Will keep this shorter (edit: well, I tried!):
Joe T looks great at times and makes exciting plays on defense and offense, but also takes some forced shots, turns it over, fouls unnecessarily, and misses opportunities when running the offense that the other guards do not. So he's a mixed bag. What he brings will be very important in some games, especially games where the other team has athletic guards that extend to 23 feet and bother our less athletic guards such that we can't run our normal offense very well. He will be able to come in and break that extended defense down with penetration. UNC may be one of those teams.
What did you guys see?
- Players playing well:
- Garza - all worldThin
- Nunge - 1 game, but looks like a mini-Garza. Runs the court great, side to side agility limited though. Great looking outside shot and a righty hook. Not quite as strong as Garza inside.
- KeMurray - Kenyon should be proud, and I assume Kris is similar. He is not only more athletic than we may have thought, but his court awareness, hustle and fundamentals (like blocking out) are all top notch. He's a perfect "glue guy" who can not only do the little things but can score inside and out. Hope he keeps working on an interior hook as that may be the last piece from a scoring standpoint. He's been GREAT!
- Players playing ok:
- Joe T - when he makes a play, it's an exciting one, but for every one of those he has an unforced error, missed opportunity (pass), or forced shot. Still learning to be efficient.
- Connor - seems more willing to take the 3, hasn't hit at a high rate yet. Solid as expected.
- Ulis - not many minutes but boy our back court looks quick on defense when he and Joe T were in there together
- Players who haven't hit their stride yet:
- Bohannon - shot not falling, defense especially in transition is "yikes!", PG play is ok
- Wieskamp - 3 point shot and rebounding are ok, other aspects such as defense and scoring off the bounce are not
- CJF - probably fine, just not a lot of opportunities
- Post offense
- I still marvel at how well we feed the post these days, and how many different locations and methods they use to do it. I remember when Fran was accused of not knowing how to develp a post player, and also how his offense didn't leverage a post player. Well, even though a lot of Garza's growth is his own doing, I think this staff can take a lot of credit for it as well (and Kreiner, and Nunge, and etc) but even more credit on setting up the offense to get the most ouf of a great post. Iowa's post entry is one of the prettiest things I've seen in college basketall. Having played post all my life I could only wish for an offense like this one and the technique that they've taught the post entry players. It's beautiful!
- Things to like:
- Defensive rebounding - I thought we were solid here, saw a lot of box outs. Good enough to keep UNC off the glass? We'll see.
- 3/4 court press - saw more trapping at the front, I think this will be effective with our personnel. Joe T had a steal in the middle of it as well. May have been tweaked slightly from last year.
- Post play - see above
- Depth - can't wait to see the growth of our bench players as they get more experience.
- Things to be concerned about:
- Getting key players up to peak ability (Bohannon, Wieskamp in particular - just defense, dribble drive effectiveness)
- Transition defense - this is HORRIFIC at times. Bohannon just gave up on one play rather than at least staying in front of his guy and making the layup a little harder. Don't understand how that isn't an immediate benching. I know he can't block a shot in transition, but you can at least be a speed bump rather than an orange cone. Grrrr.
- Half court defense - the only thing I can say here is that at least it's better than our transition defense
. Guys moving their feet once and then letting the guy just hook around them for a layup is frustrating.
- Connor - tough as nails, can hit the 3, can be a mismatch inside, not a liability on switches onto a big, length to deny the 3, willing and positive passer, glue guy
- CJF - tough as nails, hits big shots, great 3 point shooter but can go to the hole, strong perimeter defender
- Wieskamp - great shooter, plus rebounder, decent athlete - does need to be more effective on drives and not great defensively
- KeMurray - needs experience, but defensively is like Baer but a stronger rebounder. Always where he should be, covers up others mistakes, can switch without being a liability, is a very good 3 point shooter, is under control in the paint, plays great transition defense, blocks shots, good ball handler.
- Garza - stud
Joe T looks great at times and makes exciting plays on defense and offense, but also takes some forced shots, turns it over, fouls unnecessarily, and misses opportunities when running the offense that the other guards do not. So he's a mixed bag. What he brings will be very important in some games, especially games where the other team has athletic guards that extend to 23 feet and bother our less athletic guards such that we can't run our normal offense very well. He will be able to come in and break that extended defense down with penetration. UNC may be one of those teams.
What did you guys see?
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