manleyzoo
2nd String
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- Aug 27, 2011
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As a left-coaster I haven't seen the team in person all season long so today's practice was my first look at them up close and personal. We practiced at 5 pm PT for an hour, right after UNLV. Aside from players, coaches, officials, affiliates, hangers-on and associated riff-raff, maybe there was a few hundred people in the building so I took a nice cozy seat at the foul line 2 rows off the court.
Each team is announced as they take the floor for their practice time, so when the PA person said: "And, now from the ACC, the Orangemen of Syracuse University," I got the immediate bad karma vibe. But our boys all seemed in good spirits, stretching, running, shooting, jumping and doing whatever it is they do to get ready before the drills begin, so either they didn't hear the announcer's gaffe or they blew it off. JB was chatting with Bill Freider for a while (don't know why he was here) and seemed in good spirits.
I can report that anyone concerned about MCW's ankle need not worry. He was running freely and easily, cutting hard and jumping high. As this was my first time seeing him in person, I had no idea he weighed all of 8 lbs. No wonder air conditioning gusts can blow him over. His legs would get laughed at by toothpicks. Someone should have warned me. On TV he looks like he needs 20 more lbs. In person, it's at least 30 lbs of muscle to flesh him out for the league. Otherwise, he's like tissue paper to those guys.
The guards separated off from the forwards and centers and for a while all I did was watch to see how many, if any, shots MCW, Brandon and Cooney could hit unguarded. It wasn't impressive. This is the best I can say. Gmac, who was running the threesome and walk ons through their paces, was by far the best guard out there, not only the best shooter, but the best everything. He drained, they clanked. MCW, Brandon and Cooney missed the majority of anything they threw at the rim, with MCW being the worst. Nearly all of his shots are flat and wide right with some weird spin on them. They've got no chance to go in. Brandon was leaning in on his attempts (most of them banged off the front rim) and Cooney's ball looks as though it's filled with bricks--he has the anti-shooter's touch.
Maybe it was just an off day shooting for all of them. Let's hope so for tomorrow's sake.
As for the bigs, Coleman looks slimmer in person than on TV. I was surprised by his quick feet but disappointed by his seemingly weak hands. He repeatedly lost the ball in traffic and appeared not to like contact. How can that be? Baye appears to have glue hands by comparison and clearly looked the best of our three centers. He jammed a lot of balls down with his left hand and made it look pretty. As for Rak, he looked disinterested and lethargic, except on the dunking and shot blocking drill when he went nuts, crushing everything in sight and jumping way over the rim. Southerland, to me, has the look of a pro, fit, strong, calm hands, beautiful looking shot. The same goes for CJ, who is easy to miss but just seemed to hit every shot he took, get every rebound in drills and do everything right.
I'm still mystified why Jerami Grant doesn't play. He was outstanding at practice, his shot looks great, he runs, he jumps, he's active, he's long--so please, if anyone understands why he sits--other than Southerland is ahead of him--please enlighten me.
At the end of practice, four guys--MCW, Rak, Brandon and Southerland--took turns at the 1 and 1 with the whole team and coaches watching. All four hit both ends and got big claps from the team.
And finally, I was surprised to see Autry working with the bigs, but then again, he's wide, wide, wide and must be very strong. He looked like he could take any of our guys, bigs and smalls alike, back them down, go around them, shoot over them, stuff them, etc. anytime he wanted to.
And, for the groupies and hangers-on among us, the team is staying at the Hilton, a stone's throw from the arena and a nice place.
I'll try to follow up with some post-game comments tomorrow night. In the meantime F the NCAA.
Each team is announced as they take the floor for their practice time, so when the PA person said: "And, now from the ACC, the Orangemen of Syracuse University," I got the immediate bad karma vibe. But our boys all seemed in good spirits, stretching, running, shooting, jumping and doing whatever it is they do to get ready before the drills begin, so either they didn't hear the announcer's gaffe or they blew it off. JB was chatting with Bill Freider for a while (don't know why he was here) and seemed in good spirits.
I can report that anyone concerned about MCW's ankle need not worry. He was running freely and easily, cutting hard and jumping high. As this was my first time seeing him in person, I had no idea he weighed all of 8 lbs. No wonder air conditioning gusts can blow him over. His legs would get laughed at by toothpicks. Someone should have warned me. On TV he looks like he needs 20 more lbs. In person, it's at least 30 lbs of muscle to flesh him out for the league. Otherwise, he's like tissue paper to those guys.
The guards separated off from the forwards and centers and for a while all I did was watch to see how many, if any, shots MCW, Brandon and Cooney could hit unguarded. It wasn't impressive. This is the best I can say. Gmac, who was running the threesome and walk ons through their paces, was by far the best guard out there, not only the best shooter, but the best everything. He drained, they clanked. MCW, Brandon and Cooney missed the majority of anything they threw at the rim, with MCW being the worst. Nearly all of his shots are flat and wide right with some weird spin on them. They've got no chance to go in. Brandon was leaning in on his attempts (most of them banged off the front rim) and Cooney's ball looks as though it's filled with bricks--he has the anti-shooter's touch.
Maybe it was just an off day shooting for all of them. Let's hope so for tomorrow's sake.
As for the bigs, Coleman looks slimmer in person than on TV. I was surprised by his quick feet but disappointed by his seemingly weak hands. He repeatedly lost the ball in traffic and appeared not to like contact. How can that be? Baye appears to have glue hands by comparison and clearly looked the best of our three centers. He jammed a lot of balls down with his left hand and made it look pretty. As for Rak, he looked disinterested and lethargic, except on the dunking and shot blocking drill when he went nuts, crushing everything in sight and jumping way over the rim. Southerland, to me, has the look of a pro, fit, strong, calm hands, beautiful looking shot. The same goes for CJ, who is easy to miss but just seemed to hit every shot he took, get every rebound in drills and do everything right.
I'm still mystified why Jerami Grant doesn't play. He was outstanding at practice, his shot looks great, he runs, he jumps, he's active, he's long--so please, if anyone understands why he sits--other than Southerland is ahead of him--please enlighten me.
At the end of practice, four guys--MCW, Rak, Brandon and Southerland--took turns at the 1 and 1 with the whole team and coaches watching. All four hit both ends and got big claps from the team.
And finally, I was surprised to see Autry working with the bigs, but then again, he's wide, wide, wide and must be very strong. He looked like he could take any of our guys, bigs and smalls alike, back them down, go around them, shoot over them, stuff them, etc. anytime he wanted to.
And, for the groupies and hangers-on among us, the team is staying at the Hilton, a stone's throw from the arena and a nice place.
I'll try to follow up with some post-game comments tomorrow night. In the meantime F the NCAA.
