I will also paste my DogManian review here because it will likely be missed by some in the other thread:
The practice was a lot of fun to watch, especially because KO made it into primarily a 4 quarter, 8:00 minute per quarter, scrimmage. There was some drills and stretching early on, but who cares about that, right? KO came over and addressed the crowd early on and again near the end: spoke about the “Three E’s” (um, energy, enthusiasm, and effort, I think) and he will continue to participate in the Calhoun Walk/Ride in the future.
The biggest news, or what appeared to be news at the beginning, may or may not be real news. To start the first scrimmage, the white team was the “first team” with Bazz, Boat, DD, as well as Tyler and Niels. Tyler only played a short while before Amida came in and Amida played much more overall. This was the main unit for the first 2 quarters, with the Blue team consisting of Omar, Samuel, Purvis, Kromah, Phil N., and Leon.
However, after halftime, the First Team (as indicated by the team with Bazz, Boat, and DD) included Omar and Nolan. So, make of that what you will, but my impression was that Omar did not look happy and I think that Niels is ahead of him at this time. This is a guess. The whole squad seemed very serious and there was almost no fooling around or having fun. On impressive thing was the intensity of the defensive play by everyone. The outside shooting was not great for the most part. DD made some nice 3’s in the last quarter and Niels made some early shots. Others certainly made some shots, but not a high percentage was shot overall.
The last quarter was a mixed squad with Boat and Bazz on different teams. Boat hit a big 3 to give his team a 3 point lead as time was winding down. Bazz brought the ball up and took a somewhat deep 3 to tie, but it was “close but no cigar.”
The biggest surprise was the play of Amida B. He played a lot of minutes and generally played pretty well. He had about 2 or 3 blocks in a short stretch of the last quarter (getting 2 of Rodney’s shots). He competes for rebounds, not quite strong enough to secure them at times, but more comfortable with contact than Hasheem was when he arrived. Everyone there was impressed by AB. On the other side, Kentan played relatively little and was not very noticeable. Based on what we saw, Amida will be in the rotation and Kentan may not be this year if today’s practice is an indication. Tyler got relatively few minutes and did not do too much when in. Was wondering if the few minutes was related to his needing to work his way out of the doghouse.
Niels looked very good and did show signs of playing with more confidence and being looked to by his peers to do more. Played smart, quicker to shoot, very good defense, good hands. He made one really good defensive play against Kromah, anticipating his move, getting to the spot ahead if him, and causing the ball to be turned over without causing a foul. KO called out praise loudly to NG on that play and did not do much of that during the scrimmage.
Boat was looking to pass more, seemed to be playing slower and more in control. He was open and shot the ball pretty well at times. It was good to see he and Bazz playing well together.
Bazz did not shoot very much overall, looking to pass. He thread the needle a number of times with passes through defenders to a man just barely open on the inside. He looked like a player who was in control and was going to get the ball to who he wanted. He has a great handle. He was about the only one to try some razzle-dazzle a couple of times, with a couple of smiles afterward.
Deandre played pretty well early on, but was more noticeable at the end of the last quarter when he was hitting open 3’s. I would have liked to see him drive the ball successfully to the hoop more.
Omar was handling the ball more on the blue team, did pretty well but certainly not in the league of Bazz and Boat with the ball. He was aggressive and played well in the latter part of the scrimmage. Did not hit shots he often does make, but was close.
Rodney did not stand out as I thought he might have. He was quick to shoot on several occasions when it might or would have been better to pull it out and be more patient to find a better shot. He had one breakaway dunk where he just soared and was WAY up in the air with ease. He made some good passes but did not look like a PG with the ball. His handle is not that tight at this point.
Phil Nolan played okay but did not stand out. He competed for boards and he and Amida were battling each other for rebounds, with neither one seeming to have a clear edge. Phil has a very nice stroke on his shot from the foul line in, but did not get many shots at all. Not a “claiming the position” kind of performance in my eyes. Based just on this practice, I could see Amida getting as much time or more than Phil as the season progresses. Time will tell.
Terrence gave very good effort, seemed to play more early in the first quarter than later on. He made some good passes, but was not overly effective (remember, the D was quite intense).
Lasan Kromah was out early shooting and was not making a good percentage then or during the game. He is very athletic and did some nice things….rebounds, driving the ball, good effort on D.
Leon played quite a bit in the earlier quarters, but did not do a whole lot that I noticed. He looks outside the rotation to me.
Kentan moves very well, but did not play that much. Right now, he does not look to be in position for much in the way of minutes if today was any indication. Amida seems to be much more likely to see significant minutes. Who knows. Near the end of the last scrimmage, there was some kind of outburst where a couple of people said that Kentan kicked or threw a chair and got kicked out of the practice. No one knew why he was upset. I did see him walking off the floor by himself before practice was over and he did not return.
One nice thing to see was KO getting on the whole blue team at one point, showing that he can be tough when needed. He also came out another time and really called out one side to show more energy. He appeared to me to be clearly in charge. There were times when working on things where Coach Miller was the one doing most of the instruction. Ricky Moore came out and worked with players on specific points to correct one thing or another, but did so with what seemed like a very positive approach. Karl Hobbs was vocal at times while coaching in the scrimmages.
The End
Nice report. Thanks.
