Late to the thread again. The following has probably been mentioned:
Let me start with the good with a little needs improvement mixed in:
Ball has a nice 3 Pt stroke. Good to see he's not afraid to let em rip. He needs to continue to take 3s, but has to work on attacking the basket and finish more often and/or draw contact. Improved passing is needed as well.
McNeeley is the real deal. If he didn't miss time due to injury, we probably keep the momentum and win this game. He's just going to get better.
Nowell looks like one of the the two lead guards we need, with Mahaney taking on the Joey Cal role if he can figure out how to contribute and not be a liability. You could tell the moment looked a tad big for Nowell shooting wise, likely due to a lack of PT leading up to today.
Diarra made a lot of nice plays, but shouldn't be the player taking the last two shots with the game on the line. I do like that he wasn't afraid to take them, but try to look for a teammate as a first or second read. He's made some big late shots for us, but today didn't happen.
The not so good:
The team can't defend without fouling. This needs to be fixed. It's fixable and hope they figure it out sooner than later. Loosely related, can't wait till they play in front of BE refs where they normally let them play. Looks like perimeter breakdowns are leading to putting teammates in bad foul situations, though many fouls are simply on the ball ones.
Karaban has come up big in most of our games this season, but not today. If he had even an okay shooting day we win. He'll be fine this year, but we needed a few of his 3s to fall today to pull out the W.
Reed Jr looked great and was getting better each game, but no today. He couldn't stay on the floor. Teammates couldn't get him the ball when he was on the floor.
Johnson can't defend without fouling. Hope the staff can coach him up and he is able to learn. Lots of ball to be played, but little sign of him getting it. Though I'm not sure all of them were fouls, but many of the legit ones look avoidable. Maybe they need to tie one of his hands behind his back in practice to get through to him. He needs to show improved defense BBIQ. His lack of rebounds is often the result of trying to help out on D when at times he should be battling for solid defense rebounding position.
Ross, I still think he's going to be a special player, but it looks like the stage right now looks a tad too big for him. He's missing his 3s and doesn't seem to be as assertive attacking the basket. It will come, but he's further away than those who have seen his potential thought.
Stewart continues to look like a big game player. Hurley needs to continue to find him minutes and ways that maximize his abilities.
As noted above, coach up Mahaney in the Joey Cal mode for now, till he proves he deserves more PT than a few spot minutes. He continues to be a liability. Let's hope he figures it out and proves to his coaches that they made the right decision to bring him here.
In addition to taking 2 losses, they've squandered resume building opportunities by losing these first two games. I'm sure I'm speaking for everyone, but missing the opportunity to see them face a top 10 team is very disappointing.
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