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Message: [QUOTE="Pgh2Storrs, post: 4420436, member: 8306"] The offense/shooting was awful but, given Dan’s comments about it being a strength all offseason, I don’t think we need to get too carried away with concern. For me, Clingan was the biggest development tonight. Of course his size overwhelmed these guys, but that’s going to be the case against legit teams as well. Even as his offensive game develops, his size and mobility is going to be a complete pain in the ass for teams who previously looked to exploit us when Adama is off the floor. Very, very bright start. I thought Newton and Diarra calmed some of the fears about PG play as well. It’s obviously going to be a combined effort between those two and Andre rather than one of them being “the guy” but I thought they both were encouraging. Newton is smooth and played with a lot of poise, even if his shot wasn’t falling (he certainly had company there last night). He was as advertised in his ability to get to the rim, draw contact, and get to the line which is going to help us immensely to close out games. Diarra is just a tailor made Dan Hurley player. The offense is going to be erratic at times, but he looked great facilitating and is an absolute terror on defense. Karaban was another guy who played beyond his age. Like everyone else he lacked offensive efficiency, but that stroke is effortless and, for a guy playing his first collegiate game, he really impressed me with his willingness to keep shooting when other young guys may start to defer to others. Another guy who did nothing to dissuade our hopes last night. The only guy I came away wanting more from was Samson, but I think that’s largely due to foul trouble. I want to see him get more of an extended run on Friday and get into the flow a bit more early on. I’m still not sure what we should be expecting from him (I keep thinking something around what we hoped Akok would look like pre-Achilles) but, fouls aside, he did look less lost last night so I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do moving forward. I’m choosing to be optimistic about Hawk since he was not immediately in the protocol process, but I know there’s hardly a linear timeline with concussions. I imagine he gets held out Friday regardless of where his health is and we’re looking at next week to get both him and Andre back. We should be beyond our quota on injuries for a while, but it really speaks to the incredible depth on this team that we’re likely without two guys who will be in the NBA draft this spring for Friday and I’m not really seeing any cause for concern basketball-wise. That kind of depth is a weapon we haven’t had for quite some time [/QUOTE]

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