sutomcat
2024 Iggy Award (ACC Tournament Record)
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Some tidbits from practice today from a reliable source. Will discuss each player sorting by number assigned in reverse order. Scholarship players only…
The usual disclaimers apply. This was just one practice. Sometimes strange things happen in practice. Take all comments with a large grain of salt.
Bryce Zephir
His physical appearance is off setting. He looks chunky. He is the third string point. Not a great athlete but you can see he has been around and knows the game. Not going to,score much but he gets it to the open man and works hard on defense. Probably not going to play a ton of minutes.
William Kyle
Looks shorter than Freeman or White. Very quick and athletic. Can jump. Will block some shots. Scored some on pick and rolls. Likes that play. More on that later. Also flashed a few traditional low post type moves. Battled on defense. I don’t think he will be a major liability on defense. Don’t expect him to be a big scorer but should average around 10 ppg.
Aaron Womack
Skinny. Mostly hangs out on the perimeter and had the ball knocked loose some when he was in position to score. But he finished a couple breaks and made some nice passes. There is potential here. I can’t see him playing a lot on this team and think he is a strong candidate to redshirt.
Tiefing Diawara
His hair style is weird and he is pretty raw. But I was surprised at how well he defended, rebounded and held his own against more experienced bigs. He is a tough kid that does not back down and he runs the court and moves shockingly well. Has to develop a back to the basket game and better footwork but he is a legit 7’0 240 as a frosh and if he works hard, he could actually become a force inside for us in a year or two. Maybe the most pleasant surprise of the practice?
Naithan George
He didn’t dominate the ball when his team had it. Which I think is a good thing. Rarely made a mistake. Made the right pass consistently. Played good defense and hit a bunch of mid range jumpers. But his love for the pick and roll really showed. He will run that play all game long if he can. And he is good at it. I have missed seeing it. Good to see SU running it a lot again.
Ibrahim Souare
Very active. Hustles his butt off. Expect him to focus on rebounding and defense. If he scores, it is probably going to be on an alley oop or an offensive rebound. Not real comfortable with the ball. Will dunk it if he can. Got hit with an elbow to the forehead and missed most of practice. I think he is the backup center and might play a few minutes as a backup power forward too.
Luke Fennell
He appears to be the backup point. JJ is not playing any PG any longer. He got abused by JJ a couple of times on defense but usually held his own there. Rarely makes a mental mistake or bad decision. Knows how to play. Played some 2 with George, who found him for a couple open corner jumpers. Gets to the foul line, made all his FTs with perfect form. Had a shot or two blocked inside, where he might still be adjusting to the extreme athleticism of US college ball. I think he is going to play double figure minutes all season.
Kiyan Anthony
Didn’t scrimmage. Just practiced shooting on the other court. No sleeves in his legs. No major limp. Think he got hurt during the late spring/summer and is still on the mend? I think it’s gonna be very tough for him to play a lot without scrimmaging all preseason. He is falling behind right now.
Tyler Betsey
Another pleasant surprise. Physically mature. Played passable defense, rebounded okay, and was one of the few players who shot well from the perimeter. Mostly played on the perimeter. Did a good job finding open spots to shoot a jumper, mostly from the corners. Was able to hit a couple mid range shots too, and had a couple good passes. Freeman assisted on a few of his jumpers. They might be tight.
Nate Kingz
Another mostly perimeter player. Nate hit his first 3 and then lots of misses. I think he took quality shots but he didn’t shoot well from the outside. He did drive and score a couple times and had a couple tough layups in transition, which he unfortunately missed. His defense was okay. As was his rebounding. Certainly much better than the guy from last season.
JJ Starling
JJ was the best player on the court and the leading scorer by a large margin. Drove to the hoop with great speed and abandon. Hit jumpers (mid range and 3) when open. Made some nice passes and his effort on defense was the best I have seen from him. He played like you want your seniors to play.
Donnie Freeman
If JJ was the best player, Donovan was 1A. No sign of any lingering physical issues. Was uber aggressive on offense, attacking the lane for acrobatic baskets, hitting jumpers and making a bunch of nice passes too. Very effective finishing on pick and rolls, looked comfortable doing it. Also looked for and hit he second roller on some of these plays. He was absolutely dominant on the defense boards (not so much on the offensive boards) and he even got a couple weakside help blocks. And he stole the ball from a PG twice when he got caught in a switch with his pterodactyl type arms.
I will be surprised if he doesn’t average double figure rebounds and end up on the first team All ACC team. JJ might be on the second team.
Sadiq White Jr
Sadiq is an interesting player. He played extremely active on defense, hustling all over. He got,so,e steals, forced some turnovers but also got called for a lot of fouls. He doesn’t have a lot of moves or ways to score on offense but he is in the right place at the right time a lot and I expect he will score a bunch of garbage and fast break type points. Very good rebounder already. Pretty sure he is our best defender already. I think he is,going to be our first forward off the bench and be the energizer bunny for this team.
Lots of good athletes. The kids seem to genuinely like each other and everyone appeared to be working their butts off all practice. I think they are still getting to know each other (so many new faces) and they might start off slow, but this team has the potential to make a run in the NCAA tournament. Hopefully we have a season of good health. That will help a lot.
The usual disclaimers apply. This was just one practice. Sometimes strange things happen in practice. Take all comments with a large grain of salt.
Bryce Zephir
His physical appearance is off setting. He looks chunky. He is the third string point. Not a great athlete but you can see he has been around and knows the game. Not going to,score much but he gets it to the open man and works hard on defense. Probably not going to play a ton of minutes.
William Kyle
Looks shorter than Freeman or White. Very quick and athletic. Can jump. Will block some shots. Scored some on pick and rolls. Likes that play. More on that later. Also flashed a few traditional low post type moves. Battled on defense. I don’t think he will be a major liability on defense. Don’t expect him to be a big scorer but should average around 10 ppg.
Aaron Womack
Skinny. Mostly hangs out on the perimeter and had the ball knocked loose some when he was in position to score. But he finished a couple breaks and made some nice passes. There is potential here. I can’t see him playing a lot on this team and think he is a strong candidate to redshirt.
Tiefing Diawara
His hair style is weird and he is pretty raw. But I was surprised at how well he defended, rebounded and held his own against more experienced bigs. He is a tough kid that does not back down and he runs the court and moves shockingly well. Has to develop a back to the basket game and better footwork but he is a legit 7’0 240 as a frosh and if he works hard, he could actually become a force inside for us in a year or two. Maybe the most pleasant surprise of the practice?
Naithan George
He didn’t dominate the ball when his team had it. Which I think is a good thing. Rarely made a mistake. Made the right pass consistently. Played good defense and hit a bunch of mid range jumpers. But his love for the pick and roll really showed. He will run that play all game long if he can. And he is good at it. I have missed seeing it. Good to see SU running it a lot again.
Ibrahim Souare
Very active. Hustles his butt off. Expect him to focus on rebounding and defense. If he scores, it is probably going to be on an alley oop or an offensive rebound. Not real comfortable with the ball. Will dunk it if he can. Got hit with an elbow to the forehead and missed most of practice. I think he is the backup center and might play a few minutes as a backup power forward too.
Luke Fennell
He appears to be the backup point. JJ is not playing any PG any longer. He got abused by JJ a couple of times on defense but usually held his own there. Rarely makes a mental mistake or bad decision. Knows how to play. Played some 2 with George, who found him for a couple open corner jumpers. Gets to the foul line, made all his FTs with perfect form. Had a shot or two blocked inside, where he might still be adjusting to the extreme athleticism of US college ball. I think he is going to play double figure minutes all season.
Kiyan Anthony
Didn’t scrimmage. Just practiced shooting on the other court. No sleeves in his legs. No major limp. Think he got hurt during the late spring/summer and is still on the mend? I think it’s gonna be very tough for him to play a lot without scrimmaging all preseason. He is falling behind right now.
Tyler Betsey
Another pleasant surprise. Physically mature. Played passable defense, rebounded okay, and was one of the few players who shot well from the perimeter. Mostly played on the perimeter. Did a good job finding open spots to shoot a jumper, mostly from the corners. Was able to hit a couple mid range shots too, and had a couple good passes. Freeman assisted on a few of his jumpers. They might be tight.
Nate Kingz
Another mostly perimeter player. Nate hit his first 3 and then lots of misses. I think he took quality shots but he didn’t shoot well from the outside. He did drive and score a couple times and had a couple tough layups in transition, which he unfortunately missed. His defense was okay. As was his rebounding. Certainly much better than the guy from last season.
JJ Starling
JJ was the best player on the court and the leading scorer by a large margin. Drove to the hoop with great speed and abandon. Hit jumpers (mid range and 3) when open. Made some nice passes and his effort on defense was the best I have seen from him. He played like you want your seniors to play.
Donnie Freeman
If JJ was the best player, Donovan was 1A. No sign of any lingering physical issues. Was uber aggressive on offense, attacking the lane for acrobatic baskets, hitting jumpers and making a bunch of nice passes too. Very effective finishing on pick and rolls, looked comfortable doing it. Also looked for and hit he second roller on some of these plays. He was absolutely dominant on the defense boards (not so much on the offensive boards) and he even got a couple weakside help blocks. And he stole the ball from a PG twice when he got caught in a switch with his pterodactyl type arms.
I will be surprised if he doesn’t average double figure rebounds and end up on the first team All ACC team. JJ might be on the second team.
Sadiq White Jr
Sadiq is an interesting player. He played extremely active on defense, hustling all over. He got,so,e steals, forced some turnovers but also got called for a lot of fouls. He doesn’t have a lot of moves or ways to score on offense but he is in the right place at the right time a lot and I expect he will score a bunch of garbage and fast break type points. Very good rebounder already. Pretty sure he is our best defender already. I think he is,going to be our first forward off the bench and be the energizer bunny for this team.
Lots of good athletes. The kids seem to genuinely like each other and everyone appeared to be working their butts off all practice. I think they are still getting to know each other (so many new faces) and they might start off slow, but this team has the potential to make a run in the NCAA tournament. Hopefully we have a season of good health. That will help a lot.
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