With the announcement of Dior Conners, wanted to get folks' thoughts on where the roster stands. Here's what I have:


Guards:
Pavs
Conners
Sheldon
Elliott
Burris
Kelly

Wings:
Mosley
Fisher

Bigs:
Hadaway
Simmons
Breath
Kuany
Evans

Are both Boals and Estis back, as well? Thought I saw Estis in the portal, so maybe we have another slot?

I'd put Kelly more in the Wing category than a guard. He's going to be flying up and down the court and probably not handling the ball much.

Option 1
G - Pavs
G - E2
G - Conners
F - Hadaway
F - Simmons

Option 2 (I'm really intrigued in what this lineup could give us. Not the best shooting line, but this hopefully gives us an incredible advantage in the paint and on the boards).
G - Pavs
G - E2
F - Hadaway
F - Breath
F - Simmons

Bare minimum Pavs, E2, Simmons and Hadaway get 30 minutes a game. Breath and Conners 20+. The rest will be tougher to figure out.

Not sure how the lineups shake out, but it's great to have a number of different combinations to put together.

All said, I give Boals and staff an A for this portal season. Some might not like it, but our big 3 is Pavs, Simmons, and Hadaway. While different styles, the last time we ran the team through our PG, a stretch forward, and a post player we advanced to the Round of 32.

Not saying that's the projected outcome or comparing Pavs/Simmons/Hadaway to JP/BVP/DW3, but this roster build feels more like our identity and brand of basketball than the previous two seasons have. For that, I'm excited.

Agree that Ohio's staff deserves high marks for this year's portal acquisitions.

I've mentioned it here before, a good friend of mine (knows the game well, he tried to walk on here during the O'Shea era) saw Burris play a lot in HS. He told me he's got some real skill and he was honestly surprised Ohio was able to get him. We'll see how he translates to this level but I've heard a lot of really good things.

Guards:
Pavs - PG (Not a shooter)
Conners - SG
Sheldon - PG
Fisher -SG
Elliott - man without a position. Too small to be a SF ideally. Not a good enough shooter to be a SG. Stuck behind boy wonder at PG.

Wings:
Mosley - plays more like an undersized 4
Burris - SG in a SF body
Kelly - high flying uber athlete

Bigs:
Hadaway - PF
Simmons - PF
Breath - C
Kuany - PF/C
Evans - C


Ball handlers are Pavs,Sheldon and Elliott but two of those guys are likely coming off the bench.

You just can't have a backcourt of Pavs and Elliott. This isn't 1954. Those guys would combine for 30 3s on the season. Absolutely have to have somebody, anybody that can shoot.

3pt shooters are Sheldon (too small to pair with Pavs), Conners, Fisher and Burris. What one of the new guys steps up? Probably Conners initially due to his experience but my $ is on Fisher as the best pure shooter of the group.

Wings we have options. Elliott proved he could do it last year. Burris is going to surprise people. JJ Kelly could be MAC Frosh of Year if he puts it all together.

Power Forward? I have no idea how we reconcile the Hadaway/Simmons thing here. Neither can play the 3. Simmons doesn't want to play the 5. Hadaway plays better D. Simmons a better scorer and rebounder. Neither shoots the 3 well, so forget the "stretch 4" concept. Neither guy is going to appreciate coming off the bench. They could compliment each other but now you're sharing time with 2 of our top 3 players. I dunno.

Posy? Probably Breath's minutes for the taking with whomever between Kuany and Evans improves most getting backup minutes.

I see a team that traded shooting for post scorers and rebounding. I see a team that still will rely on its offense and will struggle with defense. I see a "meh" roster with a couple exceptions who could surprise and change the outcome.

Saturday night in Cleveland or bust.

Oh and if you wanted my ideal lineup that will never happen

PG - Elliott
SG - Conners/Fisher
SF - Kelly
PF - Hadaway
C - Simmons

And if their 3-pt shooting doesn't improve?

I like what Pav provided for the team outside of what we saw from outside the arc last year. Sheldon? Not so much.

Why is EE being dismissed as a non-shooter? I think he could develop into a lethal outside shooter. He was 39% his freshman year, and better towards the end of the season. He did not shoot it much in this offense but with no Clayton & Brown, I think that changes. I am cautiously optimistic EE will be a key shooter for us.

And Pav will continue to pick his spots.

I'm surprised there's a concern over 3PT shooting serving as our potential downfall next season. We were 75th and 93rd in 3PT% over the last two years with nothing to show for it as a team, while completely bottoming out this past season.

Our biggest issue (size) has been resolved in the form of an offensive big and well-rounded big to pair with Hadaway. I can't be the only one who's excited to not get pummeled inside and grossly outrebounded.

Breath had the best defensive rating last season in the SoCon while being a rebounding machine who can score if needed. I feel like he's being undervalued.

Are we sure Elliot can't develop into a shooter? Small sample size at only 28 attempts, but he hit 39% of those. Between Connors, potential bounce backs from Pavs/Sheldon, Burris, and our incoming guards/wings, on an organically trigger happy team from 3, I feel like this will sort itself out.

More importantly, we no longer have to live and die by the 3 because we actually have an inside game for the first time in 3 years.

Sheldon's legs are an absolute mess. His form last year was noticeably bad. I don't think you'll find a ton of shooting coaches out there that are telling people to kick their legs forward on release.

Collectively, we shot just under 36% from 3 in each of the last two seasons. I think it's a bit of an overstatement to say we've traded shooting for rebounding/inside scoring.

Especially when looking at the career numbers of Sheldon and Pavs, in addition to Connors incoming. The latter would have been in line with Reef for highest % this past season with double the makes and attempts.

GraffZ06:"You just can't have a backcourt of Pavs and Elliott. This isn't 1954. Those guys would combine for 30 3s on the season. Absolutely have to have somebody, anybody that can shoot."

The Spartans of Michigan State did pretty well in 2025 with their top 3 point shooter in volume at 58-198 for 29%. They did have another at 47 of 114 for 41% but overall the team shot 31% from downtown.

Adding two new big bangers to the roster and a healthy Hadaway could transform the Bobcat offense into a MAC powerhouse in the paint. Pavs once again shooting 32% from the three and Elliott and Conners hitting at their career percentages should be enough to keep teams from plugging the paint.

The key to 2025-26 is two-fold, top notch defense/rebounding AND passes to bigs. No need to be a juggernaut from beyond the arc.

I don't think you're gonna be able to debunk the data, man. I already shared the shot chart data and compared it to the entire team when you stated prior that Pavs never got to the rim and scored mostly from mid-range.

The numbers just don't match your observations about his game in a lot of ways.