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Message: [QUOTE="billsin01, post: 5547556, member: 837"] 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: [B]George[/B] 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. [B]Donnie[/B] 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. [B]JJ[/B] 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. [B]Kingz[/B] 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. [B]Kyle[/B] 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. [B]White [/B] 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. [B]Kiyan[/B] 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. [B]Fennell[/B] 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. [B]Souare[/B] Like the activity. He's going to be a solid complementary piece. [B]Betsey[/B] 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. [/QUOTE]

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