Good post. I'm with you on most of it. Coaching is a major concern at this point after two scrimmages. They're just scrimmages and we're playing a bunch of lineups ... OK, we're playing division II pace. You just have to be able to win comfortably. And, by the way, you can play a ton of lineups, but maybe go with your starters for the first 10-12 minutes and try to build that lead. I don't know. Just don't see any sort of plan or identity on either end of the floor yet.
One general game note from last night: There was a stretch of maybe seven defensive possessions last night where we gave up three layups (one where JJ got beat, another where George got beat and a third where we had three players in the area -- Kingz, Kyle and someone else -- but still managed to give up a relatively uncontested baseline layup) and two open threes where we simply gave too much space to a squared up, standstill shooter. It ended up not mattering that much against Pace, but those types of stretches can kill you against good teams.
Some player thoughts:
George
Way, way, way too much dribbling. I know he's good in the high pick-and-roll supposedly, but that didn't show up last night. I liked when they moved the ball and he got it on the right wing, curling and heading toward the basket. More of that please. For the first 30 minutes, I bet you we spent 90% of our time on offense with someone dribbling outside the 3-point line. Brutal. Might not be George's fault, per se, but either way, he had a really, really rough night.
Donnie
Don't mind Donnie shooting threes. I believe he can make that shot. I think what I like less is his footwork inside. Seems to almost sort of trip himself up and default to a fadeaway. What I will give him, however, is that he seems like one of these kids where if you give him minutes he's going to get his numbers. Double-figures in points, 8-10 rebounds feel like almost a given in 30 mins and there's something to be said for that, even if it's not always real pretty.
JJ
I trash JJ for his defense but I want to point out that he made three great defensive plays in the first half -- nice help for a steal on one, a steal and bucket early in the game (our second basket I think) and then an excellent close-out where he covered more than half the width of the court to force a really errant three from a Pace shooter. Second half was not so pretty. Beat off the dribble clean twice for easy layups, gave up a couple more contested layups. But, his shooting is the question. I have him for 6 open threes in these two exhibitions. He's made one. Super small sample size, but a veteran guard needs to make the open looks he gets with pretty good regularity. He doesn't.
Kingz
Not sure what I think of him. He really does seem invisible at times ... but we also don't run any sort of sets for him that I can think of. If he's a shooter, we need to get him more looks. Thought he had some bad moments in terms of communication on defense. Overall, I'm just not sure we have in him yet.
Kyle
Like the energy and hustle. Feel like the rebounding has been fine so far. Kid works hard. I actually think he looks decently comfortable with the ball in his hands. I'd say he's been our most impressive player through two exhibitions.
White
That was fun. Not sure we can count on the threes but even if we can't, his activity, energy and elite athleticism are desperately needed. No notes.
Kiyan
How good will he be offensively vs. how bad will he be defensively? This is the question we will be asking all year. It's pretty clear he's been a guy who's been asked to get buckets and leave the other stuff to the other players. That can be OK if you are a really, really good offensive player. But time will tell how ready he is to be that kind of player as a frosh.
Fennell
No Fennell in this game? Injury? I didn't expect him to play a lot this year but surprised he didn't touch the floor.
Souare
Like the activity. He's going to be a solid complementary piece.
Betsey
Will be interesting to watch. Don't have a real feel for his defense. Offensively was smooth and very productive in game 1, virtually invisible last night. So jury's still out.
ha. For real Autry is pissing me off because the worst position we could've put most of these guys in was to put our guys in overly complicated rotations and sets.
