Starters will be Smith, Blackman, Abrahamson, James and Lewis.  Off the bench will be Steel, Sanders and Castro(assuming he can play).  Robinson will play as required depending on the fouls on Sanders and Lewis. Lewis will be the first frosh to play because he is a guard and, if Castro is a bust, a surprising number of minutes. Mike will not play a lot of minutes because of Sanders, Lewis and Robinson.  Littleson should be red shirted. Ferry has to win games so he will play the older players unconcerned about player development.

Don't know what coach plans on doing but if Mike is as good as some reports say I'd be giving him at least 15-20 minutes. I'd rotate Lewis, Robinson and Sanders at center. If we plan on doing a lot of running that would keep our centers fresh.

Mike sounds like more of a hybrid 3-4, but I'm only commenting on what others have seen. Abrahamson probably in the same category. Sanders, based on what I saw last season, is our best returning rebounder. While I couldn't even guess at a starting lineup, the combination I'd like to see is Sanders, Mike, James, a revitalized Castro, and a fully healthy Smith. At least offensively. I agree Mike Lewis needs to get minutes, especially early. Among other things, maybe Ferry could employ a press or at least a more aggressive defense if he didn't have to keep his starters out there the whole game.

Curious to see who gets the ball at the end of a close game. Might see Mike, Abrahamson, James, Blackman and Smith on the floor late.

I'm not discounting Steele. He's going to have a chance to get minutes too.

I. Mike is for sure a hybrid 3-4. 

heelsdukesfan wrote:

not to take anything away from Lewis, but  I believe it was Rothstein who proclaimed J. Robinson to be a double double machine from the moment he stepped foot on the court on the bluff...

I hope Robinson gets a chance to show what he can do. I Mike, and for that matter, Abramson, both (from descriptions) seem more like taller 3's than stretch 4's. I expect they will primarily be used as big forwards, but I would hope that Ferry will try some combination using more than one of the three big-body guys together, concurrently with a tall 3.

There are many potential variations of lineups. This is a reason to believe this could be a really good year.