The Bulldogs’ seven are very deep
The 1960s film was about a gang of bandits that would raid a poor village until the villagers decided to fight back. Mark Few’s version of the Magnificent Seven looks poised to raid Division I Basketball until the rest of the nation decides to fight back.
The twelve players that logged minutes in the Bulldogs’102-90 victory over Kansas is more of a testament to the lead the starters piled up, as opposed to the strength of the bench, for five players logged five minutes or fewer.
The story was the same versus Auburn Friday afternoon, as from the tip, the Tigers looked outmatched. The reason why the Bulldogs’ are ‘deep’ despite only getting seven players any substantial minutes, is that those seven are interchangeable on both ends of the court and at each position on the floor.
At times point guards Jalen Suggs and Andrew Nembhard were on the bench as 6’2 Southern Illionois transfer Aaron Cook ran the point, and the Bulldogs were no less effective. While the No.1 ranked team in the nation has a talented seven, arguably the best starting-lineup, they have also developed what might be Division I’s first true ‘Big Three’ in the form of Jalen Suggs, Drew Timme, and Corey Kispert.