Eighteen was the number of the game. It’s not just the margin of victory. And it isn’t the point total of new starting (for now) back court of Frank Howard and Andrew White. Instead it is the number of different five man combinations the Orange used in a forty minute exhibition against Indiana University (Pa.) Tuesday night.
All offseason, we have heard of this great depth and versatility the Orange would have with ten scholarship players, almost all of which can play multiple positions. Tuesday night that was displayed. Eighteen lineup combinations, listed in order they played with I think corresponding 1-5 positions.
- Howard-White-Lydon-Roberson-Coleman
- Gillon-Battle-Moyer-Thompson-Chukwu
- Gillon-White-Moyer-Lydon-Chukwu
- Gillon-Battle-White-Lydon-Chukwu
- Howard-Battle-White-Lydon-Chukwu
- Howard-Battle-White-Thompson-Lydon
- Gillon-Battle-White-Roberson-Lydon
- Gillon-Howard-Battle-Roberson-Lydon
HALFTIME
- Howard-Battle-Lydon-Roberson-Chukwu
- Howard-White-Lydon-Roberson-Chukwu
- Howard-Battle-Lydon-Roberson-Coleman
- Gillon-Battle-Lydon-Thompson-Coleman
- Gillon-Battle-Lydon-Thompson-Chukwu
- Gillon-Battle-Moyer-Roberson-Chukwu
- Howard-White-Moyer-Roberson-Chukwu
- Howard-White-Moyer-Roberson-Lydon
- Howard-Battle-White-Roberson-Lydon
- Gillon-Battle-White-Thompson-Chukwu
This shows us a couple of things. First, this SU team is exactly as versatile as we thought it’d be. Jim Boeheim used eighteen different five-man lineups, and more interestingly, never put a five-man group back out on the court a second time. However, it feels like there are more combinations out there that weren’t experimented with on Tuesday. What about a small-ball four guard lineup? Gillon-Howard-Battle-White-Lydon. That could cause some serious issues on the offensive end, especially with White and Lydon likely matching up with bigger defenders.
It also shows just how much maneuvering can be done with this team. There are better shooting lineups, maybe like lineup 4 or 7 above. There are lineups that are longer and more effective in the zone, like lineup 6 above. There is a lineup for nearly every situation. Want to play SU big? Throw out lineup 10. Want to play small? Throw out any lineup with Lydon at the 5. Need a better defensive team? Throw your five best defenders on the court. A shooting lineup? Maybe a small ball lineup as suggested in the previous paragraph. The possibilities truly feel endless.
Another thing, and this is the most important thing to remember: while a lot of different looks were thrown out, and a lot of different things were done in the exhibition Tuesday night, it was an exhibition. This type of substitution and this kind of team us, which included a full line change, would likely never happen in a regular season or tournament game. But that’s exactly what Tuesday night’s game was for. It was the first of two test runs. It was a way to figure things out against another team and legitimately have all 10 scholarship players at your disposal rather than in practice when you are running five-on-five scrimmages with the same split teams each time, as multiple players said after the game.
The opportunities on the court of this team are endless, and next Tuesday offers another chance for the Jim Boeheim and the coaching staff to play mad scientist with their lineup configurations.