UBuffalo Wild Wings Postgame

[2B20Again]

One exhibition game and I can’t believe some of these comments lol. Welcome back to basketball season. They will be fine guys.

%. Just trying to get a feel. 8 or regulars. They will be fine.

 

[Cuse On 3]

mightily impressed with how smooth betsey looks with the ball in his hands. I honestly wasn’t expecting that. His pump fake is lethal

 

[atlanticuse]

What a dumb post, sorry not sorry

how is it dumb?
Coach Autry hasn't proven anything other than he can lose.

How many games did we lose last year in the second half?
If AA is like FB and digs his heels in - doesn't switch up the lineup - we're screwed.

Your personal attack was offensive.

 

[tptcuse]

scrimmages literally do not matter if you are making wide sweeping claims about one please chill out, take a kolonipin, and flal asleep to the soothing sounds of info wars

This seems very specific.

 

[GoSU96]

Is JJ like basketballs version of Collins?
I sure hope not.
Coach dopey needs to become an HC fast.

Good lord

 

[GoSU96]

If JJ wasn’t a local guy he would get absolutely destroyed on here. He is nothing more than a third guard on a good P4 team. The McDonald’s AA game was a long time ago and he hasn’t developed. This team will not go far with him as a top option.

Didn’t he play with injuries to his hand/wrist on both hands last year?

That might effect your shooting

 

[Cusefan0307]

Didn’t he play with injuries to his hand/wrist on both hands last year?

That might effect your shooting

Ehhhh. There’s always an excuse with him. It’s annoying. Lots of guys play injured. He had some of his best games immediately after he came back. Down the stretch he was awful.

 

[AZOrange]

Was very impressed by kiyan and fennell. Betsey too of course. I was not expecting kiyan man defense to look as solid as it was. Fennell was smooth and seemed in total control.

Luke has a little Nash in his game

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Luke has a little Nash in his game

His ball handling was way smoother than I had seen in any of his Aussie games.

 

[Cuse On 3]

Luke has a little Nash in his game

Agreed the way he drives with his head so far up, and the way he moves totallyyyyy reminds me of him: great call

 

[JDubbin]

Not trying to make any massive assessments or predictions coming off of an opening scrimmage… just love seeing my favorite team in all of sportsdom playing again!

P.S. Also very much enjoyed the athletic difference between Kyle this year & Lampkin last year

 

[CardiacCuse]

The part in bold is not true. Our efficiency numbers were much better in February and March of last year then it was earlier in the year. Now we need to be ready to bring it from day one that has been the biggest problem the last five years.

problem is the non-con has never been this important. JB usually got things figured out by Jan/Feb and Red seems no differnt. His teams have been at their worst in Nov/Dec.

with the current rankings formulas and NET, teams simply are not allowed to wait until conference play to get things sorted. JB had the luxury back then because the non-con used to be almost irrelevant. plus the big east was always the best or one of the best leagues...so there were chances galore to build a resume. current incarnation of the ACC isnt that.

im really fighting back the urge to be honest (bc i think it would come across super negative)...Im just shuddering to think of this team in its current state playing houston, kansas and tennessee...bc those games matter a lot to how this season will go.

I've said it every year under red, but ill say it again: i think this team will be pretty good come feb/march: the question has always been if that will even matter by then.

im seeing a lot of the same issues we've seen for a while now: poor inside post defense. no post scoring presence (which will lead to lock down on the perimter). standing around stagnant offense that relies heavily on iso scoring. pick and roll with a center who cannot do anything other than dunk or pass. erratic substitutions that make no sense. failure to keep feeding the hot hand on offense. undersized forwards that have no business in the paint. turning a blowout into a nailbiter.

the length of this team will help a lot on defense. and having a PG will help the offense. but those are just papering over the lack of good schemes and systems in place, both offensively and defensively.

having a point guard like george is much better than not having a PG or forcing a shootin guard to play there. but its not nearly as good as having a PG in place running a very good offensive system. it seems like people think having a PG will automatically create a team that has an offensive identity and system. i dont. Kingz only getting 4 shots is worrying to say the least. having a PG didnt fix that...and i think thats a problem that will linger. betsey was on fire but only got 7 shots. you MUST get these guys the ball when they are cooking like that. but everyone wants their own shots. another thing is these guys were shooting nba 3s for no reason. get close to the line. having a pg didnt really help a lot on shot selection (at least not yet - I know its an exhibition...but still)

im worried that in this era of NIl...when you know starling and freeman are the "big money" players...they will command volume whether it is best for the team or not. theres a lot of mouths to feed and that could be a good thing...but it can also mean not giving volume to the guys who are actually desrving of it. what good is it to have a deep team if it is counter-acted by trying to spread the ball around too much or worse, giving too much volume to the lesser efficient players?

my biggest worry is the interior defense - some teams wont be able to cause a problem with that...but some will. i wish the center could shoot a free throw. if i was an opposing coach i would foul kyle every time he touches it. and i predict if a coach does that, then kyle will have to be benched.

i think this team is talented enough to make the tourney...but if they sneak in in the play-in game...that will be a failure in my mind. and I think they are right around that level unless they get some things ironed out.

just an exhibition...means nthing....just my thoughts from what I saw.

 

[CardiacCuse]

They made 5 straight 3s at the end ( 3 heavily contested) and we didn’t push to win by 30 plus. The obsession that 45-27 didn’t go to 66-27 is getting out of hand.

We played 11 guys- 2 of which we may not see again until garbage time in terms of games that count. They played basically 8.5. That’s not quite the same approach.

this team needs blowouts to get a high NET...its not a trivial matter

 

[sufan59]

Was very impressed by kiyan and fennell. Betsey too of course. I was not expecting kiyan man defense to look as solid as it was. Fennell was smooth and seemed in total control.

Kiyan especially in half court man to man defense is pretty solid. Very intelligent player that is able to force players into bad shooting spots. Hopefully it translates to better competition, but he has always been a very good tactical defender in the half court. Yes his main skill is shooting, but especially this season, he could be taking lots of minutes because of his tactical defense over anything else. I like a philosophy that freshmen playing time should have to do more with your defense.

 

[nocohalo]

If you think people overreacted to last night's exhibition game, just look at Duke twitter right now. Absolutely psychotic.

Duke and Tennessee will win games but their quality is pretty down compared to last year. I suspect you'll see a drop in quality across the board since all the 44 year old players lost eligibility.

 

[sufan59]

If you think people overreacted to last night's exhibition game, just look at Duke twitter right now. Absolutely psychotic.

Duke and Tennessee will win games but their quality is pretty down compared to last year. I suspect you'll see a drop in quality across the board since all the 44 year old players lost eligibility.

Yeah Jeff Goodman from Field of 68 has mentioned he sees freshmen value becoming a lot more important this season than what it was the last few seasons. Should bode well for programs recruiting at a high level out of High School. Which we should have on our bench.

 

[OmahaCuse]

George can, Donnie can against a big and Kingz can as well at times.

Kingz plays within the flow and doesn’t force things.

No one forced the issue last night at all. Luke can get to the rim too.

Kiyan can get his own shot, Luke can get to rim

 

[RedtheGOB]

problem is the non-con has never been this important. JB usually got things figured out by Jan/Feb and Red seems no differnt. His teams have been at their worst in Nov/Dec.

with the current rankings formulas and NET, teams simply are not allowed to wait until conference play to get things sorted. JB had the luxury back then because the non-con used to be almost irrelevant. plus the big east was always the best or one of the best leagues...so there were chances galore to build a resume. current incarnation of the ACC isnt that.

im really fighting back the urge to be honest (bc i think it would come across super negative)...Im just shuddering to think of this team in its current state playing houston, kansas and tennessee...bc those games matter a lot to how this season will go.

I've said it every year under red, but ill say it again: i think this team will be pretty good come feb/march: the question has always been if that will even matter by then.

im seeing a lot of the same issues we've seen for a while now: poor inside post defense. no post scoring presence (which will lead to lock down on the perimter). standing around stagnant offense that relies heavily on iso scoring. pick and roll with a center who cannot do anything other than dunk or pass. erratic substitutions that make no sense. failure to keep feeding the hot hand on offense. undersized forwards that have no business in the paint. turning a blowout into a nailbiter.

the length of this team will help a lot on defense. and having a PG will help the offense. but those are just papering over the lack of good schemes and systems in place, both offensively and defensively.

having a point guard like george is much better than not having a PG or forcing a shootin guard to play there. but its not nearly as good as having a PG in place running a very good offensive system. it seems like people think having a PG will automatically create a team that has an offensive identity and system. i dont. Kingz only getting 4 shots is worrying to say the least. having a PG didnt fix that...and i think thats a problem that will linger. betsey was on fire but only got 7 shots. you MUST get these guys the ball when they are cooking like that. but everyone wants their own shots. another thing is these guys were shooting nba 3s for no reason. get close to the line. having a pg didnt really help a lot on shot selection (at least not yet - I know its an exhibition...but still)

im worried that in this era of NIl...when you know starling and freeman are the "big money" players...they will command volume whether it is best for the team or not. theres a lot of mouths to feed and that could be a good thing...but it can also mean not giving volume to the guys who are actually desrving of it. what good is it to have a deep team if it is counter-acted by trying to spread the ball around too much or worse, giving too much volume to the lesser efficient players?

my biggest worry is the interior defense - some teams wont be able to cause a problem with that...but some will. i wish the center could shoot a free throw. if i was an opposing coach i would foul kyle every time he touches it. and i predict if a coach does that, then kyle will have to be benched.

i think this team is talented enough to make the tourney...but if they sneak in in the play-in game...that will be a failure in my mind. and I think they are right around that level unless they get some things ironed out.

just an exhibition...means nthing...just my thoughts from what I saw.

A lot to unpack here. Some of it I get especially shot selection and goin with the hot hand.

What I will correct you on is that losing to Houston and Kansas within 24 hours on the road will not impact our tourney chances. There’s not a team in the league right now that is going 2-0 in Vegas against those 2 in 24 hours and very few would be able to get just one win. That 3rd game in Vegas will be more important tho and not getting blown off our own court by Tennessee will matter

One other thing and It’s not just you, it’s a lot of others but I think you need to look at the minutes guys played. George played the 4th most mins on the team but we all know he will see the most mins on the team in games that matter.

Kingz you called out for only getting 4 shots but look at his efficiency in 19 mins. 3-4 7 points and 4 REBOUNDS. Don’t get me started on the 3 years we played Bell and it took him 3 games playing 35 mins a game to pull down 4 rebounds.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Sufan isn't refuting the real inaccuracies in your comments so I will.

1. The old man never played an exhibition away from the dome. Not once over 40 years but someone can tell me if we did back a hundred years ago.
2. The old man never played an exhibition against a D1 team. Not once but someone can remind me.
3. The old man never had to play 11 guys in an Exhibition game opener because he never had to turn over 10 new players on his roster year over year. That's because he never had to manage the portal and NIL.

Louisville/Kansas already met in an "Exhibition" game where both teams went all out, Duke and Tennessee play today in an "exhibition". If you're going to compare back in the day at least compare it with how D1 NCAA hoops now works not how it did 20 years ago.

For what it's worth I agree with the killer instinct part but like others said above every time we got rolling we did a hockey line change.

I believe that until recently, post JB, you couldn’t play exhibitions against D-1 schools.

 

[orange79]

I believe that until recently, post JB, you couldn’t play exhibitions against D-1 schools.

Correct. From 2018-2024, you needed a waiver to play an exhibition game vs. a D1 team. The waiver requirement was removed beginning this season.

http://www.ncaa.org/news/2025/1/15/media-center-preseason-exhibition-rules-eased-for-di-mens-basketball-teams.aspx

 

[Cuse_NYC]

I’m worried about not having enough rim protection. If we only had a Jesse Edwards-or Rakeem Christmas type starting center who brings real rim protection, I’d feel much better about this team and its ceiling. I wish we had spent the money on a higher caliber one. I like Kyle and his energy a whole lot but he feels more like the backup guy than the main center.

Another observation: Kingz will need to be taking more than one 3 point shot in games going forward. I get that he only played 19 minutes and it was just an exhibition game. But Kingz and Betsey will be our best 3 point shooters (along with Kiyan) and Kingz will need to be way more aggressive with his shot in real games. He can be an elite shooter.

Finally, I knew Betsey was gonna be good and predicted that he would be our 6th or 7th man along with Sadiq, but even I was blown away by his stellar shooting and no fear in pulling the trigger.

the rim protection defines the season. But we aren’t allowed to say it on here. Only positive things about the team.

 

[IthacaMatt]

problem is the non-con has never been this important. JB usually got things figured out by Jan/Feb and Red seems no differnt. His teams have been at their worst in Nov/Dec.

with the current rankings formulas and NET, teams simply are not allowed to wait until conference play to get things sorted. JB had the luxury back then because the non-con used to be almost irrelevant. plus the big east was always the best or one of the best leagues...so there were chances galore to build a resume. current incarnation of the ACC isnt that.

im really fighting back the urge to be honest (bc i think it would come across super negative)...Im just shuddering to think of this team in its current state playing houston, kansas and tennessee...bc those games matter a lot to how this season will go.

I've said it every year under red, but ill say it again: i think this team will be pretty good come feb/march: the question has always been if that will even matter by then.

im seeing a lot of the same issues we've seen for a while now: poor inside post defense. no post scoring presence (which will lead to lock down on the perimter). standing around stagnant offense that relies heavily on iso scoring. pick and roll with a center who cannot do anything other than dunk or pass. erratic substitutions that make no sense. failure to keep feeding the hot hand on offense. undersized forwards that have no business in the paint. turning a blowout into a nailbiter.

the length of this team will help a lot on defense. and having a PG will help the offense. but those are just papering over the lack of good schemes and systems in place, both offensively and defensively.

having a point guard like george is much better than not having a PG or forcing a shootin guard to play there. but its not nearly as good as having a PG in place running a very good offensive system. it seems like people think having a PG will automatically create a team that has an offensive identity and system. i dont. Kingz only getting 4 shots is worrying to say the least. having a PG didnt fix that...and i think thats a problem that will linger. betsey was on fire but only got 7 shots. you MUST get these guys the ball when they are cooking like that. but everyone wants their own shots. another thing is these guys were shooting nba 3s for no reason. get close to the line. having a pg didnt really help a lot on shot selection (at least not yet - I know its an exhibition...but still)

im worried that in this era of NIl...when you know starling and freeman are the "big money" players...they will command volume whether it is best for the team or not. theres a lot of mouths to feed and that could be a good thing...but it can also mean not giving volume to the guys who are actually desrving of it. what good is it to have a deep team if it is counter-acted by trying to spread the ball around too much or worse, giving too much volume to the lesser efficient players?

my biggest worry is the interior defense - some teams wont be able to cause a problem with that...but some will. i wish the center could shoot a free throw. if i was an opposing coach i would foul kyle every time he touches it. and i predict if a coach does that, then kyle will have to be benched.

i think this team is talented enough to make the tourney...but if they sneak in in the play-in game...that will be a failure in my mind. and I think they are right around that level unless they get some things ironed out.

just an exhibition...means nthing...just my thoughts from what I saw.

Freeman needs to get in a fight. He needs to get his butt kicked.
I said it last year that he was too soft for his talent, and didn't really know how to play.

He's got all the measurables you could ask for as an NBA scout, but you need to WANT the rebound. You need to WANT to dunk on the other guy.

He's soft as hell, and if Red just lets him float at the 3 point line without any structure or plan for how to use his physical advantages, then it will be all over.

Kevin Durant became Kevin Durant by learning how to make a 2 dribble move to get into the midrange and just jump over his SF defender to get a clean 10-15 foot look at the basket. He developed the 3 point shot later. He started as a midrange guy.

 

[orange79]

Sufan isn't refuting the real inaccuracies in your comments so I will.

1. The old man never played an exhibition away from the dome. Not once over 40 years but someone can tell me if we did back a hundred years ago.
2. The old man never played an exhibition against a D1 team. Not once but someone can remind me.
3. The old man never had to play 11 guys in an Exhibition game opener because he never had to turn over 10 new players on his roster year over year. That's because he never had to manage the portal and NIL.

Louisville/Kansas already met in an "Exhibition" game where both teams went all out, Duke and Tennessee play today in an "exhibition". If you're going to compare back in the day at least compare it with how D1 NCAA hoops now works not how it did 20 years ago.

For what it's worth I agree with the killer instinct part but like others said above every time we got rolling we did a hockey line change.

1. Why would he? Home games = $$$$
2. See my post above; "the old man" couldn't play vs. a D1 team.
3. Just looking back at the schedules, 22-23 he played 12 in each of the exhibition games. I stopped looking there.

 

[orange79]

But we aren’t allowed to say it on here. Only positive things about the team.

 

[pearl31]

the rim protection defines the season. But we aren’t allowed to say it on here. Only positive things about the team.

nah let him cook