I recall looking at the average minutes guys got for Saul at NDSU when we hired him to determine if he favored large or small rotations... I couldn't find a trend. It seemed to me Saul varied it entirely year to year based on what he had.

I think the shell shock of all these transfers has a lot of people overlooking just how much depth we have returning. Dartis averaged 35mpg as a true sophomore last year. Block averaged 28. While I loved Culver's potential and thought he would develop nicely for us, with Laster getting the bulk of the minutes over the last 10 games and really cementing himself as our lockdown defender, the writing was on the wall that next year wasn't going to be the year Culver would get his shot for big minutes.


Dartis: 35
Block: 30
Laster: 25
Carter: 25
Kirk: 25
Mickle: 20
Taylor: 15
=175: I think most of these are self-explainatory. The reason I think Mickle averages a little more than Taylor is because Mickle already appears to be the best low-post defender on this roster. If Block is able to add a little more bulk, I could see Saul running with Block at the 4 a la Kaminski. If we do that Mickle and Carter create more matchup problems for opponents while Taylor gives us more of a traditional center. I could see each of those guys contributing at varying levels based on the matchups.

I could see any of the other 3 freshman contributing next year. Each gives us some options we wouldn't have otherwise. Who knows with Gollon and Dozier. Don't forget Dozier has a 7-0 wingspan. In addition to his redshirt year, he went to prep school for a year. He will be 22 before next year and only a sophomore for us.

I would probably give Mickle 30-35. He will be the best post defender in the MAC.