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Message: [QUOTE="Ricker, post: 3721871, member: 1245"] A very pleasing watch. I agree with [USER=6696]@husky429[/USER] that Samson Johnson did not play like that last winter. When I saw him at Hoophall he was a spot up 3 point shooter that ran well end to end, but only made a few other plays intermittently. Now he has more strength, oodles more confidence, runs with purpose, finished play after play, caught the ball in traffic, finished Brimah lobs, rebounded strong, blocked numerous shots, and got co-player of the game. He jumped and missed a block, and was immediately higher than everybody on a quick second jump getting a rebound. He was doing this against Dereck Lively and Trey Patterson. We got a player. Diggins will facilitate scoring. He got up and dunked 1 break but he controls the team under the rim and with pace. He threw a bunch of long distance fast break passes over the defense a la Doron Sheffer to Donny Marshall, (60 ft chest passes). He also drew the defense and threw Hamilton to Brimah lobs to Johnson. Hit a 3 as well. Diggins and Johnson played with Corey Floyd which can't hurt our chances there. Floyd didn't own the game like our guys, but he played well, shot well, scored at the rim with power, and looks strong. Evaluating UConn, Corey will already know our team well, playing together with these guys, and, last year vs Sanogo. The Villanova kids, Trey Patterson and Nnanna Njoku, are also great. Patterson reminds me of Wilkes from UCLA years ago. Very smooth and hit from all levels. Njjoku I had seen before but he is more impressive now. He and Sanogo will be beast on beast. It was nice to see Johnson compete with these guys, (same team as Njoku but Johnson was quicker and got to balls they both went for). I had only seen Jordan Riley highlights and liked what I saw, Georgetown is getting an athletic stud that will put Georgetown back on the map if he doesn't get stuck having to do it alone. He played like his highlights. Zion Cruz had some moments, but he and Roddy Gayle were underwhelming for the most part. Gayle was high on my 2022 wish list, far above Corey Floyd, but maybe I was over estimating him and under valuing Floyd. I need to rewatch most of the early part of the first half where some plays were made before I caught on who was who. A general comment is that the broadcast team gave UConn a ton of love. They talked at length about us a half dozen different times. Rejoining the Big East where we belong, recapturing dominance of regional recruiting with Villanova, Hurley and The Patrick School, Diggins, Johnson,... They were real cheer leaders for us as heavy hitters returning to glory, and can't wait to see UConn play this year. I think I can even watch this game again. Didn't get a sloppy all star game dunkfest till the last 3 min. [/QUOTE]

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