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Ipsaro. Assuming he can regain even 75% of his explosiveness, he’s the point man.
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Skaljac. He’s earned a spot in the starting 5 somewhere, even if he has to play center.
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Kirby. Maybe a touch small for a 3 man, but he plays big and jumps outta the gym for boards
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Almar. I think he can thrive at the 4 spot without having to guard the opponents Big.
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Robbins. I’ve been high on this kid early and I think he makes a huge leap next year. The summer vids look like he hit his adult puberty or got a little hgh booster
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probably giving Copeland a slight edge over Robbins as of today otherwise our bigs are too slow. Robbins does look like he dropped the baby fat and leaned out, would love to see him earn that spot
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I see Almar in pretty much the same role as last season. I don’t know anything about Copeland, but I agree he may be the guy to start.
I like to say it’s not who starts, it’s who finishes. Feel free to use that.
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I think Copeland is starting but Robbins is going to have to play real minutes as we are very limited on defensive size with any experience. We will need him to rise to the opportunity.
I think in MAC play we’ll almost certainly be playing three guards. Most teams in the conference can’t punish playing small too much.
I think Elam is gonna start or certainly play similar minutes as Kirby. Ipsaro might be limited to begin the season.
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I think we will be doing small ball more often than not which is fine by me. With Steele in charge, I am fine with anything.
I think the initial post is probably correct but I’d swap out Copeland for Robbins. Copeland fits a little more in the mold of how our bigs play and has more experience. That being said I think Robbins showed a lot of promise and has the potential to make a jump. Either way, I’m excited to have a true backup center unlike last year.
Assuming Ipsaro is healthy, I could almost see him playing more off the ball and Skally being the primary ballhandler. I think Luke is a more natural passer/playmaker than Evan is, but you can’t go wrong with either guy at the point.
It’s possible it might be Elam over Kirby. I’d be comfortable either way.
Atlason is a natural four (the way we play) and I think it’s the position where his defensive deficiencies can be best masked. He’s not athletic or quick enough to defend on the wing and not big enough to defend in the post, but other teams fours are where he’s going to have the best shot to compete athletically.
One option depending on the opponent could be playing Copeland and Robbins together. With Robbins ability to shoot the three we would still be able to space the floor. We tried it a few times with Potter and Woolfolk back in 24/25.
Rich Rolf is also a great option to play either forward spot. The three if we want to play bigger or the four if we want to go smaller.
If the starters are Ipsaro/Skaljac/Kirby/Atlason/Robbins, that gives us a bench of Elam/Rolf/Robbins/Waltz. That’s a pretty good bench with a lot of flexibility. Wildcards are the true freshmen and Stowers. At least one true freshmen has played meaningful minutes every year Steele has been here. Anyone’s guess if that happens this year. As far as Stowers goes our last redshirt was Brant Byers and that worked out pretty well.
Overall, I like the roster. There’s a lot of positional flexibility and shooting. I think our guards are going to be awesome. Concerns would be Ipsaro’s health and frontcourt depth/experience.
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An interesting wrinkle with the freshmen is the elimination of redshirts. I expect to see all of them sprinkled in and get some minutes, especially in early games before we get into the meat of conference play. No reason not to anymore.
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Tbh I didn’t even know that was a new thing
And is it still possible Woolfolk returns?
As of now, the injunction still stands so he is eligible (but NCAA has vowed to fight it). The fact that Chet, his HS coach, was soliciting offers on X for him, and we’ve heard nothing, leads me to believe he’s looking elsewhere.
Until we hear something official, can’t rule returning out, but I’d think if he was interested in coming back they would have already made it happen.
Kinda forgot about the former Elk. He’s gonna garner significant minutes too. I think the offense will fit him like a glove. His Evan Miya defense rating was better than most of Miami’s roster this past season, although it’s still around average.
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I would expect a rotation of Rolf and Atlason at that position. Perhaps Waltz as well although I could see him rotating with Elam and Kirby, and Stowers is going to get some PT as well at either the 2 or 3 spot.
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If you look at our roster, there really are a lot of interchangeable pieces. This is a very versatile roster. Only thing it needs is a return of Woolfolk!
Skaljac
Pick 2 - Ipsaro/Elam/Kirby
Either Rolf or Atlason
Copeland
There’s no way Skaljac isn’t starting after last season and I’d be stunned if anyone other than Copeland is starting at the 5 (barring a Woolfolk return).
I wouldn’t be shocked if it’s Ipsaro coming off the bench. I’d still expect him to play significant minutes and be on the floor in crunch time for ball handling and free throw shooting, but bringing him off the bench to start with would help with rotations (given that he and Skaljac are the only true PGs) and give Steele more flexibility to tweak lineups in crunch time based on game flow. He played a role like that in the 2025 season. We also don’t necessarily know what condition he’ll be in following the injury, especially with how important explosiveness was in his game.
Could see either Rolf or Atlason at the 4, but I’d probably lean Rolf right now. I think he’s more of a complete player than Atlason and it would make it easier to use Atlason off the bench as a 5 if needed (though I definitely hope Robbins and Horton will make that unnecessary).
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That sounds about right. I expect Robbins and Waltz to make significant progress; if they do, and Ipsaro can regain his old game, we could be very deep and dangerous. I don’t have the same expectation for Stowers, but Steele is very high on him. It would be another great sign if he could burst out of the gate like Kirby did last year.