Jimmy Lemke
10-17-2014, 12:46 PM
Yesterday I went to practice to check out the team, as I'll be unable to do so next Tuesday for the intrasquad scrimmage (work, come buy a car!). My notes:
#2 Akeem Springs - Emotional, loud and aggressive, he's setting the tone for the rest of the team in practice. Didn't make mistakes a couple weeks ago when I was watching from upstairs, made a couple yesterday but got on himself and fixed it immediately. He's big and built, definitely a Big Ten-sized guard. Reminiscent of Trevon Hughes in body type, except he's a couple inches taller. If he doesn't step in and start, I'm going to be surprised. Then again, odder things have happened. We should expect big things from a kid who averaged nine points a game as a freshman in the MAC.
#3 BRRRRRROOOOCK Stull - Taller, more solidly built version of Cody Wichmann. You can see he's a shooter, great form on the shot. Still looks like he's trying to settle in, which is totally typical for freshmen. Didn't stand out because of that, he'll gain confidence as he continues playing.
#5 Cody Wichmann - Handling the ball better, built a little stronger than last year, conditioned well. Made the couple shots he took in half court. If he makes the same jump from fro-to-so that Austin made, he's going to be a player and we're going to be sitting pretty.
#12 Jimmy Stamas - Definitely looks like the lead backup and heir apparent to Steve McWhorter at point (based one 1 1/4 practices lol). Very skilled ball handler, saying he's 6'0'' is a joke - definitely bigger than Jordan, but not six feet. Stamas has pretty good court vision, still working on timing with some guys. I'm trying to think of the last time Milwaukee had three true point guards on the roster...dylanrocks needs to help me on this one.
#13 Justin Jordan - When I first saw him, I was expecting him to look like Mike...but he could be fraternal twins with JR Lyle. I was watching one play solid defense, thinking this new kid's got some solid skills, then I realized I was watching JR, who we've seen for a full year already. Justin made a few freshman mistakes (and got called on it by JR hilariously) but nothing that I'd be worried about. He's confident even in mistakes but you can see the structure is there to build an all-conference point guard. He has athleticism, speed and an unorthodox shot that just drips "Air Jordan" all over it. I think Stamas is ahead of him on the depth chart right now, but that could change by the time the season rolls around. He is unintimidated by the D-I surroundings, which makes sense since this is a kid whose been practicing with the Bobcats/Hornets for a couple years now.
#15 Trinson White - I was pleasantly surprised by his ability to finish around the rim, he's definitely improved his game since the decision to redshirt him came down last October. He's still fairly thin, but he's muscular and quick. Defensively he's better. I expect him to push for a rotation spot, he could be a starter in time.
#20 Derek Rongstad - Definitely a walk-on, but a walk-on with size. He's going to be a great practice player for years, but we'd be in trouble if he was asked to play a bunch of minutes right now. Probably will play sparingly if he does play this year. Like a thinner Averkamp, so he could develop into something down the road - will definitely benefit from spending time in the weight room and conditioning.
#21 Dan Studer - Strong practice player, matched up against Tiby and pushed him. He's the kind of guy you want on the scout team - smart, conditioned, and able to take advantage of mistakes by rotational players. Could be a "Program Guy" for those of you who value those dudes. I'm one of those dudes.
#22 Evan Richard - DNP, don't know why. Can't help but think about what we could have had with this kid. Great scout team player, but can't help but hope for more.
#23 JJ Panoske - DNP, also don't know why. I wouldn't practice him every day even if he's 100%, you want him to be rested and able to play 20-25 a night. JJ can be a shot blocking king; I'd say that Alec Brown and Damian Eargle are the only recent HL players better at blocking shots. If he finds his way down on the block and anchors himself there, he's going to be outstanding. I'm okay with the occasional floating three, but he needs to be down low for our post D.
#25 Steve McWhorter - Strong leader, not as vocal as perhaps some leaders have been in the past. More of a lead-by-example kind of guy. Steve's very talented, I'd say he's the best true point guard in the Horizon League. People elsewhere will probably want to argue that, but being a PG isn't something you find on the stat sheet. What Steve does for Milwaukee Basketball is much more important than an assist-to-turnover ratio.
#30 JeVon Lyle - Can't say enough on how JR has improved. He's shooting like a starting shooting guard, he finishes very smooth, carries his body with incredible poise. It's going to be very, very hard to keep Lyle or Springs off the court. Defensively he's stronger than last year. He's not lost, as he looked at times last year. He also knows what to do in situations where he finds himself at a surprise advantage, which definitely wasn't the case last season. I'm very impressed. We are so deep at the 2/3. He could be 6th man of the year.
#31 Matt Tiby - Still passionate, still vocal. Floating around the three-point arc in scrimmage a little more than I'd like, but it's plain as day that he has been working on his shot considerably. Made a couple dumb mistakes, but in the pre-season nearly everyone does. I want a little more bull-in-a-china-shop from Matt, but he's earned some time outside the arc. We know what we're getting from Matt - all-conference play.
#33 Scotty Tyler - Tall (taller than 6'7'' for sure) and skilled, but he lacks conditioning. You can tell he isn't used to the speed and strength of the Horizon League. The Big Sky is one of those conferences with speedy guards but big, lumbering posts. All of our posts are guys who run the floor, so it's going to take Scotty time to get up to speed. From drills, though, you can tell he will be a decent player once he gets that together. I'd like to see him after a year of a strength and conditioning on the mid-major level. Definitely a down-the-road kind of player, but it looks like the worst case scenario with Scotty is we'll get an outstanding scout team post.
#34 Austin Arians - Automatic from beyond the arc. If he was the best shooter in the Horizon League last year, this year he may be pushing for one of the best in the country. He's developed into a leader, he is such a smart offensive player and he's one year improved on strength and conditioning. He may be an above average defender this year, which is unbelievable considering how much of a sieve he was as a freshman. In my eyes, he's entrenched as the starting three and no one is going to take it from him. Could score 15+ ppg this season, and I wouldn't be surprised if he eclipsed 42% from three. Truly excited to see Austin Arians as a junior. He works so hard. Definitely a "Program Guy."
#50 Brett Prahl - The freshman post is probably going to play significant minutes right away, and I'm not worried about it at all. Both of the twins came in physically ready to play, and in the last season they've gotten a lot better skilled. Brett is an excellent post defender for a freshman, and you can see that he's added several post moves offensively. Needs work finishing around the rim.
#52 Alex Prahl - Not quite as skilled offensively, but he'll find his way on the court due to his nose for the ball a la Jason Averkamp. You can tell that his future is very bright, in a different way than Brett's. If we build them as complementary players rather than two of the same player, it's going to be a huge deal. "Jeter still can't tell them apart" is the joke going around. You can tell when they play, though. Alex is more defensive oriented, Brett is more offensive oriented. Having said that, neither is weak at the other end.
Got to see the practice with some of the guys from PantherU as well as a couple high school coaches from Minnesota who are on an annual pilgrimage - Milwaukee is their second of 4 schools they see practice over two days, the others are Madison, Northwestern and Loyola. Nice guys, hope their season goes well.
Our team is deep. Deeper than ever in the wing, deeper than ever at the point. We've had deeper years in the post, but we're still deep.
PG - McWhorter, Stamas, Jordan
SG - Springs, Lyle, Wichmann, Stull*, Richard
SF - Arians, White, Stull*, Rongstad*
PF - Tiby, B Prahl, A Prahl, Tyler*, Studer
C - Panoske, B Prahl, A Prahl, Tyler
* - Likely Redshirt
# - Scout Team
Scout team - PG Jordan, SG Stull, SF Rongstad, PF Studer, C Tyler. That's a pretty good scout team. I'd redshirt Stull if only for the fact that it's going to be a lot harder for him to get on the court than it was for Cody last year, simply because we have more bodies at the spot - Jordan Aaron is gone, but Stull is looking up at Springs and a Lyle who deserves a lot more minutes. And Cody himself.
I'd also consider a redshirt for Justin Jordan, since we have two point guards. If Jordan takes over the backup PG spot, I doubt he'll redshirt. You'll know if he's taken the #2 PG spot if he doesn't redshirt.
Coach tends to not redshirt someone who should have been redshirted. Cody comes to mind, but so does Ryan Allen and Demetrius Harris. I hope the glut of players at the 2 and 3 will point them to redshirting Stull.
#2 Akeem Springs - Emotional, loud and aggressive, he's setting the tone for the rest of the team in practice. Didn't make mistakes a couple weeks ago when I was watching from upstairs, made a couple yesterday but got on himself and fixed it immediately. He's big and built, definitely a Big Ten-sized guard. Reminiscent of Trevon Hughes in body type, except he's a couple inches taller. If he doesn't step in and start, I'm going to be surprised. Then again, odder things have happened. We should expect big things from a kid who averaged nine points a game as a freshman in the MAC.
#3 BRRRRRROOOOCK Stull - Taller, more solidly built version of Cody Wichmann. You can see he's a shooter, great form on the shot. Still looks like he's trying to settle in, which is totally typical for freshmen. Didn't stand out because of that, he'll gain confidence as he continues playing.
#5 Cody Wichmann - Handling the ball better, built a little stronger than last year, conditioned well. Made the couple shots he took in half court. If he makes the same jump from fro-to-so that Austin made, he's going to be a player and we're going to be sitting pretty.
#12 Jimmy Stamas - Definitely looks like the lead backup and heir apparent to Steve McWhorter at point (based one 1 1/4 practices lol). Very skilled ball handler, saying he's 6'0'' is a joke - definitely bigger than Jordan, but not six feet. Stamas has pretty good court vision, still working on timing with some guys. I'm trying to think of the last time Milwaukee had three true point guards on the roster...dylanrocks needs to help me on this one.
#13 Justin Jordan - When I first saw him, I was expecting him to look like Mike...but he could be fraternal twins with JR Lyle. I was watching one play solid defense, thinking this new kid's got some solid skills, then I realized I was watching JR, who we've seen for a full year already. Justin made a few freshman mistakes (and got called on it by JR hilariously) but nothing that I'd be worried about. He's confident even in mistakes but you can see the structure is there to build an all-conference point guard. He has athleticism, speed and an unorthodox shot that just drips "Air Jordan" all over it. I think Stamas is ahead of him on the depth chart right now, but that could change by the time the season rolls around. He is unintimidated by the D-I surroundings, which makes sense since this is a kid whose been practicing with the Bobcats/Hornets for a couple years now.
#15 Trinson White - I was pleasantly surprised by his ability to finish around the rim, he's definitely improved his game since the decision to redshirt him came down last October. He's still fairly thin, but he's muscular and quick. Defensively he's better. I expect him to push for a rotation spot, he could be a starter in time.
#20 Derek Rongstad - Definitely a walk-on, but a walk-on with size. He's going to be a great practice player for years, but we'd be in trouble if he was asked to play a bunch of minutes right now. Probably will play sparingly if he does play this year. Like a thinner Averkamp, so he could develop into something down the road - will definitely benefit from spending time in the weight room and conditioning.
#21 Dan Studer - Strong practice player, matched up against Tiby and pushed him. He's the kind of guy you want on the scout team - smart, conditioned, and able to take advantage of mistakes by rotational players. Could be a "Program Guy" for those of you who value those dudes. I'm one of those dudes.
#22 Evan Richard - DNP, don't know why. Can't help but think about what we could have had with this kid. Great scout team player, but can't help but hope for more.
#23 JJ Panoske - DNP, also don't know why. I wouldn't practice him every day even if he's 100%, you want him to be rested and able to play 20-25 a night. JJ can be a shot blocking king; I'd say that Alec Brown and Damian Eargle are the only recent HL players better at blocking shots. If he finds his way down on the block and anchors himself there, he's going to be outstanding. I'm okay with the occasional floating three, but he needs to be down low for our post D.
#25 Steve McWhorter - Strong leader, not as vocal as perhaps some leaders have been in the past. More of a lead-by-example kind of guy. Steve's very talented, I'd say he's the best true point guard in the Horizon League. People elsewhere will probably want to argue that, but being a PG isn't something you find on the stat sheet. What Steve does for Milwaukee Basketball is much more important than an assist-to-turnover ratio.
#30 JeVon Lyle - Can't say enough on how JR has improved. He's shooting like a starting shooting guard, he finishes very smooth, carries his body with incredible poise. It's going to be very, very hard to keep Lyle or Springs off the court. Defensively he's stronger than last year. He's not lost, as he looked at times last year. He also knows what to do in situations where he finds himself at a surprise advantage, which definitely wasn't the case last season. I'm very impressed. We are so deep at the 2/3. He could be 6th man of the year.
#31 Matt Tiby - Still passionate, still vocal. Floating around the three-point arc in scrimmage a little more than I'd like, but it's plain as day that he has been working on his shot considerably. Made a couple dumb mistakes, but in the pre-season nearly everyone does. I want a little more bull-in-a-china-shop from Matt, but he's earned some time outside the arc. We know what we're getting from Matt - all-conference play.
#33 Scotty Tyler - Tall (taller than 6'7'' for sure) and skilled, but he lacks conditioning. You can tell he isn't used to the speed and strength of the Horizon League. The Big Sky is one of those conferences with speedy guards but big, lumbering posts. All of our posts are guys who run the floor, so it's going to take Scotty time to get up to speed. From drills, though, you can tell he will be a decent player once he gets that together. I'd like to see him after a year of a strength and conditioning on the mid-major level. Definitely a down-the-road kind of player, but it looks like the worst case scenario with Scotty is we'll get an outstanding scout team post.
#34 Austin Arians - Automatic from beyond the arc. If he was the best shooter in the Horizon League last year, this year he may be pushing for one of the best in the country. He's developed into a leader, he is such a smart offensive player and he's one year improved on strength and conditioning. He may be an above average defender this year, which is unbelievable considering how much of a sieve he was as a freshman. In my eyes, he's entrenched as the starting three and no one is going to take it from him. Could score 15+ ppg this season, and I wouldn't be surprised if he eclipsed 42% from three. Truly excited to see Austin Arians as a junior. He works so hard. Definitely a "Program Guy."
#50 Brett Prahl - The freshman post is probably going to play significant minutes right away, and I'm not worried about it at all. Both of the twins came in physically ready to play, and in the last season they've gotten a lot better skilled. Brett is an excellent post defender for a freshman, and you can see that he's added several post moves offensively. Needs work finishing around the rim.
#52 Alex Prahl - Not quite as skilled offensively, but he'll find his way on the court due to his nose for the ball a la Jason Averkamp. You can tell that his future is very bright, in a different way than Brett's. If we build them as complementary players rather than two of the same player, it's going to be a huge deal. "Jeter still can't tell them apart" is the joke going around. You can tell when they play, though. Alex is more defensive oriented, Brett is more offensive oriented. Having said that, neither is weak at the other end.
Got to see the practice with some of the guys from PantherU as well as a couple high school coaches from Minnesota who are on an annual pilgrimage - Milwaukee is their second of 4 schools they see practice over two days, the others are Madison, Northwestern and Loyola. Nice guys, hope their season goes well.
Our team is deep. Deeper than ever in the wing, deeper than ever at the point. We've had deeper years in the post, but we're still deep.
PG - McWhorter, Stamas, Jordan
SG - Springs, Lyle, Wichmann, Stull*, Richard
SF - Arians, White, Stull*, Rongstad*
PF - Tiby, B Prahl, A Prahl, Tyler*, Studer
C - Panoske, B Prahl, A Prahl, Tyler
* - Likely Redshirt
# - Scout Team
Scout team - PG Jordan, SG Stull, SF Rongstad, PF Studer, C Tyler. That's a pretty good scout team. I'd redshirt Stull if only for the fact that it's going to be a lot harder for him to get on the court than it was for Cody last year, simply because we have more bodies at the spot - Jordan Aaron is gone, but Stull is looking up at Springs and a Lyle who deserves a lot more minutes. And Cody himself.
I'd also consider a redshirt for Justin Jordan, since we have two point guards. If Jordan takes over the backup PG spot, I doubt he'll redshirt. You'll know if he's taken the #2 PG spot if he doesn't redshirt.
Coach tends to not redshirt someone who should have been redshirted. Cody comes to mind, but so does Ryan Allen and Demetrius Harris. I hope the glut of players at the 2 and 3 will point them to redshirting Stull.