Wanted to give my early not that crucial first assessment of the scrimmage and viewpoint regarding the team.
initially , compared to last year this year’s team has more talent and more scorers. It was encouraging to see a low post offensive scorer for the first time in I do not know how many years but at the same time it was discouraging that 3 players that are now older did not take any appreciable leap at least from just looking at 1 game.
Gurdack is a pleasant suprise how far along he is offensively. He moves to the basket quickly and can score with both hands . He initiated a lot of the offense from the high post or wing and sets good picks , including the one Lino hit for the potential 4 point play. He rolls well. He has good hands but did not catch 2 or so passes that Lino gave him that would have turned into points. His offensive rebounding was good but I did not think his defensive rebounding was good . He took almost every shot when the ball was passed down to him and a minor criticism would be I would have liked for him to kick out for threes we desparately needed. Hopefully that part of his game is there. Overall defensively stayed in front of his man and did well but he is not a rim protector but his defense was good. Seems like a smart player that will help us tremendously. Will get you a bucket if we go on a scoring drought.
Did not mind him shooting the three as I think he can make it and give us a stretch 5 look at times .
Smith was also very aggressive and has moves , can handle and makes tough shots. Hit our only 2 threes until Lino hit 2 late so that is another dimension he offers. He will be able to hit a ton of mid range shots and defenders will have a hard time keeping g him down all game. His defense was better than was previously advertised and his rebounding was good as well. Another good player that will help us a lot.
Lino is so fast with the dribble and despite not finishing a couple of times he has gotten better. He had 5 assists to go along with his scoring and could have been more . His 2 late threes appears to be something that we can count on this year. Not 40% but 33.3% from 3 is very plausible. His defense is outstanding and he will lead this team this year.
Now some negative thoughts but I thought JMike , Powers and Buchanan did not do anything that showed any appreciable improvement. JMike will play less once Francis is back so his 10-15 minutes backing up Lino and Francis will be fine in running the point , hitting an occasional shot and playing defense . He gave up too many threes so that was disappointing
Powers is such a dilemma. The kid has all the skills but his shot does not look like money , his defense was just okay. His best plays of the day were the putback dunk of Jmike’s miss and his drive that he got assaulted and hit 2 foul shots. I wanted to see tangible improvement and it just was not there.
Buchanan was just okay. His defense is usually good but Royal was his main assignment and he let up 20 points. His offense did not look any different . He is solid for a backup at the 3 or the 4 .
C.Jones was very heady and played really tight defense especially in the second half cutting down on Villanova ‘s Perkins killing us from 3. He can handle. He will help us on both ends.
Diego was not in long enough to tell anything.
Ware looked serviceable as a backup to Gurdack and had a nice bucket down low.
We did not have Francis , Syndor or Buca so it was encouraging to see the effort against a decent Villanova team . I thought for an exhibition game , it had high intensity defense played all game by both teams , guys diving in the floor and getting after it. So it was only one game and cannot overreact to an exhibition game but it felt like a legitimate test .
Overall , again only one game , but we will likely be a lot better than last year with multiple scoring options , a low post presence , a wing that can operate for buckets , elite speed at point guard that I think is primed for a breakout year , and a defense that was better although failed to get over screens for giving up too many threes. We were outscored from 3, 13-4 that is 39-12 or by 27 and until Lino’s 2 late ones it was 13-2 or outscored by 33 from 3. That is almost impossible to overcome but we almost did it. Our foul shooting will be good as Gurdack , Smith , Lino, Davis ,Powers will shoot in the 70’s and then there is Tarik at close to 90%.
initially , compared to last year this year’s team has more talent and more scorers. It was encouraging to see a low post offensive scorer for the first time in I do not know how many years but at the same time it was discouraging that 3 players that are now older did not take any appreciable leap at least from just looking at 1 game.
Gurdack is a pleasant suprise how far along he is offensively. He moves to the basket quickly and can score with both hands . He initiated a lot of the offense from the high post or wing and sets good picks , including the one Lino hit for the potential 4 point play. He rolls well. He has good hands but did not catch 2 or so passes that Lino gave him that would have turned into points. His offensive rebounding was good but I did not think his defensive rebounding was good . He took almost every shot when the ball was passed down to him and a minor criticism would be I would have liked for him to kick out for threes we desparately needed. Hopefully that part of his game is there. Overall defensively stayed in front of his man and did well but he is not a rim protector but his defense was good. Seems like a smart player that will help us tremendously. Will get you a bucket if we go on a scoring drought.
Did not mind him shooting the three as I think he can make it and give us a stretch 5 look at times .
Smith was also very aggressive and has moves , can handle and makes tough shots. Hit our only 2 threes until Lino hit 2 late so that is another dimension he offers. He will be able to hit a ton of mid range shots and defenders will have a hard time keeping g him down all game. His defense was better than was previously advertised and his rebounding was good as well. Another good player that will help us a lot.
Lino is so fast with the dribble and despite not finishing a couple of times he has gotten better. He had 5 assists to go along with his scoring and could have been more . His 2 late threes appears to be something that we can count on this year. Not 40% but 33.3% from 3 is very plausible. His defense is outstanding and he will lead this team this year.
Now some negative thoughts but I thought JMike , Powers and Buchanan did not do anything that showed any appreciable improvement. JMike will play less once Francis is back so his 10-15 minutes backing up Lino and Francis will be fine in running the point , hitting an occasional shot and playing defense . He gave up too many threes so that was disappointing
Powers is such a dilemma. The kid has all the skills but his shot does not look like money , his defense was just okay. His best plays of the day were the putback dunk of Jmike’s miss and his drive that he got assaulted and hit 2 foul shots. I wanted to see tangible improvement and it just was not there.
Buchanan was just okay. His defense is usually good but Royal was his main assignment and he let up 20 points. His offense did not look any different . He is solid for a backup at the 3 or the 4 .
C.Jones was very heady and played really tight defense especially in the second half cutting down on Villanova ‘s Perkins killing us from 3. He can handle. He will help us on both ends.
Diego was not in long enough to tell anything.
Ware looked serviceable as a backup to Gurdack and had a nice bucket down low.
We did not have Francis , Syndor or Buca so it was encouraging to see the effort against a decent Villanova team . I thought for an exhibition game , it had high intensity defense played all game by both teams , guys diving in the floor and getting after it. So it was only one game and cannot overreact to an exhibition game but it felt like a legitimate test .
Overall , again only one game , but we will likely be a lot better than last year with multiple scoring options , a low post presence , a wing that can operate for buckets , elite speed at point guard that I think is primed for a breakout year , and a defense that was better although failed to get over screens for giving up too many threes. We were outscored from 3, 13-4 that is 39-12 or by 27 and until Lino’s 2 late ones it was 13-2 or outscored by 33 from 3. That is almost impossible to overcome but we almost did it. Our foul shooting will be good as Gurdack , Smith , Lino, Davis ,Powers will shoot in the 70’s and then there is Tarik at close to 90%.
