Hard to evaluate against a D2 team, but there were things that stood out.
Three point shooting is erratic. Only one make in the first half, and we had pretty good looks. Second half was better, including Teske's make. Looked pure. His free throws were nbn, too. Teske can be frustrating to watch, though. When he catches the ball in the paint, he sometimes treats it like a hot potato, putting it up too quickly with not enough touch. Got in foul trouble, but we have depth. Davis is a journeyman right now who will be a solid back-up. He needs experience. Castleton got in in mop up time. Seems willing to mix it up, but I don't see him seeing the floor much until he gets bigger.
Johns played some 5 and some 4. Was a little rushed with his back to the basket. I liked how active he was at both ends. Not a lot of stats, but the effort was there. Iggy is very tough to keep from getting to the hoop when he wants to. He gets his shoulder in front of the defender and bulls his way down the lane. His ability to finish tough drives through contact is uncanny. He's a scorer. His jump shot was not on but he still put up points. He's a bit of a throwback to guys like Adrian Dantley.
Matthews looked good on his midrange game, missed a couple of easy layups, shot well from the free throw line! Most of our scoring was due to turnovers that lead to transition points. Livers is a high feed machine, and the passes were on the money. We ran the floor well. Of course, the numerous turnovers mean that we are playing pretty good defense. Northwood got some garbage points and capitalized on a few defensive breakdowns. We have work to do, and playing an extended rotation can lead to some communication issues. But the defensive effort was good.
X was his usual pesky self and he anticipates. He recognized a guard beating his man and a big rotating over, leaving the other big unguarded, ready to receive a pass. X darted in and intercepted the pass, starting one of many fast break run outs. X will also drive the ball and finish with some nifty stuff. Eli is the backup PG at the moment, and played some 2, as well. He played well, broke the ice for us with a three point make, made a sweet high feed to Teske. DD struggled during his two stints on the court. Needs more patience running the offense, stop forcing shots. For now, Eli will handle the back up duties to X. He also backs up Poole. Poole oozes talent. He had a couple of drives dancing through the defense to nice finishes. He has a variety of quick moves. And he's probably our #1 threat on threes.
As I said at the outset, it's tough to come up with strong takes considering the opposition and that its first game where the bench was lengthened. My feeling is that defense will be our calling card again, with offense being grittier and less dependent on threes than what we're accustomed to.
Three point shooting is erratic. Only one make in the first half, and we had pretty good looks. Second half was better, including Teske's make. Looked pure. His free throws were nbn, too. Teske can be frustrating to watch, though. When he catches the ball in the paint, he sometimes treats it like a hot potato, putting it up too quickly with not enough touch. Got in foul trouble, but we have depth. Davis is a journeyman right now who will be a solid back-up. He needs experience. Castleton got in in mop up time. Seems willing to mix it up, but I don't see him seeing the floor much until he gets bigger.
Johns played some 5 and some 4. Was a little rushed with his back to the basket. I liked how active he was at both ends. Not a lot of stats, but the effort was there. Iggy is very tough to keep from getting to the hoop when he wants to. He gets his shoulder in front of the defender and bulls his way down the lane. His ability to finish tough drives through contact is uncanny. He's a scorer. His jump shot was not on but he still put up points. He's a bit of a throwback to guys like Adrian Dantley.
Matthews looked good on his midrange game, missed a couple of easy layups, shot well from the free throw line! Most of our scoring was due to turnovers that lead to transition points. Livers is a high feed machine, and the passes were on the money. We ran the floor well. Of course, the numerous turnovers mean that we are playing pretty good defense. Northwood got some garbage points and capitalized on a few defensive breakdowns. We have work to do, and playing an extended rotation can lead to some communication issues. But the defensive effort was good.
X was his usual pesky self and he anticipates. He recognized a guard beating his man and a big rotating over, leaving the other big unguarded, ready to receive a pass. X darted in and intercepted the pass, starting one of many fast break run outs. X will also drive the ball and finish with some nifty stuff. Eli is the backup PG at the moment, and played some 2, as well. He played well, broke the ice for us with a three point make, made a sweet high feed to Teske. DD struggled during his two stints on the court. Needs more patience running the offense, stop forcing shots. For now, Eli will handle the back up duties to X. He also backs up Poole. Poole oozes talent. He had a couple of drives dancing through the defense to nice finishes. He has a variety of quick moves. And he's probably our #1 threat on threes.
As I said at the outset, it's tough to come up with strong takes considering the opposition and that its first game where the bench was lengthened. My feeling is that defense will be our calling card again, with offense being grittier and less dependent on threes than what we're accustomed to.
