Davidson Basketball: 2019-20 season preview for Wildcats

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 16: Kellan Grady #31 of the Davidson Wildcats celebrates a basket against Saint Louis Billikens during their Atlantic 10 basketball tournament Semi Final game at Barclays Center on March 16, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) /

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BOISE, ID – MARCH 15: Rusty Reigel #32 and KiShawn Pritchett #20 of the Davidson Wildcats react in the second half against the Kentucky Wildcats during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Taco Bell Arena on March 15, 2018 in Boise, Idaho. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

How will the minutes shake out for Davidson?

One big thing that hampered Davidson all year in addition to their inexperience, and may have hurt them more down the stretch was the extremely short bench McKillop used. In their season opener, just seven players saw double-digit minutes and in the NIT loss to Lipscomb, that number was six. In fact, on the season, only one player beyond the starters, Collins, averaged over 10 minutes per game with 22.8.

With everyone returning, the starting five of Grady, Axel-Gudmundsson, Pritchett, Frampton,
and Brajkovic is likely to remain intact, what will be key is if they can lengthen their bench at all. Collins will likely be the first guard off the bench again, but getting anything of consequence from Mike Jones and sophomore David Czerapowicz will go a long way to the team’s success. In the frontcourt, another Jones, Bates may be the first forward off the bench just due to experience but Lee and sophomore Nelson Boachie-Yiadom could help in giving Brajkovic and the bigger guards a rest.

The rest of the roster is rounded out with senior guards Malcolm Wynter and Cal Freundlich and forward Patrick Casey combined for just 4.4 minutes per game in 28 total games. If the Wildcats don’t have to lean on the starters so heavily in 2019, it will make them even stronger down the stretch.

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