Overall I’d say positive, especially our big 3. They all have a different strengths, so they should be able to play off each other, and it showed tonight.
Other than them, we don’t have many other scoring options. We are going to need 30+ from Joe and Jesse every night just to be competitive, especially against good teams. I like Judah a lot but he will have games where he struggles to finish at the rim. But he gives us an threat we haven’t had in a while offensively.
I thought each of the freshman did things well. I think Taylor has the biggest chance to be the biggest impact guy other than Judah. He looks good athletically and is built well for a freshman. The shot is there too. Bell does have a nice stroke. I get why JB starts him, I think he wants the shooting threat in the starting 5.
Quadir will drive JB crazy, I think he’s going to see his minutes shrink as we get into ACC play. I think he will be a really good player and will end up doing so many things very well. But I don’t see JB playing more than 8 and with Joe/Judah/Sy there isn’t many minutes open in the guard spots. I think he’ll play a huge role next year.
By mid December, the Benny/Brown minute split at the 4 will be 20mpg each. Brown is the type of guy that will trust early, imo.
Overall I’d say I’m more optimistic than I was a week ago. We do have 10 guys we can play, which we haven’t had in a long time. We have a big, an elite shooter, and hopefully an elite shot creator (Mintz). I do question where the scoring will come from at times. But I think we’ll rebound and defend better than most people think.
