McCamish Maniacs
Helluva Engineer
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Solid game overall imho. Like others, Moore surprised me a bit. I'd set expectations low on him but he looked kinda comfortable out there. Maybe Dudley's advice did him some good.
Stephens looked to be a leader out there for better or worse.
I actually saw us run a few nice plays out there, ended up with high percentage shots or layups. That's new.
Anyways, glad to get one in the W column. Lots of other HM's can't say the same despite facing directional schools. SEC overall had some bad results. uGA fell to Clem's Son despite all this talent and fantabulous freshman guards a certain poster here keeps touting.
I guess we could overlook the fact that Clemson has a potential First team All American Forward. I'd say a mid tier SEC team losing to a tournament team from the ACC is hardly an abandon ship type result.
I guess we could overlook the fact that Clemson has a potential First team All American Forward. I'd say a mid tier SEC team losing to a tournament team from the ACC is hardly an abandon ship type result.
I agree with all of this, and would add a couple of thoughts.My thoughts.
First off - nice to get the first win. Second, nothing I saw makes me rethink my feeling the ceiling is about 12 wins. Though i am feeling better that we may get to 10 wins - maybe 60-40 rather than 40-60.
Ball movement was better than last year and a number of times they made multiple good passes and then missed a shot. Spacing is better than last year (still alot of work to be done). There were times they didn't have a player within 10 ft of the basket. Really looking to create space.
Pastner made it clear in the post game that he though Lammers and Okogie could play much better than they did and that the pace isn't anywhere near where it needs to be yet. i did appreciate not looking clogged on offense.
Lammers - Continues his solid improvement. Nice array of moves and provides an anchor on defense. Still needs to be more aggressive - especially against smaller teams. one player we most can't afford to get in foul trouble or injured
Okogie - nice first game. Pretty aggressive on both ends (which cut his time due to first half fouls). Has second coming of MGH written all over him. Put some other good pieces around him and he is going to be a player. immediately came out in second half after sitting most of the first half and hit 2 quick buckets.
Moore - pleasant surprise. A little raw, but big and athletic. Upside is higher than i first thought. Would be perfect as an ACC level backup PG. Didn't show any ability or inclination to shoot from ouside so teams will start to gameplan that. But better than i expect. Had a few high athletic ability plays that showed the potential
Q - same ole Q. Can be so quiet - but hit a monster three late when GT needed one to close the door (Okogie followed up with his own). Clearly trying to be a leader. Brought the ball up the court more than i would have expected.
Matthews - not a bad first game as a FR. Hit our only 3 in the first half. Has a soft shot. Is never going to be a great defender as he lacks the footspeed that Moore and Okogie have. Still, has the potential to be a real scorer in a year or two. Good potential to work with and mold into a role player. His low release shot bothers me - why aren't kids taught to shoot high anymore.
Corey - Nice job. poised, made a couple of shots took care of the ball. Looked winded late in the game.
AD - another pleasant surprise. Very comfortable out on the court. His athleticism and wingspan give him the ability to turn into a really good defensive stopper type over time. Has a nice looking jumper but also tends to make really bad decisions on offense. A project with upside. I thought he might be one to transfer after a year but changed my mind a little. His build really fits in well with Pastner's plan.
Ogbonda - spelled Lammers a few min at a time. Good size and athleticism but otherwise did not stand out at all - looks like a project still.
McCormick - saw a few min of action. Going to be a huge liability on defense. Can't see anything but spot min when we are hunting for jumpers.
Price - barely got on the floor - already looks behind okogie and Matthews so play and develop the FR.
Didn't realize Tadric wasn't playing until about 7 min into the game when I all of the sudden thought - where is Tadric. Spent the entire game on the bike behind the bench. Hope he gets healthy soon. don't play him until he is really healthy.
once Heath and Tadric are available i'm thinking starting 5 will be Heath, Tadric, okogie. Q and Lammers with Moore, Matthews and AD as primary backups, Ogbonda getting a couple min to spell Lammers.
I don't think the GT's will play much at all and Corey may lose most of his time to Heath (I think they will try to get min for Moore each game since he is the most athletic guard and will want to develop him as much as they can).
TN Tech was a bad team but i'll take a win with our starting backcourt out.
Well, so much for the UTC talk! ticUTC is one of the best mid major teams in the country. Won 29 games last year and got back a 2x all conference player this year who was injured last year.
*GeorgiaIt was Tennessee Tech.
Well, so much for the UTC talk! tic
Not much to take away based on the opponent, but I was pleased with the performance, especially the ball movement on offense
Lots of good commentary, but there were two players that stood out to me.
Josh Okogie:
- Way to make a splash.. 18 points and 5 boards in his first game. He will be our leader very soon!! Love his game.
- The young man is simply a beast. He's flat-out chiseled and already has grown-man strength. Not often you see a freshman that is physically ready for the ACC, but he is ready.
- There was one possession in particular at the beginning of the second half where he just out-muscled his man for position, grabbed the board and finished in traffic for an And-one.
- He's plays with a lot of fire, but he plays within himself...good shot selection, didn't try and force anything
Abdoulaye Gueye!
- Personally, I didn't think that he would have much of a role, but he could end up being a real weapon. At 6'9, he moves like a guard.
- He's an above average athlete and has very long arms. His mix of height/wingspan/athletic ability will make him a very good defender.
- Too many turnovers, but it was very first live-action in two years. It will take a couple of games for him to catch up with the speed again.
- He's comfortable with the baseline jumper, and I think that he will be able to take bigger guys off the dribble as he gets more comfortable.
Hopefully our guys can continue to gel and just focus on playing good basketball. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that there are a lot of teams out there with much more talent than us. That said, I can think of numerous examples of where more talented teams have gone down to teams that run good sets, play hard throughout, and get hot on occasion. Maybe with expectations so low from everyone, we can do the unthinkable and exceed them..!