I was excited to see who Pope used in tonight's game. Here is my analysis on who we saw tonight. This is focused on offense and incldues the lineups from the first half.

Lineup 1 - Starters

Alex Barcello
Brandon Averette
Connor Harding
Gaving Baxter
Kolby Lee

If I had to guess I would say that Haarms starts over Lee and Lee will come in with the second lineup. I am really excited about Baxter this year. A couple of plays that make me excited:

• 18:00 minute mark - the zone collapses on him and he finds Barcello wide open on the far side of the court. Barcello missed the shot but the read was perfect
• 17:00 minute mark - he and Lee play a high low game with Baxter having established great position under the basket. That had a lot to do with who was guarding Baxter but his athleticism will allow him to get behind a lot of the teams we play.

Lineup 2

Alex Barcello
Trevin Knell
Connor Harding
Caleb Loehner
Rich Harward

This is an interesting lineup because Rich Harward is the only player on our team exclusively listed as a Center (Haarms is a F/C). That said, we ran almost all of our offensive sets with this lineup outside the three point line versus trying to run the offense through Harward underneath the basket. I think this lineup will be focused on getting open jump shots for Knell, Harding or Barcello OR, if available, easy buckets for Harward off who can roll to the basket.

Lineup 3* (*AB was subbed for BA one play after CH came out for GG)

Brandon Averette
Trevin Knell
Gideon George
Caleb Loehner
Rich Harward

Offensively this lineup will serve a similar purpose as Lineup 2 with George/Harding both small forwards who can shoot. The offense remained a permiter based offense with this lineup. I think we will see a lot of two-man action where Knell or Averette will be able to shoot or give to a rolling Harward if the defense gets a step out of place.

• At the 12:06 mark, Caleb runs a dribble hand-off to Knell and immediately sets a screen. Harward is in place to set a second screen that would have allowed Knell to curl around around to the free-throw line and pull-up. Instead he takes the three and makes it.
• Very next offensive set (11:36), we get into the exact same action but Loehner slips it and Knell hits him slashing to the basket. Westminster reovered pretty well and Caleb throws an off target pass to Averette.

The second play resulted in a turnover but the setup from the play before was beautiful. I think we will see a lot of the with Lineups 2 and 3. I am interested to see if Averette/George can run the same stuff on the other side making it that much harder to defend.

Lineup 4

Jesse Wade(!!!)
Trevin Knell
Gideon George
Caleb Loehner
Rich Harward

One of the things I was most curious to see is who Pope would trust to be the 3rd point guard. I expect that we will see a lot of Barcell and Averette with the two starting and then having their minutes staggared so at least one is on the floor for the majority of the game.

The offense kind of stalled with this lineup but I liked what I saw from Caleb - he was everywhere.

Lineup 5

Alex Barcello
Trevin Knell
Gideon George
Caleb Loehner
Kolby Lee

If Kolby hits his threes this year like he did in 2019 then I think Lineup 5 may be known as the Lineup of Death as the season progresses. Every single players on the court is trusted to shoot from three with Kolby also being competent with his back to the basket in the right matchup.

Lineup 6* (CH came in for GG one play after GB came in for CL)

Alex Barcello
Trevin Knell
Connor Harding
Gavin Baxter
Kolby Lee

The first intentional post-touch in several possesions/lineups came from this group. I am interested to see if Harward is trusted to be a force in the inside out game with the back to his basket like Lee is as the season progresses. Lee is such a good passer out of the post.

Barcello was very agressive with this lineup as well. I think it is obvious that he is being asked to mimic what Toolson gave us last year and has a green light to look to score.

Lineup 7

Alex Barcello
Spencer Johnson
Connor Harding
Gavin Baxter
Kolby Lee

Lineups 6/7 are intriguing because I see three ways that we can score:

1. Barcello creates his own offense off of screens (mid-range jumpers), pushing the pace and back cuts - see 3:50 mark
2. Harding, Johnson/Knell, Barcello can all hit open threes - they'll get those shots through the insde out game with Lee and running base line for corner shots
3. High Low game with Lee and Baxter - see 4:25 mark.

Each will come in handy versus the different looks that we will get in the WCC.

Lineup 8* (RH came in for KL shortly after WL replaced GB)

Brandon Averette
Spencer Johnson
Caleb Loehner
Wyatt Lowell
Rich Harward

I do not know much about what Lowell brings to the table but I bet we see him come along slowly. It was nice to see him hit a 3 early.

Lineup 9

Alex Barcello
Trevin Knell
Hunter Erikson
Caleb Loehner
Rich Harward

Key Takeaways:

1. This is Alex's team but Brandon is going to 1.B. These are the only two players that I see being asked to create their own offense or run any iso. I think they'll fill a similar role to what we see with Jake and TJ last year. It is obvious that Pope intends to play a combination of these two wire-to-wire.
2. I expect the rotation to tighten to:
   1. Barcello, Averette - both will start but I think they'll be mostly staggered
   2. Knell, Johnson - I would guess that Pope will be agnostic and go with the hotter hand. Minutes will be determined by who makes shots.
   3. Harding, George - I think we are a year away from the offense going through Connor. Both of these guys will be asked to hit open threes and play good defense. We know from last year that Connor can get to the basket some.
   4. Baxter, Loehner - It will be fun to watch defenses adjust to the strengths these two bring. The entire offense can change based on which of these two is in the game. This position is an X-Factor on this team
   5. Haarms, Lee, Harward - Based on what Dave and Blaine were saying big things are expected from Harward. It will be great to have him in with our smaller guard heavy lineup to cleanup and roll to the basket
3. This team has some serious depth. We have multiple line-ups where more than one player can create their own offense and all 5 can score.
4. I do not know whose minutes Wade or Lowell take on this team. We will know more after a few games.