Quinnipiac, Mon., Nov. 3, 6:30p, FS-1
- Thread starter Knight
- Start date
Re: Mitchell no sense ruing his limited time here, better to celebrate landing him. He did not commit after visiting, shopped around and to my joy he ultimately chose us. I thought off the bat he was the best match for Rick’s style of the portal guys landed. Jackson garnered most of fan attention, but Mitchell’s experience, rebounding and keen interest in D meant more. As my mortal enemy Moose noted, if he can hit his FTs better than his history shows, watch out. You know at crunch time in nail biter games he will be on the floor and teams will test him at FT line.
Larry Wright
Well-known member
What I liked best was we basically had 9 man rotation that consisted of our best 9 players. For some reason identifying and playing our best players has been a problem for pretty much the last 40 years.
My thoughts:
Zuby was still Zuby which is a very good thing.
Hopkins thought looked a little slow laterally but that was possibly because everyone else on court including Quinnipiac were super athletic. Overall thought he looked good. He is what I thought we were getting with Ledlum basically. Really good player, looked healthy.
Mitchell does all the things I knew he could do and does other stuff better than I thought. Can’t shoot obviously but was not the horror show at the line that his stats suggest. Nice clean stroke. Front line is as good as we have had since Grant, Ron and Postell.
Jackson is the key. He is our most talented offensive player, no not our best player but most talented. For some reason there always seems to be some sort of question about our most talented player. As he goes we go as far as Elite 8 and beyond.
Sellers was better at the point than I feared he would be. Not a point guard but with this team he can play there. Obviously not sure what happens if play a good team that presses but I am not as worried as I was before yesterday. The one issue with him at the point is it does take away shots from our best 3 point shooter because trying to facilitate the offense.
Sanon is probably our 2nd most skilled player and I really like him as our 6th man but I am sure Rick will rotate our top 6 guys there excluding Zuby.
Prey does a lot of nice things but needs to go up more confidently and stronger around the basket. He is really bad around the rim.
Ayo is the best 9th man ever. Whether he plays extended mins or a only couple it always seems to be positive.
Darling is a solid backup point guard. Shot is a little flat but he is a really solid player that all good teams need.
Lefty and Odih I am sure will get some run as 10th and 11th man from tiime to time and both would probably have played big mins in previous years but for the most part will be limited against good comp.
Looking forward to this season.
My thoughts:
Zuby was still Zuby which is a very good thing.
Hopkins thought looked a little slow laterally but that was possibly because everyone else on court including Quinnipiac were super athletic. Overall thought he looked good. He is what I thought we were getting with Ledlum basically. Really good player, looked healthy.
Mitchell does all the things I knew he could do and does other stuff better than I thought. Can’t shoot obviously but was not the horror show at the line that his stats suggest. Nice clean stroke. Front line is as good as we have had since Grant, Ron and Postell.
Jackson is the key. He is our most talented offensive player, no not our best player but most talented. For some reason there always seems to be some sort of question about our most talented player. As he goes we go as far as Elite 8 and beyond.
Sellers was better at the point than I feared he would be. Not a point guard but with this team he can play there. Obviously not sure what happens if play a good team that presses but I am not as worried as I was before yesterday. The one issue with him at the point is it does take away shots from our best 3 point shooter because trying to facilitate the offense.
Sanon is probably our 2nd most skilled player and I really like him as our 6th man but I am sure Rick will rotate our top 6 guys there excluding Zuby.
Prey does a lot of nice things but needs to go up more confidently and stronger around the basket. He is really bad around the rim.
Ayo is the best 9th man ever. Whether he plays extended mins or a only couple it always seems to be positive.
Darling is a solid backup point guard. Shot is a little flat but he is a really solid player that all good teams need.
Lefty and Odih I am sure will get some run as 10th and 11th man from tiime to time and both would probably have played big mins in previous years but for the most part will be limited against good comp.
Looking forward to this season.
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And he's the best rebounder of that crew. No exaggeration. He shouldn't be but he is.
Darling’s tenacious play impresses, seems a gritty overachiever type player. Happy he is with us, starter or not. He’ll earn ample minutes.
The improvement of Ayo from year to year just shows what staying with Pitino can do to your game. Obviously Zuby is the ultimate example.
Larry Wright
Well-known member
So saying Ayo is like smoking pot?
Completely agree with everything in your post Larry.
There was a play -- I believe just off a simple weave -- where Darling created a great passing angle for a three to either Sanon or Jackson early by just prodding 1-2 dribbles into the middle and getting the defender to help just a bit. That's what all of these other guards need.
If you notice, every defender backs off him immediately when he gets the ball in the back court -- even Michigan. It's the ultimate show of respect. His pace could be back-breaking for teams.
I'm very comfortable with our floor at the 1. I love Sanon, but he doesn't look like he's giving max effort on defense or the glass. It could very well be that he is still overthinking it all, though.
NM
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All not open for debate true.
Among his unmeasurable strengths are his maturity and intelligence. I have always admired him because he learned how to play maximizing his strengths and minimizing his weakness. Add in his seemingly natural leadership qualities and IMO, he is by far the most impactful addition to the team.
Apologies to MJ Dinkins for going to a NM for essentially the same post; which he put a Like on, totally my bad
Ayo is the true definition of old reliable. Just not Theo John old.
Since there is no Subject established yet for Alabama . They won their game .
Their 2 guards Philon and Bol combine for 37 points , 11 rebounds and 11 assists .
Nova loses to BYU, in close game.
Biggest news , Arizona beats Florida . Arizona frosh , Kea Peat scores 30.
Florida losing means both , St John’s and Alabama likely to move up in polls but , don’t think they take another until next week . Arizona too , should move up .
Both , Arizona and Florida have cup cake games next .
Michigan win big too . Houston also but , in a closer game .
Their 2 guards Philon and Bol combine for 37 points , 11 rebounds and 11 assists .
Nova loses to BYU, in close game.
Biggest news , Arizona beats Florida . Arizona frosh , Kea Peat scores 30.
Florida losing means both , St John’s and Alabama likely to move up in polls but , don’t think they take another until next week . Arizona too , should move up .
Both , Arizona and Florida have cup cake games next .
Michigan win big too . Houston also but , in a closer game .
Correction , Bol is a forward . Mallette is the other Bama guard who combined with Philon for 37 points in their game last night
I think structure at both ends of court is a whole new world for Sanon and he’s still adjusting.
And he is definitely more than just ‘quick enough’ at this level
And also shows why you can’t always write-off a person based on a bad first impression or the totality of one year.
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