Game thoughts... Maine

[RichZ]

1. It's Maine. Let's not get too worked up.
2. DHam. Not sure who the guy in his uniform was last year, but this is a totally different player. No longer an adventure when he spins into the lane or goes behind his back. Seemed like --at least against a somewhat sub par defense -- he could do whatever the hell he wanted to, whenever he wanted to.
3. Miller. The. Real. Deal. But he really got screwed by the refs. After two completely imaginary fouls in the first half, when he thought that blocking foul in the 2nd half was on him, the look on his face was somewhere between disgust and contempt. I think the ref held up a 1 and a 2 for Facey out of fear for his life.
4. Brimah. I realize he was making a statement, but blocks out of bounds are not the idea. Still he had 8 or 9 of them.
5. Gibbs. If Miller's the real deal, Gibbs = Something. Else. Fantastic game. Who was the idiot that wanted to sit him and hand the team to Jalen. Jalen's good, but playing behind Miller will make him better.
6. Refs/rule changes. If this is the way games are going to be called all year, we might need more players. Looks like perimeter defense is against the rules this year? And someone is misinterpreting the whole deal with not being able to draw a charge within the arc. Yes, it's not a charge when you have position under the rim and the offensive player runs into you. But it's not a foul on you, either, dammit.
7. Facey played very, very well. He rebounded, he was assertive, and he looked for his shot in the right places. He may be the 3rd big, but if he plays like this, we're a much better team.
8. Enoch. Nerves? Maybe it's just that the other bigs played so well, but he looked a little lost out there tonight.
9. 15 blocks. 8 steals. 48 rebounds (18 board margin). 28 bench points.
10. Ollie's half time presentation. Don't know what it was, but I sure hope he recorded it, because it must've been a damned good one.

 

[Eskapeesto]

My thoughts:

 

[superjohn]

My thoughts:

Digging your posts.

 

[Bryan Lord]

I don't think Enoch looked lost, agree with everything else though.

 

[Rico444]

Enoch and Adams looked like freshman playing their first game. Luckily, that's what they are. Both clearly have talent and once they settle in, will be huge additions to this program.

 

[joober jones]

I think Thriller is a fitting nickname for Miller.

 

[Walker11]

Miller is as good an athlete as we have had. To think he has been matching up with Ivy League talent...yikes. He may not be the best rebounder we've had, but he may be the most graceful. He seems to float upwards to snatch boards at their apex. With one hand.

Sterling is not just a shooter. He mixed in drives to the tin, crafty pull-ups and deft lobs in an all around solid game. I think he was 1-4 from 3 land, and that is probably his best skill. I couldn't be more excited with our 2 transfers.

Rodney seems different. He is a little bit more composed and did a better job of picking his spots. And we didn't need to wait 25 games to see him dunking aggressively. It will be fun to watch a healthy Purv with a year of KO's teaching under his belt.

DHam has a noticeably tighter handle. He was our de facto PG and the offense ran beautifully when he was on the floor. He is our best player.

Amida was Amida. I have always been high on him, so I wasn't especially blown away. He needs to catch and dunk the ball, protect the rim, and grab rebounds. I know he will be successful at tasks 1 and 2, and I can't really judge his rebounding against a 6'8 non-athlete. Love the enthusiasm as always.

I thought all the bench guys showed bright spots but obviously it wasn't perfect. Sam and Omar need to be knocking down open 3's at an impressive clip and while I was pleasantly surprised by Omar's playmaking, I can't say I loved Sam's deep, off balance 2's. Enoch and Jalen showed some jitters - evidenced by a few of Jalen's TO's and Enoch consistently back-rimming his FT's. I can't wait to see each develop, and am grateful that they will have the opportunity to learn from elders. Kentan had a nice moonshot and rebounded the ball in Miller-esque way, per usual. When KO cuts the bench to 3 or 4, I expect Kentan to remain in the mix.

Overall, Maine is a crappy team who we handled as expected. The D needs to do a better job with closeouts and a few particular players need to do a better job moving their feet. But this offense is going to be lethal and I think this season is going to be a lot of fun.

Edit. Can't forget the fact that we finally ran. We "only" had 16 fast break points but it seemed that we pushed the ball up court every single possession.

 

[Kitaman]

I'm expecting Omar's shots to start to go in. He's got a few more games to correct whatever's wrong. Same can be said for Cassell, but he has more time.