The positives
-Defense overall was pretty good. We have a lot of length at pretty much every position and we are pretty disciplined on that end with the expection of our bigs bring down their arms too often when trying for blocks leading to fouls.
- Alston had a good game. If he is going to play he has to be more aggressive than he was last year. It seemed like when we lost Jose he realized he had to make something happen. Need him to channel that earlier in the game though.
- Wright had a solid game. IMO he should start at the 4 until Cole realizes he can't be so timid on the offensive end. Wright could be a major disrupting force on the defensive end. I thought his 3 point shot looked smoother,and he had a nice turn around bank shot that I hope he continues to go to because even though it rimmed out it was smooth. Reminded me of Duncan (just that shot, not the entire game obviously)
- Banks looks like he adds another solid piece down low. Honestly, we might be better off just telling AD and Banks to play their game and not worry about fouls, and then deal with the issues later. Will be interesting to see how he develops as the year goes.
- AD understands what it seems like few others do on this team, and that's that you can't be afraid of making mistakes. He tries to make plays, and he has some nice moves. Needs to finish better.
The negatives
- Shooting. Good lord we couldn't throw it in the ocean today. This team has to be led by the guards shooting, and Jose/Devoe/Haywood were a combined 2-12 from 3. We rely so much on underclassmen shooting that we will have games like this. Need to hope this is just one of the bad ones and not the norm.
-Devoe. Just all of it. Let's forget he played in this game. But seriously, I did like that he didn't let the bad showing affect his defense though.
-Cole - to put it nicely cole was not very good. He's still too timid on the offensive end, and if he's going to play he has to realize that he has to add more on the offensive end.
- Refs/Fouls. We had some silly fouls. We also had some stupid ones called on us. Jose especially has to not take too many chances on defense. Let Gueye/Banks/Ogbonda foul out cleaning up your mess.
-Overall thoughts.
We were competitive but clearly outmatched against a team projected to be in the top 5 on the road. Don't let the fact that the game was ugly obscure the fact that we looked pretty good defensively. We'll have to improve as the year goes on, but when you look at how many underclassmen we are relying on, that was always going to be the case. I think we are in a decent starting place this year with our defense. If our young guys can mature quickly, find their stroke, and start to gel as a team, we could be a solid team.
