A couple of years ago, I was extremely hopeful that Jalen Carey was going to make the sophomore leap that many of our players seem to have. He participated on this same tournament, and I made a bunch of posts about how useful it would be for him to hone his lead guard skills, get some extra games under his belt after a wasted freshman season, etc. Many of the same things that are being said about Benny in the present tense.
Then, the games started and Carey wasn't especially good. Don't worry -- I posted, he's trying to run the offense more than score, he's trying to get his teammates involved, etc. Might have had one nice game or two out of the entire tour, but otherwise -- poor performance.
And because of that, the buzz started about the likelihood that Carey WOULDN'T take that next step and be the player we need him to be. Don't worry -- I posted, this was a good developmental experience, and everything will be all right when he gets back on campus into a familiar system...
Now, Benny's story is still being written, far too early to write him off, but I'm seeing parallels. Sophomore that the team is counting on to make substantial improvement, but very little evidence that he has.
Here's hoping his trajectory is different than Carey's. But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
