USA East Coast Basketball trip with Benny Williams | Page 9 | Syracusefan.com

USA East Coast Basketball trip with Benny Williams

Zelda Zonk said:
I give up. The timeouts run without glitches, and as soon as the ball is inbounded… video freezes.

And now this— screen goes black with this message:
”This live video has ended.
It'll be available to watch on Guy Rancourt's timeline shortly.”

I thought it was 2020-something?
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Yeah, it’s 2022 and we were promised flying cars by now but they can’t even get a video feed to work well.
 
Second quarter a wash. Benny got 1 minute early had a nice partial block helping on a drive and a sweet dish for a layup on the break. Didn't ever get in once he went out early.

Hopefully he gets good run second half. Also it's been guard dominated by team USA even more today. Hit a number of 3s. Benny's grouping Hopefully changes as too much selfish play from his court mates.
 
3rd quarter some good run. Made an aggressive move to get to his spot for that pull up jumper and buried it. Played good defense. Tried to make something happen on the break and lost his dribble going into traffic for a turnover. Then made an aggressive spin move along baseline that he stepped out or traveled hard to tell the call. Has 3 or 4 boards and at least 3 if not 4 nice altered shots even though not blocks. Two near assists and hockey assists. Not getting the ball much from teammates. Impressed with his screens. Underrated skill.
 
Some nice run in 4th too. Should have added two assists but shots missed. Had several rebounds in traffic playing physical and getting up faster. Front rimmed a loose ball he got in traffic and missed the putback. Had I believe 10 rebounds may have missed one. Had a steal and a block as well but block was in traffic so not easy to see. Had a nice drive he drew a foul on before the shot and another he missed a 17 footer and quickly got his own rebound attacked and finished in traffic with his left hand.

His defense and help D were sound, really nice job setting screens. Only negative was 4 turnovers but 3 were trying to make something happen. I can handle aggressive TOs.

By my count he had 5 pts , 10 boards, 1 assist , 2 steals and 1 block.
 
His ceiling is Robey. They seem like literally the same guy. JB is not going to let Benny dribble or shoot.

I still think there’s a ton of potential there because of the athleticism. He’s going to disappear in some games but be huge in others. He’s going to get plenty of PT by default because of our forward situation.

He may have to deal with the doghouse again at some point but you can definitely see how he’d Excel with us. I think he will have a fairly long leash
 
jdubs30 said:
His ceiling is Robey. They seem like literally the same guy. JB is not going to let Benny dribble or shoot.

I still think there’s a ton of potential there because of the athleticism. He’s going to disappear in some games but be huge in others. He’s going to get plenty of PT by default because of our forward situation.

He may have to deal with the doghouse again at some point but you can definitely see how he’d Excel with us. I think he will have a fairly long leash
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Playing hard on D, and rebounding, will buy him the longer leash.

Trying to do too much on O
(Remember how Robey was always trying to drive, and would travel every. single. time?)
will get him nailed to the bench.
 
jdubs30 said:
His ceiling is Robey. They seem like literally the same guy. JB is not going to let Benny dribble or shoot.

I still think there’s a ton of potential there because of the athleticism. He’s going to disappear in some games but be huge in others. He’s going to get plenty of PT by default because of our forward situation.

He may have to deal with the doghouse again at some point but you can definitely see how he’d Excel with us. I think he will have a fairly long leash
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I think he will have to shoot some making him different than Roberson. Also Benny does have a strong skill- passing. One consistent in his game that stands out. I actually think watching these games that he is much more like Jackson at UConn. Good defender given athleticism, good on the boards when he can use that bounce and Good passer. As a scorer it's in specific situations such as being a cutter.

Benny does seem most comfortable with that 15 foot foot jump shot from the wing. It's a shot with his athleticism he should be able to get. Outside going up at the rim and finishing on a drive and dish to him that is his best weapon. For now he should use it if he can hit it consistently.
 
Orangezoo said:
I think he will have to shoot some making him different than Roberson. Also Benny does have a strong skill- passing. One consistent in his game that stands out. I actually think watching these games that he is much more like Jackson at UConn. Good defender given athleticism, good on the boards when he can use that bounce and Good passer. As a scorer it's in specific situations such as being a cutter.

Benny does seem most comfortable with that 15 foot foot jump shot from the wing. It's a shot with his athleticism he should be able to get. Outside going up at the rim and finishing on a drive and dish to him that is his best weapon. For now he should use it if he can hit it consistently.
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To Hurley’s credit, Jackson was given a much longer rope to develop at UConn than Benny was.
It’s not all JB’s doing- he certainly gave him his opportunities last year, but Daddy ball curtailed any aspects of Benny becoming a bigger factor. JMHO
I’d love to see him get ISO’s, maybe some pnr, and see what he can do as a passer. Mostly, I just want the kid to play, as the saying goes, like no one’s watching. Be free, Benny!
 
DoctorBombay said:
To Hurley’s credit, Jackson was given a much longer rope to develop at UConn than Benny was.
It’s not all JB’s doing- he certainly gave him his opportunities last year, but Daddy ball curtailed any aspects of Benny becoming a bigger factor. JMHO
I’d love to see him get ISO’s, maybe some pnr, and see what he can do as a passer. Mostly, I just want the kid to play, as the saying goes, like no one’s watching. Be free, Benny!
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If he busts his tail on defense and the boards I expect he should get a lot of opportunity to do so. To me , while we will need some scoring from him, the damage he can do helping Jesse on D is huge. What I like the most is that after the practice Bees pointed out (I think) the concern he is a player without a position. I would say that is akin to a player without a skill too. Benny showed the outline of who he should be to me in thus little tour. That was never apparent last year and represents clear growth. When comparing as we have to Carey and Moyer- that was their problem. Even after game 1 that was still a question mark I felt.

Then game 2 and 3 he showed out as a good defender, high motor rebounder( still isn't going to win those on strength but can with hustle and athleticism), an effective passer either off a couple dribbles or a good hockey assist guy, and someone who can get to the rim when it's there and use a mid range jump shot which he is comfortable with. Thus he has a game that is better defined now. That's huge. Doesn't mean he is filling up 5 star expectations of course but gives him an edge over those guys we mentioned who had to look elsewhere.

Also - its difficult these days to project anyone beyond the season in front of them but if he can have a good year- his Jr year is his real chance to make his case. Add a consistent handle and ability to initiate the offense, firm up that 3 point jump shot and establish footwork on the midrange to use as a foundation. He has natural instincts to push the ball like a former guard just not the handles at his size to have control in closer quarters.
 
The biggest problem we will have with wanting Benny to be our leading scorer is his inability to shoot. But, some scorers can work around their lack of a shooting touch by utilizing athleticism to get to the basket and also by developing a go to close range pull up jumper and/or floater. Just being smart and playing within himself will go a long way, and also having a smart floor general who is aware of the clock and will not put the kid in a position to put up jump shots with the clock winding down.
 
Hopkins16 said:
The biggest problem we will have with wanting Benny to be our leading scorer is his inability to shoot. But, some scorers can work around their lack of a shooting touch by utilizing athleticism to get to the basket and also by developing a go to close range pull up jumper and/or floater. Just being smart and playing within himself will go a long way, and also having a smart floor general who is aware of the clock and will not put the kid in a position to put up jump shots with the clock winding down.
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Leading scorer? I really don't think that was anyone's expectation. If that happens it would mean great things but honestly 10 and 5 or so would be a huge positive.
 
Orangezoo said:
Leading scorer? I really don't think that was anyone's expectation. If that happens it would mean great things but honestly 10 and 5 or so would be a huge positive.
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Maybe it's just me expecting a lot from perhaps the highest rated player currently in the program. That being said, the way he played against Duke, looking like he belonged out there and could compete with Duke's 5 star starters, showed me has the potential to be our leading scorer.
 
Hopkins16 said:
Maybe it's just me expecting a lot from perhaps the highest rated player currently in the program. That being said, the way he played against Duke, looking like he belonged out there and could compete with Duke's 5 star starters, showed me has the potential to be our leading scorer.
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I think that is plausible if he comes back for a third year. This year is about making the jump to being a big contributor. He needs to start there. If the light bulb really goes off and he goes crazy end of the year great. For now it's baby steps.
 
Hopkins16 said:
Maybe it's just me expecting a lot from perhaps the highest rated player currently in the program. That being said, the way he played against Duke, looking like he belonged out there and could compete with Duke's 5 star starters, showed me has the potential to be our leading scorer.
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It's just you. Sorry. Not gonna happen.

I dunno, maybe Benny putting up 14 & 6 against Duke, when we were down by 14 before anybody could blink (or score) - doesn't actually mean all that much.
He was our 3rd leading scorer in that game, FWIW.
CDB was only 3 pts behind at 4th

We were down 41-13 with about 8 left in the first half.
Its understandable that they weren't giving their defensive effort full attn after that.

So, until Benny does good things against a good team that's fully engaged, I'm gonna remain in "wait and see" mode.
 
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Orangezoo said:
I think that is plausible if he comes back for a third year. This year is about making the jump to being a big contributor. He needs to start there. If the light bulb really goes off and he goes crazy end of the year great. For now it's baby steps.
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Yeah. I don’t care about ratings. In terms of guys who did nothing as freshmen and became decent staters as sophs, Damone Brown is the blueprint. He was also behind Burgan and Blackwell as a freshman though.

But in terms of an athlete with no skills shown as a frosh - that eventually showed major skills, I think Damone is the blueprint we can realistically hope for?

I’d be thrilled with a 9 and 5 this year, culminating with being solid on a really good team as a Junior and being a 16 and 8 type stud on a good team that he largely carries as a senior.
 
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