One of the more enjoyable Red-White games that I can remember. Kinda felt like one of those NBA All Star games of recent in which one or two players on the team down big time can’t stand to lose - even with it being an all star game - and wills their team back and it ends up being a great finish.
Daryl Macon and Moses Kingsley pretty much played those roles, and it ended up being a great game.
Some thoughts:
(Never take too much from a Red-White game)
I like the offensive potential of this team.
The team is built like what CMA has wanted. All of the bigs have a decent skill level and can run the floor…even Trey has become conditioned enough to get up and down.
Talent level is up considerably. Need to jell more to execute and win, but the talent looks pretty good.
Macon vs Barford was my favorite thing to watch today. Reports came out this week that they really get after each other. And, they definitely did today. The coaches actually had to switch defenders at one point b/c it was getting too chippy.
Lil Daryl has become a dog. I will always remember seeing Macon as a 5’2 9th grader bombing three’s on Parkview’s varsity team. Now, he’s a relentless multi-talented kid that surprised me with his ability to finish at the rim. Those of us that follow saw his stats in Juco, which proved an all-around game. But, I was more impressed than I thought I’d be with his approach and determination.
Like Dustin Thomas’ game. This was first time to see him, and what I was hoping to see, I saw, which is a kid that can defend 3-5, rebound and has good skill-level for a 4 (in our system).
All of the newcomer forwards crashed the offensive glass.
Brachen Hazen has a nice ceiling. He doesn’t do anything great right now, but the foundational tools are there for him to be a nice stretch 4 down the line.
I’ve been a little surprised to learn that Macon would run the point at times. He showed me tonight that he can do it. Nice handle and general facilitation.
Barford showed the vision I was hoping he had. A handful of very nice passes.
We have guards that can get by their man now…thank goodness.
Barford will get Modica’d some this year. He’s a bowling ball, but everyone once in awhile, he doesn’t stay on balance and doesn’t get enough lift at the rim.
Saw more improved skill out of Moses. A few nice hooks with improved footwork. He also hit a toe-on-the-three-line-jumper.
Liked how CJ Jones picked his spots tonight. He already has the rep that he’s a gunner, and he wasn’t shy tonight. But, he also wasn’t reckless. Potential oozing.
Trey seemed improved defensively. He also flashed the Oliver Miller baseball pass that we all like to see.
Macon and Barford seem like they could be pretty good on the ball defensively.
Liked Adrio Bailey’s aggressiveness. Jumper needs major work, but he will make things happen with this athleticism and activity-level.
Dusty was Dusty.
Beard was Beard, too.
Three point shooting was encouraging. Lot of different guys that can knock it down.
Manny was confident today, and that led to a lot of success for him today. He’ll give us good value again off the bench.
I liked Arlando Cook’s activity level. Need to see more for a better eval, though.
I wish DJ Derek still did Football games.
The biggest take-away for me today was Daryl Macon’s game. I almost felt a little Bobby-Portis-will from him. I see a leader.
I just want to reiterate how good Daryl Macon looked. If I didn’t know any of the players and this was my first time watching I would tell people Daryl Macon is the best player on the team. I had no idea he was so quick and could get to the rim like that. At the start of the second half, he came out on a mission and just attacked the rim restlessly. I’m a pretty chill dude I don’t stand and cheer a whole lot, but when Macon put that eurostep on Brachen Hazen, I had to stand up and applaud it was lovely. Between Macon and Barford teams are going to have a really hard time stopping us from getting to the rim.
Also, I know a lot of people were saying Adrio Bailey was ahead of Arlando Cook in the rotation. From the minutes and rotation looks like Cook is currently ahead of him, at least in the coaches mind. And Cook had a good game IMO, he took some ill-advised shots that Coach Watkins got onto him about, but he was hustling and was all over the boards and got some easy buckets around the rim.
And I agree, I can’t wait until Friday as well, this team is legit 12 deep.
Not sure what you meant by Barford being Modica’d some this year. However your description of Barford not getting enough lift at times at the rim reminds me of Ky Madden and virtually no lift at the rim. I hope it is a correctible issue with Barford. It wasn’t with Madden.
Great post RazorAg. Always enjoy your stuff. Regarding Bailey, you mention that his jumper needs major work. To me, good basketball shooting mechanics is one of the simplest motions in sports and it just kills me to see these guys come in with poor mechanics and it’s obvious that they will NEVER consistently be a good shooter. I believe, even with a total rework, mechanics could be fixed and improved results could be seen in one year - yet they don’t bite the bullet and give themselves a chance to be a successful shooter.
I don’t believe Nolan’s guys ever really improved their shot mechanics - maybe the results with a lot of practice - but not the mechanics. Do you know if Mike will take a guy like Bailey and rework his shot from the beginning? What would they have to lose - at least the would give themselves a shot at becoming a shooting threat.
He never really focused on shooting in high school, so he said the staff has worked to make his shot more compact and repeatable. Definitely a work in progress, but he’s got time.
Can you name players from other staffs that had poor shot mechanics and drastically changed then in college?
It’s really hard to do. By the time they get to college, they’ve literally shot tens of thousands of shots and it’s very difficult to completely overhaul a shot.
The closest I can come up with is Ronnie Brewer, and it was still always ugly (and never really corrected by his dad–an all time Hog great–or Stan Heath).