RichZ
Fort the ead!
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 5,205
- Reaction Score
- 22,168
- Jackson and Sanogo in at 14:37. In his first stint on the floor, Andre did not look very fluid. Every move was tentative. I believe that 2 of his three TOs came during that first, short stretch of PT. DH got him out and calmed down. Looked much more comfortable after that.
- I think Sanogo was probably the biggest story of the game. He played great and he played awful. Defensively, he kept lapsing into chasing the ball on the perimeter. Whalley is fantastic at hedging out to take away a lane and getting back into the paint in a hurry. But once Adama got out there -- I hate to say it, but his D brought Jumpman to mind. Instead of hedging to take away an opening and getting back low immediately, he ends up chasing the ball on perimeter, leaving a huge gap in the D. On the other hand, he got 7 boards in 17 minutes, and 5 of them were offensive boards. He catches the ball when you throw it to him, and knows exactly where he is in relation to the basket when he does. The soft jump hook was a pleasant surprise. Assuming DH and Free can get the tendency to chase the ball on the perimeter out of him, he is going to be fun to watch, and a load to play against.
- Gaff looked smooth and in control, but needs to assert himself more.
- Small sample, but it looks like RJ is going to be the primary winning-time ball handler, based on his FT shooting. 4 of 4 last night, but it's more than that. He has Bazz's air of confidence at the line. That and 50% from 3 plus 60 cents in dimes gave me a good feeling about his ability to run the point for us -- tempered a bit by his 4 TOs. Trying to convince myself that last stat was an anomaly, but can't help finding it a bit worrisome.
- Badams played a lot more minutes than I expected. Nothing spectacular, but steady and relatively mistake free. Odd that he didn't get to the line at all, considering how much he likes taking it to the rim. There was one shot of him walking down the court that I swear I thought for a second it was CV. Never noticed a resemblance before, and probably never will again.
- The first foul call on Andre showed that the refs weren't any more ready for the season than the players were. It was as clean a block as I've seen a Husky make since Mek. Looked like he was going to voice his displeasure to the ref, but thought better of it.
- Bouk (with a little help from Sanogo) took over for 2 minutes shortly before the end of the first half and put an end to CCSU's dreams of hanging in.
- Mildly surprised Whalley only played 17 minutes. 5 of 6 from the floor, 7 boards and a block. And a bright spot in our otherwise lackluster defense. He's not giving up his starting role anytime soon.
- I'm guessing/hoping that Carlton will see more use when we play a team with some front court height.
- JB (Not Bouk, and definitely not the nose picker -- the tall kid on our team) played 3 minutes in garbage time, and went 2 for 2 from the floor with a couple boards. He bobbled the ball every time he touched it, but recovered and scored. He certainly knows what to do with it once he has control over it. I swear he stuffed the ball with two hands just standing on his tip toes. Man he's got some long arms. I think he's going to be fun to watch for about 3 years.
- Is there such a thing as an unsatisfying 27 point W? We are going to have to get a lot better if we expect to taste the tourney. Our D wasn't just bad, for much of the night, it was borderline pitiful. Matador defense on the perimeter, and way too often, no-one home in the paint to stop the drive. Giving up 41 points on nearly 60% shooting in the first half to CCSU is an absolute embarrassment. Rebounding (both ends) and assists were the only areas that we were substantially better than Donyell's squad.
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