July 1, 2013
Here are your 2013/14 Lafayette Leopards!
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Player # Pos Yr Ht Wt Sch Acd Status Hometown
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Gary Pooler 3 SG Sr* 6-0 204 Yes 42 OK Rib Lake, WI
Rhett King 4 PF So 6-9 258 Yes 42 OK Saratoga Springs, NY
Billy Weiler 5 PG Sr* 5-11 209 Yes 28 OK Philadelphia, PA
Willard Davis 10 SF Jr* 6-4 212 Yes 65 OK Johnsonburg, PA
Hubert Song 12 SG So 6-4 213 Yes 67 OK New York, NY
Armando Brown 15 SG Fr 6-0 196 Yes 82 OK New York, NY
Alvaro Kinard 20 PG Fr 6-5 186 Yes 51 OK New York, NY
Louis Hewett 22 C Jr 6-7 234 Yes 28 OK Fort Washington, PA
James Rossiter 24 PG Fr 5-10 165 No 15 OK Landisville, PA
Venceslás Castillo 25 SF So 6-8 245 Yes 89 OK Alcazar de San Juan, Spain
Dana Broughton 34 SF Jr 6-6 226 Yes 83 Unhappy Center Valley, PA
Bastian Hirt 35 PF Sr* 6-6 218 No 57 OK Recklinghausen, Germany
Donnie Pope 41 PF Jr* 6-9 238 Yes 74 Unhappy Three Springs, PA
James Sanders 42 C So 6-11 321 Yes 94 OK Bridgeport, CT
Clark Nolan 50 C Jr 6-9 260 Yes 33 OK Whitehall, PA
Our starting backcourt remains unchanged. Senior
Billy Weiler returns for another season at the reins of Coach Sims' offense. He's still apparently unwilling or unable to play defense, but his ballhandling and passing are good enough to keep him in the starting five.
Hubert Song was sensational last year, the only player to average double figures in scoring. He's improved in every area we'd want him to improve, and he'll be the focal point of our offense.
I decided to see what the AI recommends for the rest of our lineup, and I think I'll roll with it. Like Izulde, the computer thinks
Alvaro Kinard will make a fine small forward. Alvaro enters our program with better shooting ratings than Song. His ballhandling and passing, while not suitable for a true guard, are just fine for a wing player.
Right now, I'm planning to use Kinard,
Venceslás Castillo,
Rhett King, and
Clark Nolan in a four-man forward rotation. Kinard has to play the three; he's not suited for the four at all. Castillo played mostly as a small forward last year, but he's big and strong enough to play power forward. He can guard big men as well as any of our other frontcourt players.
King and Nolan are pure bigs; in fact, Nolan is a natural center who's been playing power forward and doing a wonderful job of it. We should be able to choose players who match up well against different opponents, or ride with whoever is playing best.
James Sanders returns as the center. Look for him to be an increasingly effective offensive player this season. Last year, teams could often afford to focus their defensive efforts on stopping our perimeter game, because our big men weren't serious threats to score. I don't think that will be the case anymore.
Dana Broughton will play a more important role this season. He can shoot the rock, and he could emerge as an explosive scorer off the bench, in the mold of
Stephen Thames. Newcomer
Armando Brown and veteran
Willard Davis are also available for backcourt duty. If Brown is willing to redshirt, I might have him do that.