Xavier v. Dayton: Set Your Depth Chart

At 4:30pm tomorrow, the Jimmy Carter Classic will tip off in Orlando in the guise of the championship game of the AdvoCare Invitational. Xavier has handled business against Alabama and USC while Dayton has fought to the wire to take down Iowa and Monmouth. Now fate has once again paired these old conference foes in a game on national television.

Xavier has gotten to this point on the back of basically two things: rebounding and free throws. The Musketeers get a higher percentage of their points from the line than all but 7 teams in the country, and it has been well documented that Xavier has enjoyed a huge rebounding advantage on both ends. If you're the coach, are you designing the lineup to leverage those strengths, or do you take them for granted and try to balance things out with players who can do other things?

Here's the KenPom depth chart to get you started. It should be noted that Pomeroy's depth charts are just built on an algorithm. The reason you see JP listed as a point, for example, is because he gets a good number of assists without turning the ball over much and he's fairly feeble on the defensive glass. Ed, on the other hand, gets shots up, turns the ball over a lot, and rebounds like a small forward. The depth chart isn't perfect, but it gives you a bit of an idea of how Xavier has lined up over the last five games.