FWIW... Building the Dam article

FWIW indeed. Reporter didn't even realize that Taya transferred AND graduated. Just two short weeks. - GO BEAVS.

He also thinks either we will start 3 bigs or Jelena won’t start. I’m not sure the accuracy of this article is where you want it.

The article was very poorly written, very poorly edited, displayed a glaring lack of research and knowledge, and represents 3 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

Thanks for giving them the feedback. I posted it mainly to get some discussion going about starting line-ups. I think Jelena will certainly start with Beers as her backup and filling in at the forward position when we need the size. We will likely go with a 3-guard line up for most matchups and I think A.J. and Aaron have a leg up on that 3rd spot (Bendu and Talia as the other guards)... though I do think that, if we need some hot 3 point shooting, either Adlee or Lily could step in. 

I'm hoping Eggers gives us another update once Scott has had a chance to observe them in practice for 2-3 weeks. Or, maybe we'll get an interview with Scott on a football pregame or halftime show. 

This OSU team should be better suited to play quicker than past OSU teams, especially when Raegan is in at the 5.

The biggest thing is going to be who can knock down shots. There were a lot of games last year when no one outside of Talia (and often Ellie, too) could consistently knock down shots. Low FG% and 3FG% were a major reason last year's team simply wasn't good. I think we'll need Raegan and Jelena to be consistent inside (hopefully >50%) and increased accuracy from AJ and Bendu along with the frosh guards knocking down open threes to get back to where OSU has been in previous years.

I really wish we added one more 4/5 player. I suspect we'll see a SF sliding into the PF position quite a bit.

I think that your '5' is much closer to reality than the article. 

If A.J. doesn't start (as predicted in the article), I'll be disappointed, because it'll mean that she hasn't progressed sufficiently. 

If Beers does start (as predicted in both scenarios in the article), it'll mean a.) she's recovered remarkably and b.) wow! her progress on-court has been terrific.

Most shocking of all would be (according to one scenario in the article) Blacklock in the starting five.

I think AJ. If she doesn't start on a team with only 4 returning players, I'd guess we lose her to the portal. I think she's got a tremendous upside, and this year's team should be good, but probably not a contender. I would want to get as many minutes as possible for AJ, Talia, Raegan, and Timea. They're our foundation for the next few years. I'd also make sure Raegan got plenty of time at the post. This is Jelena's 4th year in the program; no telling what she'll do after this year.