Todd-guard (15-18 from the floor!), and Pittis-center..and despite 85 shots taken ONLY ONE was from the 3-pt arc!
BUT again -- Geno's going with 3 guards...and he carried that pattern thru the season....and again NONE of the starters all year were freshmen!

In 2006-2007 at Muskingum, he again started 4 guards - Todd, Ady, Byrne, Scott....and one Forward - Dicken.
So year after year he plays a 3 guard or even a 4-guard lineup and the guards constitute most of his shooting and scoring...and they all tend to be juniors and seniors - very few sophomores and virtually never a freshman starter.

Now -- I do not mean to say that proves anything - as you can draw your own conclusions....
Geno Ford has a documented track record with three seasons at Kent State and two more at smaller Muskingum, playing 3 guards most of the way....and favoring the most experienced players
However - now at Bradley -- he does have some pretty solid and experienced frontcourt players in Jordan Prosser, Taylor Brown, but I still think he's gonna go with three guards and two front court players.....but time will tell.

Note that of the 20 guesses in the pick-em thread - the most popular combination has just two guards, and fully 12 of the 20 of them have 3 guys starting in the frontcourt and ONLY TWO GUARDS.
So it seems that even though I can't find much evidence that Geno has ever gone with just a 2-guard lineup -- our fans still largely think Geno's going to "go big" and use just two guards in the starting lineup.....interesting....

In the same context - the Bradley fans taking guesses in the pick-em thread, also largely think Geno will utilize freshmen early on.
Of the 20 guesses, 17 of them have at least ONE FRESHMAN in the starting lineup....
and NINE of them have TWO freshmen as starters! Will Geno make that bold of a move and change that much from his long held pattern of using guards and upperclassmen predominantly? It will be interesting......




ISU's latest verbal, Aaron Simpson - the 5-11 kid from Chicago who's not a true point guard but who seems to have a hard time passing up any available shot - is the focus of a Sun Times blog article...
The Sun Times writer calls him a 4-year varsity player but one other article I saw said he did not play varsity for the major part of his freshman year but was brought up to varsity for the final two games as a frosh.
Much of the coverage talks of Simpson's efforts to get qualified and suggests he isn't there yet and might have had his share of struggles in that area thus far.
Recall, ISU does NOT appear to have an open scholarship for Simpson anyway -- so does Jank already kinda know Simpson isn't coming but is taking a chance just in case someone currently on the roster bolts and Simpson surprisingly blows up and gets qualified?
Time will tell.
In North Chicago's two games at the Civic Center during March Madness last spring...
He took 40 shots and made only 12 (30% shooting) and his assist to turnover ratio was 2 to 9 (0.22)...with North Chicago LOSING both games..and finishing 17-15.



Lastly - this whole nit-picking gotcha-issue pointing out typos and blowing it all up into a federal case is a great side show. Especially coming from people whose posts use some of the most horrifically improper grammar and mindboggling misspellings. They never fail to amuse.
But then, folks at Bradley and others who are close to the team have found out the hard way that some who masquerade as "fans" are just the garden variety message board attack dogs who can't take a breath without going off on some tangent of attack about inane issues. They are not supporters of Bradley basketball as can be seen in other areas but are just trying to please their egos.