Fair enough... It was very difficult to play small in the zone, but a strong enough player can box out a taller player in man to man.
I recall somebody mentioning Taylor playing Williams well in the scrimmage. I'm hopeful this means Taylor is playing big beyond expectations, and not that Williams is playing smaller.
We've had situations where guys looked really good playing against crappy teammates in these scrimmages in the past, only to reveal their actual lack of effectiveness in games.
I guess my pendulum has flipped to being a little worried about this team... I can't quite put my finger on why. I'm usually kind of an optimist.
I think the guards are shaping up nicely, but we are not hearing that any of the forwards or centers are blowing anyone away during the preseason. I understand where you're coming from.
Can this group of guys be physical enough to comprise a quality group of forwards? I see we have several potential 3 point shooters, a couple guys who can get offensive rebounds, and a couple of them who can make a nice pass.
The centers, well, if people are healthy we have tons of size, rim protection and fouls to give. Big physical guys, for once. If we can get 8 points and 8 rebounds from any three of them (McLeod, Hima, or Patterson), along with around 4 blocks among the guys who rotate at center, we will have a pretty good shot at being a pretty good team.
Maybe Benny clicks, maybe he doesn't. He has to bring effort, play defense and rebound. We have too many guys for him to get 30 minutes as a passenger. He's going to have be better than he's been so far, and more consistent, or else Westry will eat his minutes, or one of the other 3 forwards, depending on who is the hot hand.
Maybe Bell brings more to his game than just shooting - or maybe he turns into a Southerland type of player. So far, Taylor has reminded me of those stocky shooters, like Glenn Sekunda or Sean Kerins or Marius Janunlis. He sounds like he understands that if he can play defense he will get chances.
Copeland is a wildcard. He's the most playground kind of player we have. If he can just not self-destruct 4 or 5 times during a game, he could be pretty special. He has that star quality, just like Judah does, but different. He's never going to be a shooter, but I could totally see him becoming a Josh Pace kind of player for us. And I would be very happy with that.
Jake was saying he could see Maliq Brown playing a lot of time at center. That can only happen if the other guys are meeting or exceeding expectations at forward, or else we are going to need his defense and rebounding on the baseline to help avoid being manhandled inside this year. The forwards have to be tough enough for the ACC, not just Colgate, if we hope to see Maliq Brown at Center this year.
And I agree with the premise - if we have good enough forwards to "play small" with a 6-10 Sam Perkins kind of guy at center, we are going to be athletic as all get out. That might wind up our best lineup, something like Judah & JJ at guard, two of Westry, Bell or Benny Williams at forward and then Maliq at Center. I could see that being a great lineup against certain teams.
