Morehouse Exhibition Game

ramblinjacket

ramblinjacket

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
802
GTbball2016 said:
I don’t think we have enough offense in the current starting lineup. 3 of the 5 starters don’t even have a basket today. I’m hoping Coleman, Smith and Saba work their way into the lineup by conference time.
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I predict exactly this by the end of the year. Probably by January.
 

tbglover

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
741
MidtownJacket said:
Did Devoe play point much today?
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Not really. It was Kyle and Deivon running point. Devoe and the 2 PGs played together at one point.
MtnWasp said:
Deivon Smith had a +/- of +33 in 18 minutes of play. That's insane. Guess he left his stamp on that game. Deebo was +22 in 19 minutes.
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He looked good. Didn't take any long range shots but he pushed the ball and looked find open teammates well

I know it’s a smaller school, but did Howard or Saba look good?
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They both have some improvements to make. Neither looked significantly better than last year to me.
 

glandon1960

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
174
I was there - some comments/thoughts ... long post to touch a lot of questions posted

Starting five - Sturdivant, Devoe, Kahlid, Usher, Howard
Parham was not dressed (injury) - was walking and dribbling with no limp/issues before game - so hopefully will be back before Xmas
Maxwell was not there - someone posted he is injured (I do not know).

At the under 16 TO - line change (and partial line change every TO).
Smith, Deebo, Kelly, Jalon, and Saba (who has more hair than Pastner ... must not own a razor or know where a barber shop is)
Afterwards, kept mixing it up - Smith played point with starters, Sturdivant with second line and mixed things up I doubt anyone played 25 minutes - it was not a close game.

Meka also played @3 minutes in first half -hurt ankle, but did come back in second half.
Khalid tweaked ankle in second half and did not return (no reason to at that point) - did not appear serious.

Devoe/Usher - our best two players and played like it.
Sturdivant/Smith - I think will split time a point - based on who is playing better on given night that person gets 25 minutes, the other 15. They did play together for a few minutes.
Howard - was best of the bigs. Did not score, and not sure how well he can distribute the ball from elbow (he is not Lammers passing the ball, but better than James Banks).
Saba - made two layups, 4-4 on FT (great stroke - he might be in at end of close games because of this), not mobile, but really tall/long. Blocked one shot, changed couple more.
Meka - one word - Raw (athletic, but raw ... little offensive skill, did make a nice catch/layup in transition) - based on today he is #3 of the bigs right now.
Khalid - solid on D, great block of Morehouse layup early - shot was not there - air ball and hit side of backboard on two threes .... just like last year, needs to be threat other team must respect
Deebo - not bashful - first touch launched a three (miss), made two threes in first half - really deep range in warmups. Handles it very well and sees court well - really a 6'6" guard. About as athletic as Devoe (may struggle guarding quicker opponents) - very skilled on offense and will play a lot
Kelly - more aggressive offensively than Deebo - quick shot, aggressive defender - will definitely play some
Jalon - a lot bigger than I expected - not sure we'll see him much this season (I expect Khalid to be main one to play the '4' when Usher is out) - can see potential - slasher, banged hard inside.

Defense - man the entire game - did not play any zone. Long bench let the players on court play really hard then throw out fresh body
Saba/Howard played couple minutes together late second half, but do not think we see much of that (basic offense, Saba at high post, Howard low and others stayed on perimiter).
They played 2-3 minutes with no 5 (Usher at the 5), as expected weaker on boards and defending the interior .. we will see it, but doubt for long stretches this year.
More turnovers than you want to see - but it's early and players on floor kept changing.
Deebo/Kelly both have relatively low release points on their shots - need some space.
Smith is really athletic - fast fast fast pushing the ball.

I liked what I saw vs exibition games in past - team looked hungry early - hopefully ready for Miami Ohio in 10 days.
 

HenryUsher

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
65
glandon1960 said:
I was there - some comments/thoughts ... long post to touch a lot of questions posted

Starting five - Sturdivant, Devoe, Kahlid, Usher, Howard
Parham was not dressed (injury) - was walking and dribbling with no limp/issues before game - so hopefully will be back before Xmas
Maxwell was not there - someone posted he is injured (I do not know).

At the under 16 TO - line change (and partial line change every TO).
Smith, Deebo, Kelly, Jalon, and Saba (who has more hair than Pastner ... must not own a razor or know where a barber shop is)
Afterwards, kept mixing it up - Smith played point with starters, Sturdivant with second line and mixed things up I doubt anyone played 25 minutes - it was not a close game.

Meka also played @3 minutes in first half -hurt ankle, but did come back in second half.
Khalid tweaked ankle in second half and did not return (no reason to at that point) - did not appear serious.

Devoe/Usher - our best two players and played like it.
Sturdivant/Smith - I think will split time a point - based on who is playing better on given night that person gets 25 minutes, the other 15. They did play together for a few minutes.
Howard - was best of the bigs. Did not score, and not sure how well he can distribute the ball from elbow (he is not Lammers passing the ball, but better than James Banks).
Saba - made two layups, 4-4 on FT (great stroke - he might be in at end of close games because of this), not mobile, but really tall/long. Blocked one shot, changed couple more.
Meka - one word - Raw (athletic, but raw ... little offensive skill, did make a nice catch/layup in transition) - based on today he is #3 of the bigs right now.
Khalid - solid on D, great block of Morehouse layup early - shot was not there - air ball and hit side of backboard on two threes .... just like last year, needs to be threat other team must respect
Deebo - not bashful - first touch launched a three (miss), made two threes in first half - really deep range in warmups. Handles it very well and sees court well - really a 6'6" guard. About as athletic as Devoe (may struggle guarding quicker opponents) - very skilled on offense and will play a lot
Kelly - more aggressive offensively than Deebo - quick shot, aggressive defender - will definitely play some
Jalon - a lot bigger than I expected - not sure we'll see him much this season (I expect Khalid to be main one to play the '4' when Usher is out) - can see potential - slasher, banged hard inside.

Defense - man the entire game - did not play any zone. Long bench let the players on court play really hard then throw out fresh body
Saba/Howard played couple minutes together late second half, but do not think we see much of that (basic offense, Saba at high post, Howard low and others stayed on perimiter).
They played 2-3 minutes with no 5 (Usher at the 5), as expected weaker on boards and defending the interior .. we will see it, but doubt for long stretches this year.
More turnovers than you want to see - but it's early and players on floor kept changing.
Deebo/Kelly both have relatively low release points on their shots - need some space.
Smith is really athletic - fast fast fast pushing the ball.

I liked what I saw vs exibition games in past - team looked hungry early - hopefully ready for Miami Ohio in 10 days.
Click to expand...
Nice post.
 

YlJacket

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,273
To tag onto a lot of what has already been said

Overall we have a lot of long athletic pieces. The interesting wrinkle to me was we pressed almost the entire game. Mostly 2-2-1 that morphed into a 2-1-2 when Moorehouse pushed 2 people ahead down court - but we also ran a little 1-2-1-1. I thought it was a neat wrinkle to play to our length and athleticism. Especially with some of the newcomers

We sped up Morehouse and showed really active hands. I don’t know their turnovers but I thought it was a really effective wrinkle. We scored a lot off of it

I was surprised we didn’t run any zone at all. All press and fall back to man. I still think we will end up running a lot of zone even off a press

Usher and Devoe are ready to go. Usher in particular looked more confident and ready to shoot. He has fun and plays hard. He is our bellcow

I thought Howard played D and rebounded well. He is not Moses but he is our #1option at the 5. Saba looks improved but still has issues with strength and footwork. Markka is still raw

The early block by K Moore was ESPN highlight worthy. His D is high level. Unfortunately his offense is still not. The shots he missed were really bad. With the 5 spot not going to be a scoring threat Moore has to pick up his game there

J Moore, Devion and Debo are solid additions. Deebo is thick and has all the skills you need. He was a willing defender today but he still needs to show that against better competition. I like the speed and athleticism from Devion. He is dangerous in the trap and will push the ball. Miles Kelley can shoot but I think he is a step behind Deebo for the moment

The interesting one to me is J Moore. He has high end athleticism and speed with a grown man body. He does not have the skills of the others but if/when he does watch out. For this year if we run the press much going forward he will still get minutes just because he can be that disruptive

Overall this is a different team than last year and looks to play differently There wasn’t any walking the ball up the court and we tried to push tempo especially off the trap. We were good at pushing, attacking the rim and kicking to the perimeter for the open 3. We ran the Princeton set in the half court but again not much one on one and a lot of penetrate and kick

IF we continue to play this way we will be a much more free flowing, attacking team utilizing a lot of long athletic players in something akin to positionless basketball - at least for 1-4 spots
 
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