This is a TOUGH question.

Your 5 makes plenty of sense, but keeping Jake and/or Alex out of the starting lineup would have seemed an outrage just a few days ago. Both of those guys have notable experience on winning teams that is impossible to discount.

Alex's record as a 3pt shooter is significantly better than Max's, but I don't know enough about his abilities as a defender, finisher, ball handler, passer, & mid-range shooter to choose between he & Max. Maybe they play a smaller starting 5 with Alex displacing Necas as a stretch-4?

Jake is such a gritty, smart, glue guy that gets to the basket in unorthodox ways. He just knows how to play in a way that Cam didn't consistently show last season. He is fan favorite for obvious reasons. I have a hunch that the best version of this team has him on the floor 25 minutes a game. He does seem to be the player most likely of the top 8 players to flourish off the bench. Maybe he is the A-10 6th Man award winner.

I can't answer the original question.

Other than in highlight video, I’ve never seen Alex Williams play, so it’s hard to rate his ability.  I do know that Jake is a guy who can make the team better, so whether he starts or comes in off the bench he will get his minutes provided he is healthy.

I like the topic. Glad it was posted.  I can’t name anybody other than Hugley.  The new 15 man/no walk on roster feels bad to me.  We don’t know what promises were made and which will be kept concerning PT, but CLEARLY there will be issues which could cause chemistry problems. Almost HALF of these guys won’t even play!  I think the more interesting discussion is: who will see little to no PT on this roster?  I’m sure Dru and the staff like that they have so many options but how do you get today’s player to buy in to the team first mentality?  6 of these guys will be practice players only.  I have a few in mind but am curious to hear who you believe some of those prime candidates are.

whoever plays, better be ready game 1, none of that garbage like last year.

Probably on my own here but I'm looking for Guinyards backup to be Aekins, 

One way to keep a group of that size engaged is to create a second team. If you play an eight man rotation, choose five others who will enter together at the ten minute mark.  These guys lay it all on the line: full court press, in your face defense.  Full speed for two or three minutes.  Run them back out in the second half to do the same.

Aekins will be great. If he sticks around, I think he could be excellent. I don't doubt that at all. Just seems increasingly difficult to come in as a freshman PG given everyone else is now 21+ years old. Same goes for Lawson as well. Very bright futures ahead of them. For me, it's just a question of if they're ready THIS year.

Here's a question for yinz though. Obviously, we have no way of knowing right now but where do yinz think the roster improved this offseason and where do you see some losses coming back to hurt?

 

Motor, I agree. As I said before… we lost with the players that left… so not a huge loss on those guys and he brought in ones that we hope are better. Glad Max is back.
It’s not like Robert Morris who lost all of their best players from last year. Also, with Dru having a year of head coaching under his belt things should be better in that area.

Being an assistant vs. a head coach is a huge difference.

Guinyard - need him to be what we hope he can be.
Crawford - I like his athletic ability
DiMichele - glue guy
Necas - its this the year he stamps his name onto the A10 map?
Center - I am not all in on Hughley like y'all.   But Dixon doesnt like to start the game, so I guess Hughley for the first 5 minutes of each half, then Dixon, with some Van Brussel mixed in.

When you compare the Dukes exiting players vs new players coming in (as transfers, freshman or returning from injury), the quantity of new players is overwhelming.  Here's a look from a different angle (note: the lines get a little blurred on whether a player is a forward or a center):
Guard
OUT:  Dinkins, Rozier
IN:  Guinyard, J Williams, Hall, Aekins, Lawson.  Might as well throw in DiMichele too.
Forward
OUT:  Corbett, Hronsky
IN: A. Williams, Jellum
Center
OUT:  Wilborn, Barre
IN:  Hugley, Milosevic, Van Brussel

To me, it looks like the Dukes have substantially upgraded the Center position and have also upgraded the guard position.  Forward is kind of meh, but when you throw in the returnees Edwards, Necas and Dixon, it looks pretty promising.

The lineup possibilities are endless; Dru's got his work cut out for him trying to pull together a cohesive team especially on the defensive side of the ball.  It's going to be fun to watch this season play out.