All of this comes with the full knowledge that we didn't see the game, don't know how the scrimmage was conducted, etc., so we're all sort of reading between the lines and speculating some. Still...
1. We went 16-33 from 3. Yes, it was Detroit, which is very, very bad defensively and plays a zone, so full caveats that this is not a sign we will suddenly become the Curry/Thompson/etc. Golden State Warriors. However, we played a lot of bad teams last year (and a fair number of zones to boot), and met or exceeded that percentage 5 times in 37 games. And this came with Wagner, Johns and Bajema (hip flexor), all shooters, out., and a longer 3 point line. So that's good.
2. We gave up 15 offensive rebounds. That's bad. Because of the injuries, we played 9 guys last night, 4 of whom (including Faulds) are primarily or exclusively post players, and 3 of whom are small guards-- we even played some minutes with 1 of Brooks or DeJulius at the 3 in a 3 small guard lineup--so that might explain the rebounding woes. This will be something to watch when Johns (who apparently is on track to be ready for the season, and could have played last night, if necessary), and later Wagner, return. Wing rebounding, i.e., keeping athletic, bouncy mid-sized kids off the glass, could be an Achilles heel for this team.
3. On the one hand, getting practice against a team which plays primarily zone will matter in less games than had we played a man team, because many more teams play man than zone. On the other hand, we've struggled with some zone teams recently because of a lack of practice against zones (Northwestern other than the last game in Ann Arbor last year, Holy Cross, Penn State), and Oregon, one of our OOC opponents this year (possibly twice depending on how things shake out in our Thanksgiving tournament) played a zone for the second half of last season. On balance, I'm OK with getting the practice we did.
4. Good for DDJ (7-9 from 3, team leader in points). Again, he's not going to be a 78% shooter from 3--I'd be thrilled if he shoots half that (39%) from distance--but confidence is a huge thing, especially coming off of a season when he barely played and shot horribly when he did. Getting off to a start like that could help immensely.
5. Defensively, we gave up a lot more points per possession (1.13) than we've seen over the past few years. While Detroit is pretty decent offensively, that's too many. Detroit's shooting percentage was mediocre (40% overall, 33% from 3), so that wasn't an issue; the elevated number seems to have stemmed from the aforementioned defensive rebounding issues (which might be cleaned up with lineup additions) and a lack of turnovers forced. Detroit was top 50 in the country last year in least turnovers committed by percentage of of offensive plays, so that may simply be a function of who we played and not how we played. That will be interesting to track going forward.
6. Secret scrimmages don't mean much, especially when you're missing core players, but I'd rather win than lose, and with this team, I'd rather the early season woes be defensive rather than offensive. Of course, I'd rather win by more than 7--it's Detroit--but we were missing key personnel, and apparently, after a very slow start, we were up double digits in the second half. Overall, okay, left wanting to see more. Can't wait.
1. We went 16-33 from 3. Yes, it was Detroit, which is very, very bad defensively and plays a zone, so full caveats that this is not a sign we will suddenly become the Curry/Thompson/etc. Golden State Warriors. However, we played a lot of bad teams last year (and a fair number of zones to boot), and met or exceeded that percentage 5 times in 37 games. And this came with Wagner, Johns and Bajema (hip flexor), all shooters, out., and a longer 3 point line. So that's good.
2. We gave up 15 offensive rebounds. That's bad. Because of the injuries, we played 9 guys last night, 4 of whom (including Faulds) are primarily or exclusively post players, and 3 of whom are small guards-- we even played some minutes with 1 of Brooks or DeJulius at the 3 in a 3 small guard lineup--so that might explain the rebounding woes. This will be something to watch when Johns (who apparently is on track to be ready for the season, and could have played last night, if necessary), and later Wagner, return. Wing rebounding, i.e., keeping athletic, bouncy mid-sized kids off the glass, could be an Achilles heel for this team.
3. On the one hand, getting practice against a team which plays primarily zone will matter in less games than had we played a man team, because many more teams play man than zone. On the other hand, we've struggled with some zone teams recently because of a lack of practice against zones (Northwestern other than the last game in Ann Arbor last year, Holy Cross, Penn State), and Oregon, one of our OOC opponents this year (possibly twice depending on how things shake out in our Thanksgiving tournament) played a zone for the second half of last season. On balance, I'm OK with getting the practice we did.
4. Good for DDJ (7-9 from 3, team leader in points). Again, he's not going to be a 78% shooter from 3--I'd be thrilled if he shoots half that (39%) from distance--but confidence is a huge thing, especially coming off of a season when he barely played and shot horribly when he did. Getting off to a start like that could help immensely.
5. Defensively, we gave up a lot more points per possession (1.13) than we've seen over the past few years. While Detroit is pretty decent offensively, that's too many. Detroit's shooting percentage was mediocre (40% overall, 33% from 3), so that wasn't an issue; the elevated number seems to have stemmed from the aforementioned defensive rebounding issues (which might be cleaned up with lineup additions) and a lack of turnovers forced. Detroit was top 50 in the country last year in least turnovers committed by percentage of of offensive plays, so that may simply be a function of who we played and not how we played. That will be interesting to track going forward.
6. Secret scrimmages don't mean much, especially when you're missing core players, but I'd rather win than lose, and with this team, I'd rather the early season woes be defensive rather than offensive. Of course, I'd rather win by more than 7--it's Detroit--but we were missing key personnel, and apparently, after a very slow start, we were up double digits in the second half. Overall, okay, left wanting to see more. Can't wait.
