I would luv to have the feedback on how the players looked art madness. I have read the other boards, but some posters that I respect only post here. I was wondering how they looked?
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I would luv to have the feedback on how the players looked art madness. I have read the other boards, but some posters that I respect only post here. I was wondering how they looked?
Ragged. They practiced that afternoon and it was a pretty sloppy scrimmage. They shot a bunch of threes, as we all expect, but no one really stood out to me.
It's hard to assess anyone in a 12-minute scrimmage, especially when there is a fair amount of subbing going on. At best you can form a few impressions, but that doesn't mean they are valid. After all it wasn't a real game, and they've been practicing for what, a week or two? But here goes anyway - a few impressions:
Luke: Hard to tell if he's improved because he is easily a notch or two or three above Heldt. He looked o.k., but he didn't stand out. Blocked one of Matt's shots, grabbed a few defensive boards, finished a couple of times underneath. Missed his one base line hook from the right baseline. Didn't look any quicker than a year ago.
JJ: Didn't do a whole lot. Hit a trey from the corner, which was nice to see. Didn't finish on a floater from roughly 8 feet driving across the lane.
Katin: Seemed to handle the ball pretty well and made a couple of nice passes, one on a break that led to a plus one by Sam. Seems to have a good feel for the game. His shot was off. I think he was 0 of 3 from the floor. Didn't stand out on the boards, but appears to be a pretty solid defender, at least on the ball.
Duane: Duane air-balled a trey (off to the left). I was hoping he would change his outside shot back to what it was two years ago - more of a set shot with the release on his way up, but it's the same as it was last year - releasing at the top of the jump. He did have three or four assists, with most/all of them coming by aggressively driving to the hoop, drawing a help defender, and then hitting a teammate for a lay up or short shot. Overall, I thought Duane looked good.
Sandy: Sandy scored two baskets, but one of them was lucky. On the break his pass was deflected (by Traci, I think), but it went right back to him, and he laid it in. The other was a result of what I thought was lazy defense. He tried to drive right baseline once, but couldn't beat his man off the dribble. I didn't see a whole lot of difference from the Sandy we watched during conference play last year. Just my impression.
Rowsey: He had a nice pull-up 12-15 footer, but other than that his shot wasn't falling. He has a quick release, but I thought a couple of his shots were real early. He seems to be a decent ball handler, but he didn't show himself to be a facilitator, but again, he was on the court for probably nine or 10 minutes. He didn't get burned on defense, but it was hard to see if he's likely to be able to stay in front of BE point guards. I don't see him being able to guard BE off guards who could be five to seven inches taller than he is. If he's hitting from the outside, he can be a real asset, but if he's not....well, I'll leave it at that.
Haanif: Had a couple of lay ups, didn't hit his lone trey attempt (I think he only tried one). Got called for traveling on one drive when Sam stayed in front of him and Haanif stumbled. Overall, played o.k., I guess.
Traci: Traci missed his only trey attempt, but he did hit a nice baseline jumper from about 12-15 feet. Looked confident going up with the shot, no hesitation. He tried to penetrate a few times off the dribble and did force the defense to adjust, but a couple of times I thought he over-dribbled. But if memory serves, he didn't turn the ball over, and he was aggressive on offense. Seemed to play pretty solid defense.
Matt: Matt scores three baskets, I think, two underneath, and one on a short jumper at the buzzer. He does look stronger, but he does not appear to have improved his quickness. He grabbed a couple of defensive boards. He seems more comfortable and confident than he did last year, but I still don't see him as being a major contributor this year. He'll get some minutes at the 5, and hopefully he will be able to hold his own.
Sacar: Sacar looked pretty quick and fluid on the court, but right after he came in, he turned the ball over. Later he attacked the hoop and drew a foul and made one free throw. Seems like a good athlete, who is still quite a bit away from being a significant contributor in the BE.
Markus: I thought he was pretty impressive. He missed a couple of shots but made a nice driving floater over a defender. He is a solid ball handler even though he doesn't seem to be a natural point guard. He has a feel for the game and looked very confident. He also did a nice job of dogging Rowsey and Traci. He did get beat once off the dribble, but overall I thought he had a very respectable scrimmage. In fact, at one point Luke passed the ball from the top of the key to a wing, don't remember who, but the wing had already cut for the basket, and the ball looked like it was going out of bounds for a turnover, but Markus dove for the ball and managed to pass it back in while he was air-born. It was a great hustle play - a very athletic hustle play.
Sam: My first impression of Sam in an MU uniform was definitely positive. He drained a trey from the corner and finished through contact/foul on a fast break. He just missed a tip-in even though the defender had him boxed out - the tip-in just rolled off. But I also liked his defense. He stayed in front of his man. And I loved it when an opponent put up a trey from the corner, and as the shot was released, Sam attacked the defensive glass from just above the free throw line and snared the rebound. I also liked it when Haanif tried to take him off the dribble but ended up stumbling/traveling instead. Like Markus, Sam seems to understand the game and make good decisions. I'll be surprised if he doesn't get decent minutes.
So, those are my impressions. I watched the scrimmage after tivoing it, but I erased it, so this is all from memory - and, as I said, initial impressions - nothing more. I'm sure others will take issue with some of these impressions.
I don't remember where i saw this, but i though i read somewhere that the passing was very good. It was something that struck me as a positive because if the team is moving and passing the ball well, especially after only a week of practice, that could be a good sign offensively for this team.