This is assuming right now everyone comes back (this may or may not happen)
This is going to be an important year for a lot of people as UND enters Year 2 of the Summit. UND has to replace 2 solid starters in Avants and Seales, who were solid 4 year contributors to the program. While Seales could be an easier piece to replace, the question will be how UND will be able to replace was Avants brought to the 5 position.
There is potential in this squad to be a contender in a WIDE open Summit League next year. There could be as many as 6 teams that could potentially make a run for the title next year. Of course a lot can change on these rosters throughout the Summer. However, UND does have issues that they need to address if they truly want to make a run. First, UND needs to address the 5 spot in the lineup. As much as I love Rebraca, he need to stay at the 4 and only play the 5 in certain situations. I don't know much about Schmidt, but it could be a tall order to ask him to come in and be ready off a redshirt. According to Verbals, UND does have 2 scholarships to play with. This is a spot where I think Jones should take a chance on a grad transfer. He did alright with Dale in 2017, perhaps he can strike again. If not, find that HS heavy big that can bang with some of the bigger bodies in the Summit.
The 2nd issue is the point guard spot. Unless UND is content with Marlon at the point and thinks Davids and/or Panoam is the guy, I would use the 2nd available scholarship on a point guard.
So how does UND maximize their potential with their returning lineup? Lets start with the Senior Class: This class as gotten a lot of flack for various reasons. My personal thoughts: If UND wants to reach the promise land, these three players need to lead the way and step up their games. This means Stewart becoming one of the better players in the conference, it means Walter and Brown becoming more than borderline starter/reserve. Granted, these players did show improvements but if you ask me they are not where they need to be right now to help this team go where they need to go.
The Junior Class is interesting: There wasn't a whole lot of contribution from them as sophomores and this has all the making of a total whiff of a class from the staff. If Panoam is the future PG of this team, he needs to start showing it and having a big summer. I love what Brooks brings, he knows his role on defense. I would like to see if can score a little to maybe get more minutes. I expected more from Saddler but he never really got his chance. Someone here needs to break out and give UND a jolt from the juniors.
The Sophomore Class has two consistent contributors in Moody and Rebraca. Both can be better and become really good players next year. The question will be what role will they play? Do they overtake the two seniors in their positions and start? Does Rebraca start at the 5 and play with Walters? Does Moody play at the 3 with Brown? They both have deficiencies that they need to work on to really maximize their potential (Moody with defense and Rebraca with weight and getting more polished on everything). The rest of the class? Well here is where it gets tricky: Outside of Ethan getting some run in the conference season, there is many questions that are left to be answered. If there is potential turnover in the roster, this is the place to look. Jal was very hyped but after a few games, he didn't get much time. Davids started at the point guard position in the beginning of the year, but then was replaced and didn't get much time after. Marko was a reserve who played here and there but didn't get a big run. What will become of these three players? Does Davids figure out the point guard role and get some minutes? Does Jal put on the weight and start tapping into that raw potential? Does Marko have the game slow down enough for him to get that shot of his out on the floor. One of these three need to figure it out and become part of this rotation, especially if Marko and Davids can figure it out. I think Ethan has a nice little nitche for him as well as someone who can come in and knock down some shots. You can never had too many of those players.
Right Now UND has two members of the freshman class: One is DeSean, who comes in with a good pedigree and could finally be that true 3 that Jones hasn't had really since Troy Huff. He has been practicing with the squad since the start of the 2nd semester. The question will be how much action does he get? Will he be a key reserve? Will he slide into the starting lineup? With his size and his ability to play the 3 and the 4 in small ball lineups, Jones could throw a lot of different combinations if he wanted to with DeSean.
Schmidt is that bigger body, but who know what he can bring to the table at this stage. I would love that he would step in and be a competent big at the 5 spot so Rebraca can play more 4, but we will have to see.
If I had to guess a starting lineup based on what we have right now.
Stewart
Brown
Moody
Walter
Rebraca
This is what I would do, but this is what I would guess Jones would do. If I had a choice, if Moody had improve his defense enough and DeSean was ready, I'd start Moody at the 2 and DeSean at the 3.
5 burning Questions
1) What does UND do with the 2 remaining scholarships (if we are to believe Verbals)?
2) What will be the roles of Brown and Walter going forward: Starters or Reserves?
3) Who from the Sophomore Class will step up and contribute outside of Moody and Rebraca?
4) Does DeSean have an impact from Day 1?
5) How much turnover does UND have in players and in coaching staff?
5-ish players who need to have a big offseason
1) Stewart: Improve the 3 point shot
2) Rebraca: Get bigger and work on EVERYTHING!
3) Moody: Take the next step and be an all-around guard, which means Defense, Defense, Defense and play-making
4) Jal: He needs to put on weight and UND needs to figure out what role he can play on this squad
5) Brown/Walter: How much more can they improve on their games to get them to be a solid starter. Brown needs to keep working on attacking the rim and defending, Walter needs to put on weight and play some defense in the post as well as working on that 3 point shot.
Lastly, I hope there is plans for this team to make a Foreign trip this summer. I wish they had a chance to do it last year but I think it would be a nice leg up for this squad.
UND did a good job in staying around and not falling behind too far. Whenever Omaha went on a run they managed to counter it. However, UND just couldn't make that one play/stop that they really needed. It also didn't help that they didn't have an answer for a guy averaging 3.6 ppg who went off last night. Seales and Avants didn't have the best nights, but Marlon stepped up enough to cover for both of them. Brown and Moody had a nice first half but were quiet in the 2nd. Rebraca did what he could and had an up and down game, which was better than what Walter did, who didn't have a good night at all. Still no issue with the playcall at the end. Still was enough time to play the foul game and have one more crack at it. Too bad it didn't go down. Slightly disappointed in the year but not as much as I was 2 weeks ago. Still think we let a few slip away that we shouldn't have and perhaps the season would have been different. Now its time to look ahead to next year. We need a few more bigger bodies. And thank you for all the nice comments once again.