Musketeer Madness

Jones & Hankins are 2 of our better players. Between the 2 they can't log more than 40 minutes as they are never on court together.
I wish they could play 50 minutes plus (appx 25 min each) as neither realizes full potential the way it is. Foul trouble may be a concern, but Hankins hasn't been prone & Jones may be less so with his slimmer physique & when playing the "4" next to Hankins. We have a lack of bigs to spell either one, but Welage is listed at 6'10" & can be used in emergencies. Coach Mack & now Coach Steele seem set on some sort of "small ball" lineup even though our 2 good "bigs" are both worthy of many minutes. Hankins is too good not to start & Jones could come off bench as 6th man (ala James Posey or James Farr). Q, Scruggs, Naji & Hankins should all be starting. That leaves Castlin, Welage & Jones - with 1 of 3 starting. Coach Steele was given a semi-barren closet. He may have an offensive & defensive scheme he wishes to play, but not the right players to use those schemes. So coaching needs to adjust to the players they have. I think we've seen enough of Hankins skills to see he needs lots of playing time.
Jones is improved over last year & just had a nice double-double with 19 pts & 20 boards. The first 5 minutes of the 1st half & especially the 2nd half vs Wisconsin showed why Hankins needs to start. Happ schooled Jones, but not so much Hankins & what if both played together for a spell.

I would love to see both the bigs play at the same time. Easy to imagine what the hi-lo plays could be. Understand the potential for fouls, but also feel that this team and coach need to employ options not seen at Xavier for some time. Lots already posted about our defense needs as well, but hope things will get better and allow us to have a good season.

26+6=1

The offense doesn't really allow for two 5's.

Both give great energy and Hankins is a very solid defender on the block. They are both however offensively challenged against good competition. Jones was great in the first two games with dunks and frankly just over powering the bigs on Evansville and IUPUI, He disappeared against Wisconsin and defensively, he was no match for Happ. Hankins has some good post moves but he clearly is seeing the difference between D1 and D2 in terms of getting your shot. Its so early and i'm hoping that Hankins just needs time like Kanter last year. Jones is what he is. Definitely an improvement over last year but still has a range of about 3-5 feet and pretty much downhill once he makes a move. Also hoping that he will improve as the competition gets tougher but clearly, Happ's length had a major impact on him. Also, if this team continues to shoot at such a poor rate on the perimeter and teams sag, their ability to create will get tougher.

This makes sense against certain teams but generally not a good option given Jones limited post moves. Hankins is solid in the post offensively but nothing special at this point. If they play well together defensively and give X an advantage on the offensive glass then there is real potential beyond my initial thoughts. If Hankins gets their better/bigger post defender then maybe Jones can get a lot of put backs. Presumably they would be better on the defensive glass and have more shot blocking capabilities.

Post depth is definitely a concern but this should be experimented with in small sample sizes to see how it works.