My thoughts from being there
Starters - Abram, Kelly, Reeves, Gapare (even though I think Ndongo will start once healthy and ready), and Dowuona.
First off the bench -Deebo and Sacko. George and Murphy also played.
If Ndongo or Claude were healthy - I suspect one of the would have started and Gapare would've come off bench.
Gapare injury did not look serious, he was moving fine before second half, suspect he was kept out as precaution.
Defense - aggressive man to man all night (no zone) - If they play that hard on D, no one will play 35 minutes often.
Offense - spread the floor, let someone create and find open man. There was almost no passing to the low post (Dowuona set a lot of screens out high). We will need some inside post play from someone.
Rebounding - mostly blame the perimeter players - a lot of long rebounds that we lost the battle to get. Their big did not get many.
Shot a LOT of threes, but almost all were open looks. They struggled against the press - not sure why, did bring back a flash of not getting ball inbounds in the Hewitt days. Clark was aggressive and not a lot of the hand reaches/swipes on them were called.
PG - I think we're in good shape here- Abram played solid - shot it better than I expected (4-4 from three and couple nice drives). Kyle looked shaky in first half but played well in second half - really moved the ball to the open man. George played some, but I don't see him in the rotation barring injury - most likely working to slot in PG once Kyle is gone. My gut is Abram and Kyle play 15-25 minutes a game - depends on matchup and who is playing well. They only played together near the end when we were running out of players. Kelly brought ball up some as well.
SG - Kelly did not shoot it well, three of the threes were mid-late second half. Clark was keying on him. I think Terry will play once healthy behind him. Murphy did some good, and some bad (fouled out in less than 15 minutes) - I don't expect he will be in the rotation once Terry is back,
SF - Reeves and Deebo. Reeves had a better game. Deebo played well early in second half, but was reaching too much and limited time w/fouls. Deebo looks a little trimmer/quicker than last year. These two may be out there at same time, one of them guarding the PF.
PF - Reeves played a good bit here out of necessity. Gapare started - was aggressive - at times too aggressive - but very long and athletic - reeks of potential. Sacko played PF a little. I think Ndongo/Claude would have gotten a lot of minutes if healthy - and that would've helped on defense/rebounding. Gapare went 5-5 on FT.
Center - As bad as Rodney Howard's hands were - Dowuona might have worse hands .... Two really nice strokes on FT and a dunk, plus an air ball from 4 feet. He also dropped several passes off penetration which would've been a dunk for a center with good hands. Sacko played the center behind him (Gapare did a little in 1H). Sacko looked lost in 1H, but played well in 2H. When you look at Sacko/Gapare/Ndongo side by side, they are all about same 6 8-9, 210-215 - and I hope one of the steps up this year. Somehow they will back up Dowuona. Dowouna was effective on Defense (blocked a couple shots).
Only reason Clark stayed close was the fouls on GT in second half, and GT turnovers.
Overall - I left feeling positive, there is potential to be much better than last year, the key may be how Gapare/Sacko/Ndongo produce - and getting enough of them healthy ... if one or more can play effectively, we will be tough to defend.
