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Message: [QUOTE="mauconnfan, post: 5131229, member: 489"] 3 games in Hawaii here’s my take: Diarra - defensively our best player but still lost track more than last year. Offensively some great plays but too many w t f plays to negate the positive. Still believe he’s a very good 6th man not as good as a focused starter. Mahaney - Obviously had trouble on both ends. Consistently beat off the dribble and didn’t look comfy as a PG. He’s better than this and is pressing badly they will need to find his place on the floor. Johnson - 13 fouls and 5 rebounds in 3 games says it all. I mean you expect to improve on a few facets and instead it’s potentially worse or at least was in Maui. Why Dan Hurley gave him more rope than Reed amazes me? McNeeley - kids got game no doubt but needs to finish more consistently. Gets to the hole nicely, we know he can shoot it but consistency will be the key on O. D wise he gets beat off the dribble, recovers ocassionally but needs to keep people in front of him, and rebound a bit more. Alex - seems to be leading as well as he can but he’s a different player. He’s not that guy but he played ok but not good enough. Rebounding needs to improve both ends for sure. He actually had a couple ill timed fouls as well we know he’s smarter than that. He’ll be fine. Ball - kid can shoot. For now it ends there. His takes to the basket never got rim against Colorado after pretty much no takes against Memphis. His defense is amazingly awful considering the athlete he is. Can’t keep anyone in front of him and can he quit trying to take charges? Stand up and play D or head to Duke for craps sake. Reed - great game against Memphis that’s the guy we need. Despite that he should have had more minutes even in that game. Game 2 turned into SJ couldn’t keep his hands in his pockets, needs to stay on the ground too quit jumping on ball fakes. Game 3 14 minutes no fouls explain that one to me?? Puzzling use in that one. Ross - he has potential but that’s all I saw. He is in too much of a hurry to do everything. He long and has potential to be a solid defender but he got beat off the dribble too much as well. He only made one jumper but I’m sure he’ll be fine off the bench. Needs to relax not rush. Did block a couple shots off the ball which was nice. Stewart - overall played like you need off the bench but I question the minutes here? Played excellent in the first half vs Memphis and where was he from there? Strange. Nose for the ball, physical presence in compared to many other players but Dan Hurley doesn’t like something. To me deserved most of Ross minutes, but if he gets better on D that will happen. Nowell - he looked good for the most part. He’s faster with the ball than the other PGs and defensively kept his guys in front of him. He’s going to pressure everyone for minutes at the PG and I believe we need that to happen. Physical and despite his size he plays plenty big. Abraham - not much time at all but I bet he’s an improvement on D, never know. Singare - the same, but honestly he looked a bit lost in his minutes I was surprised . Much improvement needed to win games. Can the staff figure out how to work the players strengths and weaknesses into lineups in the coming games? Will be interesting but it’s a bit scary at the moment. Memphis was solid, Colorado sucked and Dayton will be pretty damn good. Awful to go 0-3. Oh yeah forgot: Coaching - lost the first game with an ill advised T by the head coach. He was incredibly consistent berating the refs throughout the first 2 games. Guessing that was discussed in the refs locker room so maybe better to coach the kids more, watch your use of substitutions. Next 4 are very important 1-3 not good! [/QUOTE]

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