Some general thoughts in no particular order.
1) Buddy looked great. yeah, it's an exhibition against a DII team, so not great competition and we need to pump the brakes a bit on how this projects to ACC play, but I guess we should have expected that he wouldn't be awed by the moment. He's been around this level of basketball his entire life, but he just looked so much more composed than I thought he would be. Yeah, his shot mechanics are great, but I was more impressed by his overall feel for the game, little things like spacing/positioning on offense, handling to ball, working to get his feet set in advance of shots, shooting off the dribble, and confidence. His footwork was fantastic throughout the game - this is the most underrated aspect of shooting the basketball - and he showed a GREAT feel for it. Needs some more work on the defensive end but he looked way more prepared than I expected.
2) Braswell - had a bit of "freshman Demetris Nichols syndrome" in his first game - capable defensive effort coupled with complete lack of awareness on offense. I watched him very closely on his first couple of defensive possessions and he was busting his tail - he rotated smoothly and covered a ton of ground, but on offense, he looked timid/reserved and did not move well without the ball at all. He was like the complete opposite of Buddy, who just seemed to understand what spot to be in, and how to get to it. Obviously Braswell needs to get stronger. His shot mechanics looked decent but he had no arc on any of his perimeter shots - total line drives - leading to long misses.
3) Battle looked pretty bad. I'm not worried about this because we know he's a good to very good player but I felt like he forced some bad shots and didn't really do anything to run the offense. Obviously he's not a point guard so that's not a big worry. I'm sure he'll ease back into things once he's playing alongside Howard or Carey.
4) Brissett actually showed some touch and made some shots near the basket, which was nice to see even if the opposition was a bunch of 6'5" defenders. It was nice to see after watching him launch grenades off the backboard most of the time he got inside last year. Hopefully he can carry this sort of efficiency over to ACC play. If he can shoot around 45% overall from the field with 36-39% from 3 we'll have a great season. He's a jumping jack and was great on the glass last night.
5) C position - I'm expecting Marek to continue to get minutes in the middle this year. Pascal looked like Pascal. He played a nice game, nothing spectacular or overwhelming, but he was solid. Sidibe... while he was moving better than he did the second half of last year, he just has this feeling of fragility about him... I hope he can stay healthy but to be honest I don't have a good feeling about. Watching him transition from D to O, or O to D, you could see that he had to sort of gear himself up to get up to running speed. Maybe it's just rust and not lingering injury issues... we'll see. Hoping for the best for Sidibe, but I'm expecting Marek to get some of his minutes at C later in the season.
6) Marek - looks like he gained at least half a pound over the off-season. Maybe even a full pound?
7) Hughes looked impressive. Most of his looks were either run-outs or wide open perimeter shots, so it's hard to tell how he will translate in ACC play, but it was pretty much all positives for him in the exhibition.
Mason