COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou men's basketball is set to open its season with an exhibition match against Kansas State Friday, marking the debut of a new-look Tigers squad.

The Tigers brought back plenty three players who started at least 15 games, as Anthony Robinson II and Mark Mitchell started over 30 games while Trent Pierce started 19.

Mizzou opened last season with an exhibition game against Lincoln, who simply never stood a chance. Kansas State presents a much more viable opponent this go around, meaning the Tigers can use this opportunity to evaluate different lineups.

Head coach Dennis Gates has a plethora of lineups to deploy as his starting unit, and there's plenty positions to speculate who gets the nod for. 

Robinson starting at point guard is the only absolute lock for the starting unit – he started 31 of his 33 games as the lead guard last season, and is the only returning guard to play at least 10 minutes per game. Mitchell is also a lock to start, but where he starts is still up in the air; either at the small-ball five or as a forward. 

After that, all signs point toward a guessing game – educated, but still guessing.

If Mitchell starts as a forward, which is how the Tigers deployed most of their lineups to begin last season, Arizona State transfer Shawn Phillips Jr. likely gets the nod as the starting center. Freshman Nicholas Randall and redshirt freshman Trent Burns would be the other options at the five, but Phillips' experience likely warrants the larger role to open the season.

UCLA transfer Sebastian Mack is a strong candidate to start alongside Robinson in the backcourt, given Gates' tendency to start multiple ball-handlers. Mack enters his first year with the Tigers as one of team's best on-ball scorers, averaging 10.8 points per game in his first two seasons. 

However, there's a chance Gates decides to deploy Mack as a super-sixth man, given Mack's prior role and Gates' tendency to bring a talented scorer off the bench – see Grill last season. That would mean sophomore guard T.O. Barrett could get the nod as the starter alongside Robinson. 

As for the forwards, there's three main candidates aside from Mitchell; Trent Pierce, Jacob Crews and Jevon Porter.

Pierce started 19 of his 33 games last season, primarily as a small-ball power forward when Mitchell slid to the five, and Josh Gray slid to the bench. He wasn't the level of contributor as Robinson or Mitchell, but was solid nonetheless, averaging 6.7 points and 3.2 rebounds on 47.2 / 33 / 58.1 shooting splits. 

He's prepared to take on a larger role this season following the departure of top scorers. 

"Coach told me that those shots, those threes, that we're now missing with (Bates and Grill) that he wants me, Crews, couple other guys to step up in those areas," Pierce told MizzouRoundtable at preseason media day. "They definitely want some more on ball stuff for me, some more shots." 

This sounds like the staff is expecting a leap from Pierce on the offensive end, meaning he could emerge as a strong candidate in the starting lineup – either small or big. 

Gates recently said that his goal for Crews is for the graduate forward to make 100 3-pointers this season. All six instances of Tigers hitting 100 threes in a season came from players who started the majority of their games, so if Gates wants Crews to hit his goal, he'll start him. 

Porter likely won't be given the starting nod on day one, given he's the only one of the trio without prior SEC experience, but don't be shocked if he makes a run at it after the season gets going. He's a lengthy, aggressive defender who's shown willingness to shoot and make plays in transition – two qualities Gates appreciates. 

The best bet is that the starting lineup includes some sort of combination of Robinson, Mack, Barrett, Crews, Pierce, Mitchell and Phillips. Here's the top options for starting lineups, listed from most to least likely. 

Starting experience

G: Robinson 
G: Mack
F: Pierce
F: Mitchell
C: Phillips

Small-ball 

G: Robinson
G: Mack
F: Crews
F: Pierce
C: Mitchell

Super sixth man + small-ball

G: Robinson
G: Barrett
F: Crews
F: Pierce
C: Mitchell

Super sixth man + big

G: Robinson
G: Barrett
F: Crews
F: Mitchell
C: Phillips