Preseason Practice...

[PhatOrange]

Tons of coverage dropping this year. Loving it.

great, everyone is going to have a scouting report on us now.

 

[Orangezoo]

great, everyone is going to have a scouting report on us now.

Lol.

 

[pwong]

FWIW I was told yesterday that Judah has been playing quite a bit off the ball in practice.. It sounds like Red wants to take a greater advantage of Judah's scoring ability. He will still handle the ball quite a bit, but the thought is JJ and Chance can take pressure off him here.

Interesting, I thought Judah looked really good on ball as a passer during combine games and thought we would see him more of a passer than scorer heading into next year. If he’s playing more off ball, I hope he shoots closer to 35% on volume from 3 next year.

 

[Orangezoo]

Interesting, I thought Judah looked really good on ball as a passer during combine games and thought we would see him more of a passer than scorer heading into next year. If he’s playing more off ball, I hope he shoots closer to 35% on volume from 3 next year.

The more guys playing on the ball where you can leverage the different looks that gives a defense depending on matchups the better. Sometimes it's harder for a team to have to keep an eye on such a dynamic threat when he's off the ball vs being able to game plan for how to slow him down on the ball every possession. These kind of things make us harder to defend. It's something JB has done over the years when the talent was there and was good coaching.

 

[721Comstock]

Interesting, I thought Judah looked really good on ball as a passer during combine games and thought we would see him more of a passer than scorer heading into next year. If he’s playing more off ball, I hope he shoots closer to 35% on volume from 3 next year.

JJ isn't a PG.

Judah is.

I mean - yes, they can both likely run the O for us, but JJ hasn't shown the playmaking ability for others nearly to the extent that Judah has, to date.

I'd love to be mistaken, and find out that JJ is kinda like Dion -
who could surely get his, but also was an underrated playmaker for his teammates.
He averaged 2.5 apg as a Soph (Jr. Robo Triche was 2.6, Sr. Scoop led the team with 4.9.)

 

[orange79]

He already speaks like a coach.

Rothstein: Which of the returning players made the biggest jump since the end of last season?

Autry: I think they all have. Obviously, Judah (Mintz) has come back and he’s better. He’s just a better player. He’s confident and he knows what’s going on. He’s shooting the ball much better. Benny (Williams) has kind of picked up where he left off at the end of last season. I don’t think people really understand — I think he averaged like 17 and 10 the last five games of the season or around there. That’s where he’s kind of picked things up. I think Chris Bell and Maliq (Brown) are both better. Maliq has added some weight and his game is really starting to round out a bit. I think that whole crew has gotten better. It’s valuable that they got the chance to play last season as freshmen. Justin Taylor has also been very solid. That group has all gotten better.

 

[justgold315]

Interesting, I thought Judah looked really good on ball as a passer during combine games and thought we would see him more of a passer than scorer heading into next year. If he’s playing more off ball, I hope he shoots closer to 35% on volume from 3 next year.

I think he was a good scorer in the first game and had something like 7 assists in the second game.

 

[hoopsupstate]

I have a feeling Bell may explode offensively this year. The confidence level going from freshman to sophomore can be huge. He has drivers all over the court that can get him open shots. Justin and Benny will get their shots too. People forget that JJ was a lights out shooter in high school. I really like the makeup of this roster. Red has a lot of flexibility.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[Orangezoo]

I have a feeling Bell may explode offensively this year. The confidence level going from freshman to sophomore can be huge. He has drivers all over the court that can get him open shots. Justin and Benny will get their shots too. People forget that JJ was a lights out shooter in high school. I really like the makeup of this roster. Red has a lot of flexibility.

It's a take your turn as leading scorer kind of roster honestly...

 

[Orangezoo]

This is pretty much how most of us feel. Talent is clear, lots of depth it appears and a difficult schedule with questions on how Red can coach.

I hope that the PG mentality comes out and there isn't a tendency to over think it. There is so much talent here that there is a lot of simple action you can run mixing it up as needed and be extremely hard to guard. Similarly on defense be physical in your mtm, crisp in switching and then throw a press into a zone with a big lineup at some teams and situations.

When I look at UConn last year , as much as I hate complementing them, this is what they did. Put a deep team together and ran a lot of high pct sets to maximize the matchup advantages they had. Ran specific sets depending on personnel as well and let guys make plays the rest of the time. It was good basketball.

 

[Orangezoo]

So one interesting thing in all these videos - Q's shot looks pretty good. Looks much more consistent on his release. Doesn't look like he has a clean shooting form one time and awful the next.

 

[Orangezoo]

Didn't realize this...

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

I have a feeling Bell may explode offensively this year. The confidence level going from freshman to sophomore can be huge. He has drivers all over the court that can get him open shots. Justin and Benny will get their shots too. People forget that JJ was a lights out shooter in high school. I really like the makeup of this roster. Red has a lot of flexibility.

So basically jay wright's nova squads, that seems to be the model.

 

[Orangezoo]

So basically jay wright's nova squads, that seems to be the model.

With maybe a bit more in terms of options sizewise at the 5. Not a bad model along with Baylors title team to work with.

 

[jordville]

 

[jordville]

I agree with Judah...

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

So one interesting thing in all these videos - Q's shot looks pretty good. Looks much more consistent on his release. Doesn't look like he has a clean shooting form one time and awful the next.

Forgotten man.

 

[Orangezoo]

I agree with Judah...
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Not wanting to get even a little over hyped and wait and see. That said am optimistically waiting for a few games in when there are a whole lot of "whoa" comments when all of us and then the country gets to see this guard group in action.

 

[MikeSU02]

It’ll be:
Judah
JJ
Bell
Benny
Mcleod

Chance 6th man
The rest TBD…

Bell better have improved... a lot.

 

[Orangezoo]

Bell better have improved... a lot.

I think Bell has the widest variance to how his season plays out. He comes in, improves his effort and consistency in his defense and rebounding then and plays a key role or he doesn't and probably falls to the very end of the main rotation. There won't be a shortage of guys salivating to make the most of the opportunity presented.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Bell better have improved... a lot.

At least this year if he doesn't hustle or play defense we have 2-3 other options so it does not really matter. If he doesn't do those things I am confident Red will sit him unlike JB.

 

[MikeSU02]

At least this year if he doesn't hustle or play defense we have 2-3 other options so it does not really matter. If he doesn't do those things I am confident Red will sit him unlike JB.

Rebound, dribble... I'm with you, but unless he got way better, I can't imagine him being good enough to start on this team, but hopefully I'm wrong.

Like you said, it would prob be a quick hook if it's bad.

 

[Orangezoo]

Rebound, dribble... I'm with you, but unless he got way better, I can't imagine him being good enough to start on this team, but hopefully I'm wrong.

Like you said, it would prob be a quick hook if it's bad.

This new portal world plays its role here too where you are balancing the vision for the team and the vision/roles for your returning and new players. Bell and honestly probably all the returning guys have been working to that vision with the staff and thus the opportunity is being presented. I think that's the best you can do coaching wise to handle this balancing act. The players can have major impacts on their own destiny as it should be but none of that provides any form of guarantee.

 

[MikeSU02]

This new portal world plays its role here too where you are balancing the vision for the team and the vision/roles for your returning and new players. Bell and honestly probably all the returning guys have been working to that vision with the staff and thus the opportunity is being presented. I think that's the best you can do coaching wise to handle this balancing act. The players can have major impacts on their own destiny as it should be but none of that provides any form of guarantee.

Yeah, I just think he wasn't good last year. And it's a big leap to be a starter on *this* team with the talent we have.

I'm not saying anything else -- I'm sure the kid put in work and all that, but he had a long haul to go. I hope he is better.