Team Sullivan....The Wildcats

Jonny Sullivan enters year two of his OC captaincy with a distinct plan. He drafted young, and he drafted fellow Saint Ignatius high school alum from graduation years of 1997-2000. 9 of his 12 players graduated from SI, including Jonny himself. "The Wildcats" are young, and athletic. I think this will prove advantageous late in the second half of games. One benefit but also possible downside of having so many young players is that I can anticipate his team having 10 guys on the squad, week in and week out. This should provide ample depth, and fresh legs, but also, could this lead to trouble finding a solid rotation?

One problem Jonny Sull won't have is getting rebounding and high percentage shots from his center. With his first pick, Sully grabbled former Olympic Sivler Medalist Ted Murphy with the 5 pick. It was surprising to many, including this blogger that Murphy fell this far down in the draft. In the OCBLeague's blog mock draft, we had Murphy as the top pick on account of his consistent double double of points and rebounds. Murphy also shot an astounding 62% from the field last year, making his teammates look intelligent for having the patience to dump the ball down to him on the low block.
Rounding out the starting 5 will probably be point guard Dave McMonigle, Captain Sully at shooting guard, (San Mateo's Finest)officer Brent Sullivan at the 3, and the crafty Mike Pelligrini at the 4.
McMonigle is an excellent pass first point guard who can rebound and also score when he needs to. If this blog has any beef with his game, its that he doesn't insert himself into the offense enough for our liking. Dave has all the skills to take over games for short periods of time, but too often for our liking, we see him passing up open looks or mis-match opportunities to get others involved.
Officer Sullivan on the other hand provides mismatches all over the board. Bigger, stronger and faster than most in the B League, the younger Sullivan can post you up, cross your over or just shoot the 3 right over you. Not only that, he is extremely capable of banging and defending players taller than him due to his strong base.

The rest of the roster is rounded out by solid role players from high scoring wing Frank Lucier to all around role players Blake Simon (21 points as the game MVP of the NCAA championship game this past summer), Brian Heifferon (over 50% from the field in the B league last year)and Gavin Shiels (a voracious and tenacious rebounder for his size)

OUTLOOK:
Team Sullivan looks to have the most depth of any team in the B League this year. Questions will arise and their rebounding numbers could be compromised if the two new additions to the Murphy family cause Ted to miss more than a couple of games. But like all teams in the league this year, the 18 game season should balance out, and I strongly feel that team Sullivan is a top 4 team, with a good chance to finish in the top 2. If Jonny and Brent Sullivan can keep it going offensively this year, the rest of the players should be able to contribute night in and night out to provide the difference on most nights.