Jason Preston and Ben Vander Plas will have to carry the team again. I don't know how these guys didn't get All-MAC first team, other than to speculate they were punished for not being seniors. Apparently there's a history of giving the awards to seniors because the underclassmen will presumably get another crack at it. These two are in the top five players in the MAC, at worst top ten. And certainly will be among returnees.

Connor Murrell. As of right now, before any potential transfers, he'll be the only senior. For someone supposed to provide a shooting lift, he literally didn't hit a three all year. So frustrating, because he supposedly looks good in practice doing so. You can see the effort is there in post defense, and he got a fair bit of minutes off the bench, so he'll have minutes next year.

Miles Brown. Similar to Connor Murrell. He's a nice defender, but for someone who was such a prolific scorer in high school, he was a liability there. Really didn't show much offensive ability beyond driving to the rim, which he was quite confident at and good at finishing. The tools are there and I'm optimistic that with an offseason to work on his shot, he'll develop well.

Lunden McDay. Shared the starting spot with Ben Roderick and he'll undoubtedly start next year. He's a playmaker, he's poised, and he should step in for Jordan Dartis in more of a volume role in the offense. Truly excited to watch his growth.

Ben Roderick. Typical freshman inconsistencies. You can see the skills are there. He'd go six of nine from three one game, and score two points the next. Truly hopeful he's able to start at the three next year. If Ohio is going to take that step to the top of the MAC, he's that great third option that needs to emerge.

Rifen Miguel (new JUCO add). Since he'll be a new player to the team there's not a lot for me to go on, but from what I can gather, he'll ideally be a really big four who can provide the scoring punch off the bench in the post that just wasn't there this year. With the evolution of the game and the dearth of fives on the roster, there's a wide open opportunity for him to start at there, but a lot of folks don't seem to think that's really his game. I guess we'll see.

Sam Towns. Incredibly skilled tall post who needs to add a lot of strength. As mentioned, with the dearth of post options next year, he has a real opportunity. But Boals has proven this year that if he thinks you don't have the strength defensively, he's just not going to play you.

Jalen White. I don't know a lot about this incoming guard other than that he's lanky. I don't see a great deal of opportunity here for minutes, so he's a possible redshirt. But if he comes in and looks good, he has as much chance to play as anyone.

Colin Granger. See Jalen White, but as a post. Feel like he'll be sitting behind an iron man in BVP and would have a great chance to red shirt so we get another year out of him, but the need for depth is so great off the bench that he'll have every opportunity to compete for minutes.

Mason McMurray, Nate Springs, and Nolan Foster. A lot of people are speculating that with the large freshman class, these guys could all transfer. I see Foster staying because not only is he a Boals recruit, he helped with some spot post minutes. But McMurray and Springs just don't seem to fit. They aren't getting many minutes and appear to be being recruited over. Springs is a guy I like because he can really shoot the three, and has good athletic ability that flashes on defense. But the guy is just too skinny even for this level. McMurray? Eh. I don't think many fans care for him. He seems like a chucker.

We're all hoping for another center to transfer in like Ogbonda to provide some defense and rebounding, and maybe another scoring option off the bench. If the right players develop well and Boals can add the right piece or two in the transfer market, this is a top of the MAC team next year.

1: Preston, Mil. Brown, Mic. Brown
2: McDay, White, Tenerowicz
3: Roderick, Towns, Murrell
4: Vander Plas, Granger, Springs, McMurray
5: Transfer, Miguel, Foster

Went back and checked and it looks like Miguel hasn't signed. I thought he had. Really underscores the need to land him or somebody in the post next year.

The core for hopefully the next two years is Preston, BVP, McDay, and Roderick. Those four are treasures and should be starters for the foreseeable future. This roster is in a good position to realistically make a top four seed next year and then get some preseason first place votes the year after, barring any transfers.

We will have a lot of options at the forward positions, but many of them are question marks. For Springs, McMurray, and Murrell, who have a couple years in the program, it's time to put up or shut up with Granger and Towns coming in. I would like to see Springs emerge from that group and be the fifth starter. He doesn't need to even be a star. Put on another 15 to 20 pounds and don't make mistakes, and he should stay on the floor. In the last game against Central, he was in for one minute and in that time he 1) missed an open 3 2) miscommunicated a rotation that led to an open jumper and 3) was called for an illegal screen.

We have good guards, but an injury situation like we had this past year could put us in some binds as there are more forwards and bigs in this program than guards. For that reason, I think Jalen White will play. As long as he isn't a defensive liability, a three point sniper can get some run off the bench.

So what to do about the last scholarship? Well, there are a lot of opinions circulating. Some want a big, some want a scoring specialist. While I do see how there might be an empty space for a physical post presence, I think the last scholarship should go to one of the following two areas: 1) Someone, anyone, who can create his own shot from within the arc and crack the rotation right away. This can be a big or a wing. 2) An understudy for Jason Preston. I'm not sure we have anyone else besides Jay who can run an offense, and with his high usage, I think we're on thin ice. Miles Brown is labelled a point guard, and maybe he improves in this area in the offseason, but I don't know if I saw that from him this year.

Boals has two huge recruiting tools to lure a grad transfer: Look what I did with Vest. He played 19 mins total at Ga Tech and I got him to be a full time starter with 6 and 6 every night.
Secondly, have you seen Jay Preston and BVP? If you like open shots you should watch film on them.

Looks like Connor Murrell's playing days are done. He's not listed on the roster, he wasn't shown as a returnee on the team's social media post today, and his Twitter shows that he is staying in the program as a graduate assistant.

So that means a few things:

1) We have an open scholarship, and unless something falls into our lap, I would guess we sit on it to try to keep the classes balanced

2) We have 11 scholarship players available to play this season. And with our injury luck, that's another year of liability.

3) We are probably looking at two of McMurray, Granger, and Towns in the regular rotation right away.