Easier for me to breakdown by the player after watching just this game so certainly not anything set in stone even in my mind:
Jalen - just had fun out there, feeling around who he's playing with it would seem and how he can play with each guy. He will change when they tip off against Colgate and take more than the passive mode we saw last night. I just hope that's the same in the defensive end because he wasn't really attentive there, needs to be a factor on defense and pay more attention to his OWN man.
Alterique - Kid can plain get to spots easily but needs to finish either the shot or the pass. Again, more attention made to taking care of the ball nit making plays that aren't there or because he found himself too deep or in trouble. The 2 floaters straight in a row in the lane 2nd half were what I expect a lot from him and often. Needs to, like Jalen, pay attention to his guy and keep him in front of him. He and Jalen need to be a factor on defense and make it easier for the young front line to stay on their guys and not need to help all the time.
CVital - Kid plays hard and does some great things. Will impact the game and still love him as the guy off the bench. He plays hard on defense, tends to float like all 3 guards looking to make plays needs to stick to his guy and rebound. One thing he's not good at is passing the ball. Tries to cut the mustard when taking it to the lane and normally doesn't work out that well. He's not the only one as this is not a great passing team, but he needs to take care of the ball better, make crisper passes and surer passes when on the move.
Terry - Looked pretty good on offense. Will be relied on the foul line and extended because they will see a lot of zone if they can't make a shot. Like his ability to make that shot and maybe get to the rim from that point of the floor. Hasn't shown explosiveness that he will need to take his defender off the dribble when they aren't Merrimack. Needs to rebound the ball a lot better in traffic and also didn't help on defense 2-3 times when he at least should've tried to. Need more out of this kid.
Cobb - I like his game, you can see he knows how to play but he has lazy feet not slow feet. He is smart enough to understand help defense but didn't get there, will need to do so if he wants to be on the floor. Rebounds well, good hands and is physical. There's much more there, up to coaches to get it out of him if he wants it bad enough. Could be a factor against physical teams and could be the 5 if he pushes himself.
Diarra - Nice game offensively, finished close. Established his spot on the low block with a power dribble and physical bump to score once good understanding. Pretty quick to get up to score, liked what I saw there. Another guy who loses his attentiveness on defense and boxing out when needing to. Should be more of a rebounding presence needs to be. Defensively a bit lost at times but has the feet t be good eventually.
Carlton - Good hands, good physical skills, keeps the ball high on rebounds missed a couple bunny put backs but again a very nice looking athlete. Has the feet on both ends to be better but needs to get better understanding on D and help defense. Box out a little more but lot's to work with here like him.
Williams - Active kid, quick athlete and seems to understand the game a little better than I thought. He hedges ok on defense is fast to get back to his guy. He can score the ball down low, adjusted to a couple bad passes and turned them into scores. Needs more time but could have some good minutes I think, could be a player eventually lots for the staff to work with here.
Anderson - nice 4th guard, can guard his man is a bit undersized but you can see the toughness. We know he can shoot it a little and can handle it well enough, and seems to be a smart player who doesn't force things all that often and they will need that on occasion. He will get his minutes just because he can defend as well as his experience.
Polley - Kid has game just exudes smoothness and a nice swagger, but really can play. Make take some time, but we will see this kid this year suddenly jump on the scene and be one of the guys. Although he didn't finish that one rebound in which he went coast-to-coast showed his confidence in his ability to handle the ball which is very solid for a young 6'8" swing. Like his stroke and think he will be a good shooter at some point if not very good. Another guy like Larrier they can throw at the foul line against the zone and he can make a play. Eventually will be a star here.
Whaley - Great kid, hard working kid this is my favorite of the game last night. Not just because of his ability to follow up dunk or ally oop dunk but because of his passion and energy. On defense he never stops, his feet at 6'9" are impressive as hell, will be able to guard 2-5 eventually in bis career. He was hedging and staying on their guard creating havoc, as well as stepping back to his own man after helping a very good understanding of the game and a real hardworking kid you can just see it. He wants minutes, will get them and soon I believe. He and Polley are a wonderful future as well as the others.
Lots more to say but have a teleconference, but the one thing I will say is they better play better defense as a team, because it's God awful right now and I would guess even Colgate will give us fits.
Love the pieces, but how fast will the freshman become soph's?? Huge for this team to find some impact from them.
