SWC75
Bored Historian
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(Again, I'm doing this without a box score and these are observations based on a few games played in August, not conclusions drawn from a full season of play.)
The opposition in these four games were about on the level of Colgate, Cornell, Butler and Harvard, (who won the Ivies the last couple of years). Their biggest problem was that couldn't deal with our size and athleticism. They had to try to beat us from outside and that's hard to do. Our play was sloppy at times, (a lot of times) but that's to be expected with so many new guys and our star player missing a couple of games with a leg injury. It looks like another year where the defense will be the strength of the team but there are signs we may get better on offense. I'm impressed that we won four games in four days, one involving a huge comeback in overtime and we looked the best at the end, dominating the second half of the last game against a good team. The team showed guts as well as size and talent.
CENTERS
DaJuan Coleman finally showed the skills everyone was excited about when he was recruited. He showed good hands and mobility and a soft touch, scoring from 15 out, hitting some free throws and dominating in the paint, going down, up and around people rather than through them . The graphic said he had 25 points and 7 rebounds. He also showed the ability to throw those excellent outlet passes. If this isn't a false positive, ti's big news. DC2 can give us the inside scoring we have lacked for a couple of years, dominant the boards and ignite the fast break that had disappeared from the Syracuse offense. If we've got him going that in itself made this trip totally worthwhile.
Rakeem Christmas had a great night, especially on the boards. Keita continued to hustle. You've got to feel a lot better about the center position after this one. With fall practice to come I'm hoping we feel the same way in November.
FORWARDS
CJ wisely didn't attempt to play after re-injuring his leg. Jerami Grant continued to play well. Michael Gbinije continued to struggle scoring but helped out in other ways. BJ Johnson is an exciting talent but he's playing at 45RPM while the game is at 33 1/3, (remember records?). He's all arms and legs. He's got to slow it down a bit and keep those arms and legs attached to his head. But he's so talented he can put up numbers even when it looks like he's struggling.
GUARDS
Tyler Ennis looked a bit tired, making some rare bad passes at the beginning. JB rested him more and clearly wanted to see what Gbinije, Cooney and Patterson could do as back-ups. As I've said, I think we will be OK there if the back-up only has to give us a couple of minutes a half. if for some reason we are without Ennis for extended periods or in overtime, we will have a problem there. But the team's biggest problem is who is going to be the "2" guard. Cooney has been fairly solid and his shooting, while not spectacular, is clearly better than Gbinije or Ron Patterson. Patterson had a good game tonight, finally finding the range on his jumper and displaying his usual hustle and athletic ability. I'm still not sold that he can score enough to be the "2" but it at least looked possible tonight. I think we will open with Cooney at that spot and see how it goes. if Coleman continues his development, we perhaps could afford a "2" who isn't a big scorer but who helps us in other ways.
The opposition in these four games were about on the level of Colgate, Cornell, Butler and Harvard, (who won the Ivies the last couple of years). Their biggest problem was that couldn't deal with our size and athleticism. They had to try to beat us from outside and that's hard to do. Our play was sloppy at times, (a lot of times) but that's to be expected with so many new guys and our star player missing a couple of games with a leg injury. It looks like another year where the defense will be the strength of the team but there are signs we may get better on offense. I'm impressed that we won four games in four days, one involving a huge comeback in overtime and we looked the best at the end, dominating the second half of the last game against a good team. The team showed guts as well as size and talent.
CENTERS
DaJuan Coleman finally showed the skills everyone was excited about when he was recruited. He showed good hands and mobility and a soft touch, scoring from 15 out, hitting some free throws and dominating in the paint, going down, up and around people rather than through them . The graphic said he had 25 points and 7 rebounds. He also showed the ability to throw those excellent outlet passes. If this isn't a false positive, ti's big news. DC2 can give us the inside scoring we have lacked for a couple of years, dominant the boards and ignite the fast break that had disappeared from the Syracuse offense. If we've got him going that in itself made this trip totally worthwhile.
Rakeem Christmas had a great night, especially on the boards. Keita continued to hustle. You've got to feel a lot better about the center position after this one. With fall practice to come I'm hoping we feel the same way in November.
FORWARDS
CJ wisely didn't attempt to play after re-injuring his leg. Jerami Grant continued to play well. Michael Gbinije continued to struggle scoring but helped out in other ways. BJ Johnson is an exciting talent but he's playing at 45RPM while the game is at 33 1/3, (remember records?). He's all arms and legs. He's got to slow it down a bit and keep those arms and legs attached to his head. But he's so talented he can put up numbers even when it looks like he's struggling.
GUARDS
Tyler Ennis looked a bit tired, making some rare bad passes at the beginning. JB rested him more and clearly wanted to see what Gbinije, Cooney and Patterson could do as back-ups. As I've said, I think we will be OK there if the back-up only has to give us a couple of minutes a half. if for some reason we are without Ennis for extended periods or in overtime, we will have a problem there. But the team's biggest problem is who is going to be the "2" guard. Cooney has been fairly solid and his shooting, while not spectacular, is clearly better than Gbinije or Ron Patterson. Patterson had a good game tonight, finally finding the range on his jumper and displaying his usual hustle and athletic ability. I'm still not sold that he can score enough to be the "2" but it at least looked possible tonight. I think we will open with Cooney at that spot and see how it goes. if Coleman continues his development, we perhaps could afford a "2" who isn't a big scorer but who helps us in other ways.
